Formed in Jonquire, Quebec, in 1982 by vocalist Denis Snake Belanger, guitarist Denis Piggy DAmour, bassist Jean-Yves Blacky Thriault and drummer Michael Away Langevin, Voivod recorded a series of demos before catching the eye of Brian Slagel and signing a deal with Metal Blade Records. The result was the bands debut album War And Pain, which was released in August 1984. At the time, all four members were sharing an apartment in Montreal, existing on 150 dollars welfare a week. With school already behind them, they were free to rehearse nearly every day, leading to the creation of their sophomore album Rrraaarrr. While the album was recorded, almost all their equipment was stolen from the rehearsal room. In order to raise funds, the band along with their manager Maurice Richard organized the legendary World War III festival. And this is were they met Karl-Ulrich Walterbach, who convinced Voivod to sign for his label Noise Records. Rrraaarrr ended up seeing the light of day in March of 1986. With songs like Ripping Headaches, Thrashing Rage or the ultimate To The Death! to this day it remains one of Voivods most extreme albums. Easy listening it was not. Around 1985/86, we really sped up the pace of our music, says Michael Langevin in the book Damn The Machine. The Story Of Noise Records by American author David E. Gehlke. I think that maybe everybody was trying to outdo Slayer. Im not sure why I think we might have been a little faster than what we could achieve musically. [] The playing was a little fast, but its strange because, at this point, I remember when we were rehearsing Rrraaarrr at the jam space, I remember thinking, it was the greatest thing. Its good when you have that theres always a stage where the band feels invincible. Having been unavailable for a considerable time, this ultimate edition of Voivods second album gives you the chance to judge for yourself, if Rrraaarrr really is the Canadians finest work or not.