Killing Technology

The chain of influence continues. Early this year I posted about an Overkill record that I was excited to pick up, and that led me to rush out and pick up a Powermad album. After writing that post, I hit the ground running to chase down Voivod's Killing Technology. There is just something about picking up those old 80's metal records that hits like nothing else.

I've struggled with a number of problems from Discogs sellers earlier this year. A few times I've ordered a specific colored vinyl version, only to receive a regular black vinyl copy in the mail, and problems struck again with Killing Technology. I really wanted to own an original Noise pressing out of Germany for this record. I don't know... the album was released on Noise, so I wasn't too interested in a US imprint pressing through Combat Records. So when I found a US seller with a listing for the German Noise pressing at a decent price, I jumped on it. Too good to be true and they actually sent me the US pressing... plus it had a promo hole punched into the cover. Fuck. At least the seller was very accomodating and gave me a full refund, apologized and told me to keep the record. I'll take a free record, even if it wasn't the pressing that I was intially looking for.

Man, this album is so killer. Front to back, Killing Technology is loaded with classic Voivod thrash songs. Listening to this album today and now I'm thinking that I want to listen to it everyday. Man, I've been wanting to have this record on my shelf for a long time now, and it feels so good to own a copy (even if it isn't a German Noise press).

Planet Based Diet

I was a huge fan of Voivod back in the 80's. I really liked the raw early albums, but with Killing Technology and Dimension Hatross, the band was on another level. Those two records are fucking perfect. Hell, even Nothingface from '89 was pretty cool. After that though, nothing has really interested me very much. I had some high hopes in the early 2000's when the band reunited with the original singer, Snake, and I've picked up a number of albums from the band since then, but each one failed to make much of an impression on me and was soon forgotten.

I didn't really have much interest in the latest Voivod record, Synchro Anarchy, but I still took the time to check out the video for Planet Eaters. Okay okay...this is a pretty cool song, but would Voivod be able to hold my attention across the entire album? Surprisingly, the answer is very much a yes. Even at almost 50 minutes, this record never feels too long, and I'm engaged throughout the entire thing. I haven't been this happy with a Voivod album since Nothingface. Very cool.

Transparent green vinyl for the US pressing is looking good.

Another Dimension

Back in 2017, I found myself on a mission to pick up a bunch of records that were hitting their 30th anniversary that year, and I went on a 1987 shopping spree. During that time, I knocked off some big time records from my Want List, and it was a ton of fun immersing myself in the playlist from that year.

As Summer was winding down last year, it dawned on me that I'd forgotten all about carrying that theme over to 2018, and chasing records from 1988.

In September, I tried to kick start things for a 1988 obsession, and I grabbed a copy of Voivod's Dimension Hatross record. Unfortunately, I couldn't get that mindset to stick, and this ended up being the only album I was able to cross off the list. Overall, I just couldn't stay focused, and my attention kept getting pulled towards the '83 and '84 years when I really first started to get into metal. Sorry 1988, you got a bad deal...I'm hoping that 1989 has better luck this year.

I've been wanting to finally grab this record for years, and there have been times that I'd get hooked on just listening to these songs on repeat. This is easily my favorite Voivod album, so if I had to pick one record from 1988, I'm glad that this was the one that I picked up.

Original German Noise pressing, with the insert for The Voivod Story.