Voivod - Killing Technology (1987) Reviews
After hearing War & Pain many years ago (although not in the 80's) I gave up on Voivod. My thrash metal taste was too basic to appreciate what Voivod were doing. To me it served no purpose other then to be a dilution of thrash metal and so had no place in my CD/vinyl/tape collection that housed the likes of Slayer, Exodus, Anthrax, Kreator, Sodom and Sepultura. Maturity (or growing old in laymen's terms) has some advantages; my tolerance of the avant-garde / progressive elements in music within sub-genres that I long ago established my comfort zone in has improved with age. Whilst I won't pretend to be completely onboard with Voivod off the back of Killing Technology, it most certainly has been more palatable than my first excursion with the band was.
It is certainly worth pointing out the punk influence on the band's 1987 offering. Hell, at times they remind me of the Dropkick Murphys with that throaty rasp on Tornado in particular. The clever part to Killing Technology is that it is so well balanced between that rather loose vocal style and the more complicated rhythms and timings of the songs. I would not say that album number three from the Canadians is thrash metal yet at the same time it is most certainly not progressive either. It feels like it has the potential to land in both camps but is almost immodest with both genres, often turning their backs completely on them and simply jamming out punky yet inoffensive tunes.
Whilst the energy levels certainly match the intensity of thrash and the timings also reflect more Infinite clan leanings, things never settle on any direction as such. This does not make for a confused or chaotic sounding album by any means. The band are consistently irreverent when it comes to being boxed into any particular brand, sub-genre or style and I have to respect them for that alone if nothing else. Killing Technology sounds like the album Voivod wanted to make, for themselves if for nobody else. They might think like a progressive thrash band but they play like a crossover band. Nine tracks of fun are exactly what you get here and that is because I genuinely believe that Voivod had fun making this record.
Highlights for me are the title track, Tornado, Overreaction and Ravenous Medicine but there is not a whole lot not to like here. Clearly technically adept the band display this without being showy; dropping in leads casually almost as if unaware of their brilliance. Vocally, I do not feel connected with Snake's style for the full 48 minutes or so but they most certainly are an integral part of the success of the album at the same time. Let nothing detract from just how painless a listen this album is though, if an old thrasher like me can get this some 34 years after it dropped then there's real testimony to the relevance of this record over three decades in.
Voivod are a tough band for me. It seems I need to give their albums an awful lot of spins before they get their hooks into me. During the first few listens I can't quite get past the rather punkish style that emanates throughout. The sound of Killing Technology is rather raw and when combined with Snake's loose style of singing and the bands tendency to shift chaotically multiple times during tracks, it tends to leave me struggling to get a grip. But Piggy's discordant guitar riffs keep me coming back for more until suddenly it all seems to make more sense.
That's not to say that I think Killing Technology is an excellent album. It's a decent album that more than anything displays the promise of Voivod which they would soon fulfil. Tracks like Killing Technology, Forgotten in Space, Ravenous Medicine and This is Not an Exercise are genuinely enjoyable. The rest have neat moments, but they clash with awkward sections that don't stand up quite as well. All up this album is a fascinating release that doesn't quite gel into a classic for me. Close but not quite.
Another Voivod recommendation for me...but this album Killing Technology really leveled up my interest in this band and the two albums after this one, and extended my metal taste range to a few years older! Though I still prefer the progressive/technical thrash stuff, rather than the classic standard thrash of Metallica and Slayer.
I still haven't listened to the first two Voivod albums, but I've heard that those two albums stabilized Voivod's foundations with hostile cyberpunk thrash. However, this album is where the band landed in the progressive thrash map, Killing Technology! With spacey riffs in a legendary mix, this is the first of 3 progressive masterpieces by the band, with next album Dimension Hatross now becoming my all-time favorite of the band. I can now see the vision and originality and this progressive thrash trilogy.
Back to Killing Technology, the title track begins with rumbling ambience and what sounds like heart-monitor beeps (wow, so many albums with a track that has that sound, gotta make a list of those), then it stops shortly after a robot says "We are connected". Right then, freaky fast metal riffing crashes in with Snake's signature punkish vocals and lyrics of a paranoid futuristic dystopia. Now that's killer 80s prog-thrash! "Overreaction" has intense punkish bass groove selecting unique chords from Piggy (R.I.P.). F***ing you out of Kansas is "Tornado", beginning with subtle distortion before barging in with percussion and chords.
"Forgotten in Space" descends you into a claustrophobic prison planet to hold you captive. Amazing song! First bonus track "Too Scared to Scream" is a great summary of how I felt when I was 13, discovering and developing my taste in music based on my brother's interest. While I absorbed parts of his playlist of hard rock/alt-metal/post-grunge and Two Steps From Hell, he had some songs from 3 metal bands; DragonForce, Metallica, and Avenged Sevenfold (sorry, no Voivod). At that point, my tolerance was developing, and I was too scared for the screaming aggression of thrash and metalcore-turned-heavy metal, so I settled on the speedy power metal of DragonForce, which of course led me to where I am today. Excellent dark-ish reminder! "Ravenous Medicine" is pretty much one of the best Voivod songs and titles, where Snake vocals really rule.
"Order of the Blackguards" has quick thrash grooves with glorious chords erupting like a space volcano. "This is Not an Exercise" is basically furious thrash metal that has partly inspired industrial metal. You wouldn't wanna p*ss off that bull! The second and last bonus track "Cockroaches" has perfect fitting tone that should've been in the original vinyl edition for the old-school listeners to enjoy the extreme.
So unless you've been living under a rock and missed 30 years of your life, you already know that this killer band is a turning point in progressive thrash history. I would recommend this album and their next two to anyone wanting to educate themselves with original cosmic progressive thrash metal!
Favorites: "Killing Technology", "Forgotten in Space", "Too Scared to Scream" (bonus track), "Ravenous Machine", "Cockroaches" (bonus track)
Probably my favourite Voivod album, this marked the perfect balance point between their earlier anarchic, punkish thrash and their later progressive and technical albums. Snake's vocals would not sound at all out of place on an early 80s UK punk album by the likes of Discharge or GBH, the energy of the tracks also seeming to derive from the chaotic nature of punk, Overreaction being a particular example. The influence of post-punk and progressive acts however had taken a prominent grip on the band's songwriting and the songs were far from predictable with multiple and sudden changes in tempo and rhythm that never allow the listener to get comfortable or complacent as to the direction the songs are likely to take. The science fiction concept running through the album is another staple of prog the band embraced, not only telling a coherent tale throughout the album's runtime, but also a metaphorical critique of society as seen through the band's eyes.
This is a classic and uncompromising vision of thrash metal from a band who seemed immune to the lure of trends and were determined to play whatever the hell they wanted, wherever that may take them.