Search - Voivod :: Killing Technology

Dark science fiction oriented thrash, Voivod nail it on thei

Chet Fakir | DC | 06/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Killing Technology was Montreal based Voivod's third album and the one where their sound became fully realized. The first two albums were good, but marred by muddy sound and the songwriting wasn't quite there yet. On KT they nailed it. When this came out in 1987 the only other band that was as heavy was Kreator. But Voivod were different in their use of really ugly dissonant chords and almost progressive structures all within an extremely brutal thrash context.



Lyrically Killing Technology is very dark and science fiction themed, something Voivod would explore quite a bit on later albums. The songs are about man's destruction or enslavement by his own technology or a world out of balance. For example, Forgotten in Space is about a jail ship full of prisoners both criminal and political blasted out into space to an unknown fate. Ravenous Medicine is about being used in Mengele type medical experiments as a human guinea pig and Tornado is about weather with a vendetta. When combined with the dark thrashing music of Piggy (guitar), Blacky (bass) and Away (drums), Snakes lyrics become the soundtrack to a technological apocalypse, the true soundtrack to the Terminator.



Voivod continued their science fiction oriented thrash sound on their brilliant follow up album Dimension Hatross but on subsequent albums they gradually cleaned up their sound. On Killing Technology they play at their gritty, grinding and noisy best. Killing Technology is a claustrophobic and paranoid masterpiece. It's a great album from one of the most original bands in metal and truly deserves to be called a classic."

The first great Voi Vod CD now available

Scott Hedegard | Fayetteville, AR USA | 09/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had tried in vain about a year or so ago to buy this disc with no luck. It is probably due to the untimely passing of Denis "Piggy" D'Amour that "Killing Technology" is readily available now.

When considering great bands of the past, how many had guitarists so original and innovative that without that person, the identity of the band would fall apart? Unlike tons of outfits out there who can easily replace shred guitar players, only a relative few ever truly reshaped the guitar landscape. Some were famous - Hendrix, Van Halen, Frank Zappa (don't even mention Eric Clapton to me)- some not so famous but no less influential. Piggy was hailed in super heavy metal circles and relatively unknown outside them, which is a travesty.

Beginning with their third CD "Killing Technology", Voi Vod tossed aside the by-the-numbers thrash of their first two mediocre albums and suddenly became one of metal's most innovative outfits, ever. Industrial without computers and synthesizers. Alien and hostile and so futuristic the tunes will still sound fresh 50 years from now. Piggy's vast chordal knowledge, along with volumes up to 11, created a maelstrom of metallic fallout. "Killing Technology" starts off with the title track that tells us something is definitely up, and by the third song, "Tornado", we've been swept into a sonic vortex as brutal as its lyrical topic. No plain old power chords here.

"Ravenous Medicine" may be the most accessible tune, but only barely so. In short, metal took a gigantic leap forward with this and its follow-up, the positively brilliant "Dimension: Hatross". Both CD's could have made a fine double album, such is the seemless groove between them.

The metal world lost a great pioneer with Piggy's passing. Let us hope his work was not in vain, and that Voi Vod eventually gets the credit it's due as one of the most original and powerful metal bands ever."