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I'm not sure why I haven't mentioned this before. Dennis d'Amour ("Piggy") passed away just about 3 months ago. Who was he? Look around this blog. "Dimension Hatross" is the name of the album that turned me into a metal maniac. The album is by a band called Voivod. How much does this band mean to me?

Before Voivod (and other bands like Metallica, King Diamond, etc..) I listened to Top 40 music of the 1980's. I was reborn. After just a few months of hearing Z-Rock, I realize how utterly shitty the music I had been listening to was. I immediately bought all the Metallica, King Diamond and Voivod albums I could find. The rest.. is history. I now listen to many forms of metal and heavy rock-oriented music. This ranges from "Progressive" to "Death Metal". I don't like "Grindcore/Metalcore/Whateverthefuck" or that shitty noise just made for shock's sake. What am I talking about? Watch Headbanger's Ball. It's sad.

Anyhow, back to Voivod. I think, if I had to rate all the albums I own, or have heard in my lifetime, I would have to rate Voivod's "Nothingface" at #1. Many people may disagree or not understand or like Voivod, but musical taste is largely opinion. In my opinion, "Nothingface" has it all for me. I don't necessarily need screaming vocals, 50 minutes of ear-pummelling bass, or riffs fast enough to break my neck while headbanging. If one thing could be said about Voivod, I think the word would be "original". I haven't heard ANYTHING that sounds like them. What could be better than a few sci-fi geeks from Montreal and metal?

If you have not heard Voivod, check them out. One of my very first reviews on Amazon.Com was for some Voivod albums. The Eric Forrest years aren't as good as those with Snake (Denis Belanger - vocalist). Forrest .. well, I will reserve comments, because the band still sounded excellent and Eric had his own style.

" ... lapse of time ... synchro freeze ... loop rewind ... forward speed ... "

If I have a single regret, for my entire life, it's that I never saw them live. Yes, it's very sad. The main reason was that by the time they were coming to Cleveland with some regularity, I was a little afraid to go to some of the local clubs (I was a late teenager) since I was used to going to the Cleveland Coliseum and such. They came on the Ozzfest Tour last year, and since the rest of the tour was largely uninteresting to me (read: metalcore, etc), I elected not to go. What a mistake. Even if Voivod continues, they will never be the same. Piggy was 25% of what made them unique.

Just a few more comments about my love for this band. I played EverQuest on and off for about 6 years and one of my most beloved characters was a recurring druid toon by the name of Langevin d'Amour. I did sort of a Pink Floyd thing where I took the surnames of the of the band members to create this fictional person. A funny side effect (Subeffect?) of this is that I received many tells from French players asking if I was French. Sorry folks, I am very far from being a Frenchman!

No, i'm not finished yet. Dimension Hatross was also the name of the BBS I ran (and later with my new wife) from roughly 1987 through 1994. It went through many incarnations, but it stayed true to its purpose. The core was the message base activity and it largely revolved around music. I enjoyed theming the BBS after Voivod lyrics, colors and crazy artwork. I tried to re-create album covers in Atari and IBM graphic characters. One day I'll have to dig them up. I did a really killer recreation of the "Nothingface" cover.

Well, here's to one of the best bands of all time - VOIVOD RULES!
\m/ \m/

Yeah, this post is long. Deal with it.