Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Voivod - Killing Technology (1987)
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.