Voivod - Dimension Hatröss

by Cosmo Lee

Last weekend marked the 20th anniversary of Voivod's Dimension Hatröss. The core of Voivod's golden era trilogy, it bridged Killing Technology's departure from prior Motörhead worship and Nothingface's prog polish. The record remains revelatory today. That's because it's elusive; it hits you and runs away at the same time. So much metal feels like an end game: head for death as fast and hard as possible. Voivod did that early on, but then they started poking and prodding and turning things inside out. By Dimension Hatröss, the band had twisted thrash into strange, futuristic forms. (Perhaps it was a spiritual forebear of Meshuggah.) Denis "Piggy" D'Amour (RIP) was recognizable within a few notes, a distinction few guitarists ever reach. Other things were going on here, particularly conceptually with regard to the band's Voivod mascot - see this interview - but for me, this is where Piggy found his six-string voice.

Tribal Convictions
Macrosolutions to Megaproblems

The Dimension Hatröss demos are available here.