a VERY concise biog...for now...

Voice Of Destruction was formed as a Punk band in Cape Town, South Africa around 1986 by guitarist Greg McEwan-Marriott.

1st vocalist Neil The Viking was replaced by Stewart Hendry.

Bassist Radley Clack was replaced by Diccon Harper around 1988-89.

Several drummers down the line, Paul Blom replaced (another) Neil in 1989.

With Diccon and Paul's Metal background, the Hardcore/Punk sound of V.O.D moved more in that direction.

Paul left for a year and was replaced by Robin Schtelig.

2nd guitarist Alan joined for a short while.

Stewart left in the early '90s and was replaced by Francois Blom making the full-on Metal transition.

On Paul's return, this core line-up became the strongest and most prolific.

Namibian Johan DeJager became the on-off 2nd guitarist.

In the early '90s the popular Seventh Demo was recorded and caught the attention of (rip-off artists) Inhouse Records in Johannesburg, signing the band. V.O.D recorded the Black Cathedral album with them, as well as contributing the classic If I Had A Soul track for the Death Of Africa compilation CD (and cassette with extra tracks Black Cathedral, Goodbye and Welcome To South Africaaaargh!!!).

The Black Cathedral & Other Stories video was also released by Inhouse featuring V.O.D and other bands live in the studio.

Since the late '80s V.O.D took regular trips to Johannesburg (as well as Durban) for live shows.

Paul produced the extensive Welcome To South Africaaargh!!!! - Live '93 video in 1994.

Morbid Records in Germany signed V.O.D in the mid-90s and the band flew over to the UK to record the legendary Bloedrivier album (now available as a 10th Anniversary re-release).
Besides shows in the UK, this was followed by a full European tour in '96 covering the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Netherlands, Germany, France, Ireland, Spain, UK etc. The band was joined by 2nd guitarist Johan. Tour mates were Katatonia (Sweden) and In The Woods (Finland).
Johan returned to Namibia and Paul returned to South Africa, followed by Francois. Greg eventually also head back, but Diccon remained in his ancestral land of Blighty.

Before Greg's return, Paul and Francois was joined by Johan on guitar and Adam (Pothole) on bass to play two monstrous nights at the 1998 Oppi Koppi festival.

With Greg back, the band played the first Woodstock Festival in Heidelberg (Gauteng) 1999, with Tom Somers on bass. V.O.D closed the show with a total chaotic bang.

Since then Francois stayed busy with his solo project Die Kruis and Afrikaans project K.O.B.U.S. with Theo Crous (Springbok Nude Girls guitarist) - winning the Best Afrikaans Rock Album award at the 2008 SAMAs.
www.FLAMEDROP.com/Kruis / www.KOBUSMUSIC.com

Paul occupied himself with his one-man project F8 (pronounced "Fate"), and electronic metal band Terminatryx, fronted by his wife Sonja. Paul also played live drums for K.O.B.U.S. between 2003-2008. At many K.O.B.U.S. shows in Pretoria and Bloemfontein V.O.D fans came out, J.M.S.P. usually played to appease them. In 2006 Diccon's SA visit resulted in him playing bass for a K.O.B.U.S. show and a few V.O.D numbers were obviously slipped in. www.TERMINATRYX.com / www.FLAMEDROP.com/F8
Terminatryx played Popkomm in Berlin, Germany (September 2006), and Diccon filled in on additional 8-string bass!
The Terminatryx debut album was released mid-2008.

Paul also makes movies & videos, and started a website concentrating on movies, music & video games: www.FLAMEDROP.com, and organizes film festivals like the South African HORRORFEST, X FEST and CELLUDROID: www.HorrorFest.info / www.xfest.org / www.celludroid.net, which is hooked up to his Shadow Realm, inc. Horror portal www.SHADOWREALMinc.com

Greg moved to the West Coast where he edits a community paper.

Diccon remained in the UK and joined Pagan Altar. www.MySpace.com/PaganAltar

Johan released several albums with his Namibian based Arcana XXII and moved on to Ruacana and The Electric Dead.

2006 saw the 10th Anniversary of V.O.D's classic Bloedrivier album and a special edition was released late-2006 in South Africa (the country where this local band's CD could only be obtained by import, until now!).

2007 Paul will be working on a book with Marq Vas (Metalmorphosis) and Mike Gill (Urban Assault) documenting Heavy music in South Africa (subsequently postponed).

2009 marked a decade since V.O.D played together, and the Voice Of Destruction reunion tour hit festivals and venues across South African incl. Ramfest, Zeplins, The Doors, Klein Libertas Theatre, and The Assembly. in August it was followed by the release of the 3hr DVD "The V.O.D Archives Vol. II: Live '93 & Europe '95 - '96". To be followed by the retrospective CD "The V.O.D Archives Vol. III: Return To The Great Abyss".

2008 / 2009 the V.O.D classic JMSP appears on the KOPSKOOT! compilation album, which pulled together 16 heavy songs in Afrikaans. Produced and compiled by Paul, the album also includes K.O.B.U.S., Terminatryx, F8, Die Kruis, Battery 9, Van Coke Kartel, Insek, Mind Assault, Andre' Van Der Walt, Somerfan, Lion's Pride, Conquest For Death etc.

2010 will see the definitive V.O.Documentary - 25 Years Of Destruction, the insode story on the Godfathers of South African Metal.