War and Pain

War and Pain is the debut studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Voivod, released in September 1984.

War and Pain
Studio album by Voivod
Released	September 1984[1]
Recorded	June 19–27, 1984
Studio	Le Terroir Studio, Laterrière (now part of Saguenay, Québec), Canada
Genre	Thrash metal[2]
Length	42:07
Label	Metal Blade
Producer	Voivod
Voivod chronology
War and Pain (1984) Rrröööaaarrr (1986)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10[4]
Exclaim!	(favourable)[5]
PopMatters	(favourable)[6]
Rock Hard	7.5/10[7]
Sputnikmusic	3.5/5[8]

War and Pain was reissued several times on the CD format (sometimes on different labels in other countries): the first CD issue on Metal Blade in 1987, in 1990 on Enigma Records; remastered by Metal Blade and reissued in 1994; it was also released in Roadrunner's Pricekillers series (also 1990); and again by Metal Blade in 2004 as a remastered 3-CD boxset (see the 20th Anniversary Edition section for the bonus material).

A music video was made for the title song "Voivod" and was directed by Dédé Fortin.

Legacy and influence

The track "Black City" was used by heavy metal record store, Black City Records, located in Bristol, England, as the name of their business in 2021.

Track listing

All lyrics by Denis "Snake" Bélanger and all music by Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault and Michel "Away" Langevin, except where indicated.

This Side (Iron)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Voivod"	4:16
2.	"Warriors of Ice"	5:04
3.	"Suck Your Bone"	3:30
4.	"Iron Gang"	4:15
5.	"War and Pain"	4:55

That Side (Blower)

No.	Title	Length
6.	"Blower"	2:42
7.	"Live for Violence"	5:11
8.	"Black City"	5:08
9.	"Nuclear War"	7:01

Original cassette version bonus track

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Condemned to the Gallows"	5:07

"Condemned to the Gallows" was originally recorded for the compilation album Metal Massacre V. Aside from one "War and Pain" cassette pressing, "Condemned to the Gallows" would not appear again on any Voivod release until re-recorded in 2023 for Morgöth Tales.

20th Anniversary Edition

Disc one: War and Pain (Remastered)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Voivod"	4:16
2.	"Warriors of Ice"	5:06
3.	"Suck Your Bone"	3:32
4.	"Iron Gang"	4:15
5.	"War and Pain"	4:55
6.	"Blower"	2:43
7.	"Live for Violence"	5:11
8.	"Black City"	5:07
9.	"Nuclear War"	7:02

Anachronism (1st show, June 1983)

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Condemned to the Gallows"	5:07
11.	"Blower"	3:01
12.	"Voivod"	3:50

To the Death (Metal Massacre 5 sessions, January 1984)

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Condemned to the Gallows"	5:09
14.	"Voivod"	4:41
15.	"Iron Gang"	4:24

Disc two: Morgoth Invasion (Live demo, December 1984)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Build Your Weapons"		4:42
2.	"War and Pain"		6:25
3.	"Condemned to the Gallows"		4:52
4.	"Warriors of Ice"		5:07
5.	"Helldriver"		3:57
6.	"Horror"		3:52
7.	"Black City"		5:32
8.	"Nuclear War"		6:32
9.	"Blower"		3:04
10.	"Live for Violence"		6:45
11.	"Ripping Headaches"		3:12
12.	"Iron Gang"		4:19
13.	"Korgüll the Exterminator"		4:50
14.	"Suck Your Bone"		4:25
15.	"Witching Hour" (Venom cover)		2:51
16.	"Chemical Warfare" (Slayer cover)	Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King	6:17

Bonus CD

• In addition to videos, text, and images, the Bonus CD also contains a 46.5 MB mp3 file consisting of the first 7 tracks from a live demo recorded in January 1984, known as "To The Death."

Personnel

Voivod

• Denis "Snake" Bélanger – vocals
• Denis "Piggy" D'Amour – guitar
• Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault – bass
• Michel "Away" Langevin – drums, artwork

Production

• Guy Pedneault – engineer
• Brian Slagel – executive producer