VOIVOD 1996 bio by Yuri Jossa Very few bands born in the early 80's have come such a long way as french-canadian band VOIVOD have. Originally belonging to one of the record labels that gave birth to a musical movement that includes bands such as Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth; Voivod were clearly a part of that movement. Soon after appearing in the compilation 'Metal Massacre V' and releasing their first album, 1984's "War and Pain" (which was recorded on low-tech 8 analog tracks) the band started to branch out from the musical style (that would eventually become various genres such as thrash metal, death metal, speed metal, grindcore, etc.). and began to show unique conceptual and musical interests in futuristic and technological issues. By the time they released their second album "Rrroooaaarrr!" in 1986, the band had already planned several albums into the future, works such as their 4th album "Dimension Hatross" released in 1988. In a matter of a few albums the musical influences of 'outside-the-movement' bands such as King Crimson, had a big influence in the sound of the band. In 1989 after surviving the ordeal of having one of the band members stricken with cancer (and being cured!) the band drew critical acclaim by expanding their music by including a cover of a psychodelic era, Syd Barrett song: 'Astronomy Domine' (from the first Pink Floyd album 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn') and by incorporating the 'sound' into their own music, in their album "Nothingface," a fusion of dissonance, odd time meters & chordal structures and lyrics that deal with isolationism in a technological age and other subjects that are at home with the Cyberpunk movement, long before such thing was commercialized and popularized by the media, and Hollywood. Since then, VOIVOD continue to journey into the musical future album after album, bringing the unexpected to their fans, musically, visually and lyrically.