Voïvod – Dimension Hatröss

I only recently got into this album. I have been listening to Nothingface since 1990 when I got it on CD. To me that was the only Voivod album for almost a decade and loved it. I didn't know anyone else who like Voivod so it was off my radar. Only more recently did I start to explore other releases from Voivod. Once I heard Dimension Hatross I thought to myself if only I knew about this album 30 years ago. It is awesome and a perfect ying/yang with Nothingface. While over all I think Nothingface is better, this album is more straight up metal with all the weird guitar chords and time signatures. Killing Technology, Dimension Hatross and Nothingface are the best albums by Voivod and all should have them.

And about this release, it sounds great and is not over compressed like remasters from the 2000's. The album and the additional material makes this a perfect release for first time listeners and those who have known about this album all along.

After all the permutations and various forms the band has evolved throughout the years, line-up and musical direction changes, the tragedy of Piggy`s ing, it`s almost impossible to return to one of their earlier efforts and offer a non-biased review.

I was first "officially" introduced to the band via this album, somewhere during a summer of 1989 or 1990 by two gents who lived deeper into the burroughs of my own quaint suburbia. These lads were part of a band citing Voivod as one of their main influences, and during that summer their guitar playing was on extended vacation and they asked me to participate in an unplanned and yet highly productive weekend's worth side-project. But that`s another story.

In those days (and still today) I wasn`t a fan of "guitar" based music, and not anything anywhere the lines of heavy metal or thrash or speed or grind or any of the genres. However these guys were nice enough to offer me a veritable crash course in all that is heavy-metal-like, and introduced me to Voivod via this album, Dimension Hatross.

While I won't pretend I am a connaisseur in any way, experiencing Voivod for the first time alongside two guys who knew each complex instrumentation's parts in great depth allowed me to appreciate it in a way that no one who isn't properly guided could. What would first sound like a chaotic blend of distorted mish-mash barely holding it in any cohesive matter turned out to being a true work of complex and materful musicianship.

I won't go into the details of actually reviewing the album in of first being exposed but suffice it to say that while Voivod broke out into the mainstream thanks to the later released cover version of "Astronomy Domine", the album Dimension Hatross prooved to be a turning point in their sound. Still quite unrelenting and firmly focused, the songs began to feel and sound as though the band was moving more towards their "progressive" sound, bringing thus the gab between the hellish maelstrom and the mathematically concise song constructs.

After my initial exposure way back when, I managed to score a copy of the first re-issue on CD at a local second hand shop (I really miss those - kudos to any one still owning a record shop!), and enjoyed quite thoroughly until the disc somehow disapeared from my collection, most probably due to one of my many forced movings.

In 2019 while my wife and I were on vacation in Sherbrooke city (just chilling out there), I walked into a record shop and spotted this 3-disc remastered re-isse for sale at a decent price. I picked it up immediately and then waited for the proper time to open it and fully enjoy the contents. And I was not displeased.

The first disc is the full album, including the bonus cut "Batman" which wasn't on the original vinyl LP release. After over 30 years, this records still sounds great and holds up the test of time quite nicely.

Disc two is a good quality audio recording of a live show. The recording was slightly edited from the original playlist to fit the length of the CD and while the sound quality is obviously not up to par with the studio recording, the sound is still very impressive. During one of the track's first few bars, poor Piggy's guitar was turned off, leaving Blacky's bass as the main lead for a bit.

The third disc is a DVD, which includes live performances captured on VHS and portable hand held camcorders of the era, so the image and sound is far from perfect. It's a fun "nostalgic" look at how the late 80s actually werein of capturing live video in true amateur style. DVD also includes slideshows of photos and artwork, as well as studio demosn for the album... and this is my only complain: It would have been nice to have these recordings as an audio format instead of being strictly a DVD format which is only audio.

In retrospect this is a great gift to the fans of the band and of the era. If you enjoyed this album back when it came out and would like to have bonus material to enhance thie experience of re-visiting one Voivod's greatest "classic" albums, pick this version up!

I gotta say I hate when albums come with no lyrics sheet. The package and contect of the booklet is awesome, but the lack of lyrics is always a bummer for me...