The Last Voivod Album?

I saw this posted today and while this should be the last album of material written by Piggy it may also be the last record put out under the Voivod name.
If this turns out to be the last "Voivod" record i'll be a little sad but man what a great band.

VOIVOD To Release Infini June 23rd On Sonic Unyon; Official Artwork Revealed For Final Recordings With Guitarist Denis D’Amour

Posted on Friday, April 17, 2009 at 16:36:12 EST


BraveWords.com has received the following:

Quebec metal innovators VOIVOD have the set release date for their final album featuring guitarist Denis ‘Piggy’ D’Amour. The album, Infini, will be released on Tuesday, June 23rd in Canada by Sonic Unyon, something we are very excited about as long time fans and supporters of the band. It will also be released the same day stateside in the US by Relapse Records.

The album features that last thirteen songs written by Piggy and again features bassist Jason ‘Jasonic’ Newsted (ex-METALLICA). Jason plays bass on all songs and also mixed the album. Infini will be released as a deluxe, digipack CD and will also be issued on vinyl as a double LP.

Tracklisting for the album is as follows: 'God Phones', 'From The Cave', 'Earthache', 'Global Warning', 'A Room With A V.U.', 'Destroy After Reading', 'Treasure Chest', 'Krap Radio', 'In Orbit', 'Deathproof', 'Pyramidome', 'Morpheus' and 'Volcano'.

Voivod’s newest record Infini may be their last as Voivod. This was a record built from the final songs created by the band with Denis D’Amour aka Piggy. All his original demo guitar tracks appear as they were recorded, no re-amping, no overdubs, just Piggy as he played the tracks he envisioned in his small bachelor apartment, the amp in the bathroom, capturing his performance with the laptop given to him by Jason.

There were many discussions and ideas as to how to complete these recordings of songs that had never been actually performed with the whole band in one room. Drummer Michel ‘Away’ Langevin went into a studio in Montreal with engineer Glen Robinson and tracked his drum parts, and Jason waited anxiously to get the tracks and add his bass which he recorded with Enrique Gonzalez Müller at Fantasy Studios in San Francisco, then Denis ‘Snake’ Belanger tracked his vocals with Glen in Montreal afterwards. Jason and Enrique mixed the record in San Francisco over the holidays and Infini was born.

Truly a collaborative effort, Infini is an album that came together from a respect and belief that these final Voivod songs deserved to be heard. In light of this sentiment, the band agreed to play some summer festivals in 2008 with original bass player Jean-Yves ‘Blacky’
Theriault and fellow Montrealer Dan Mongrain of the band MARTYR on guitar, playing all classic era Voivod material. Dan is a technical wizard on guitar; his own band Martyr is a well respected extreme prog metal band from Montreal. It was a risky move but the fans and the band were happy with the outcome so much so that this lineup will play more live shows this summer. (Please visit here for all dates.)

Snake summed it up this way, “If we don’t play live again then the songs die with Piggy and he wouldn’t want that, his genius deserves to be heard by new and life long fans.”

Jason Newsted is still a member of Voivod and one day there may be live shows performing the songs from the last three records that Jason was very much a part of (Voivod, Katorz and Infini). Currently the band is working on a short clip on the making of Infini.

I'm looking forward to hearing this one. Voivod is a long-time favorite and Piggy was such a brilliant guitarist.

Haven't heard a Voivod release in the passing of several moons. I think I missed the last two efforts. What were the last two, and were they any good? The last new title I was there for was Phobos, and I loved that very blatant departure from their earlier sound. In fact, I've cared for pretty much every twist and turn this band has taken to some degree or another. Do they let Jasonic write any material?

I never got this band... but i tried.

The last two albums (Voivod & Katorz) were more "straight-ahead", but still sounded only like Voivod. The return of Snake to the lineup was welcomed.

the last two blew chucks. i don't hold out any hope for this one either.

It's Voivod, I'll get it.

As odd as it is, I love Away's artwork.

nevermore wrote:

As odd as it is, I love Away's artwork.

Definitely, you can never mistake it for anyone else.

There hasn't been a Voivod album I've really cared for in a LONG time. I'm sure this one will not make a difference in that.

What's the consensus opinion on the 'Phobos' release here? I really thought that it was 'extra-fancy' in its presentation, sorta like the toothpicks or the olives. They must have put something special in it to give it that extra 'umph!', the extras kick.

All silliness set aside for a later time, I've already stated that I've found at least something appealing about each and every one of this band's various directional shifts...but, I really do thunk that they could have managed somewhat of a lengthy career anchor by remaining somewhere around the Nothingface/Angel Rat/Outer Limits direction.

I'm aware that Nothingface was the band's best sellng release, but now, in retrospect, I have much more love for The Outer Limits. Of course, it's a more mainstream release, but the Vods really did seem to have mastered the craft of songwriting on that one. Let's be honest with ourselves here...plenty of that early Voivod material was just weak in the song-structuring dept. Strong on ideas, improv and experimentation...but weak on assembling them all.

Angel Rat and The Outer Limits are my personal favorites. I also enjoy all their stylistic shifts through the years but believe they captured the essence on those two records.

Once Snake & Blacky left they returned to a thrashier sound, but all the distinctive Piggy guitar heroics were ever present. I liked the albums they released with the trio lineup (Negatron, Phobos and the Kronik EP), they are just different.

If I run into it, I'll probably pick it up. A true end to an era.

My bro is a HUGE VoiVod fan so I'm sure he has this release date marked on his calendar already...

As for me, I can take or leave most of their stuff but I do dig the NOTHINGFACE and OUTER LIMITS albums.

I'm a casual fan of these guys, but I can respect the fact that they should at the very least, retire the band name of Voivod. If the surviving members want to continue on, do it under a different name. They've had a long enough career that they don't need to carry on with the Voivod name. If they were still a young-ish band trying to build a career for themselves, I could see them trying to soldier on with a new guitritst, but at this point, let it go. Go out with some dignity.

As for the artwork, I didn't care much for it, but it certainly had a style and creativity all it's own. It fit in perfect with the bands own unique style and creativity. There was no mistaking it.

I could always find something to like about pretty much all the Voivod releases.
No matter how much they shifted their sound around I somehow ended up liking it, as generally the effort and quality was there and they were always unmistakably Voivod albums.

I still spin Killing Technology, Dimension Hatross, Nothingface, Outer Limits, Phobos, S/T, and Katorz albums on a regular basis. I can also pull out their first couple of albums as well as the others every once in a while as there is still some good stuff on those records too.
I always thought that these guys were one of the most unique bands out there and while their material was certainly not always perfect in concept and execution, the vision and effort and quality was typically there.

I'm also one who loves the artwork. It's unique and has a style that I like, I guess mainly because none of their album covers played to heavy music artwork stereotypes. I also loved the sci-fi themes in their earlier work. I'm a sucker for well written sci-fi themed metal.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I'm a casual fan of these guys, but I can respect the fact that they should at the very least, retire the band name of Voivod. If the surviving members want to continue on, do it under a different name. They've had a long enough career that they don't need to carry on with the Voivod name.

I don't think they intend to do that, the last album and this one both feature Piggy's home recordings. They've done a few shows with each release, just to help promote the albums. His guitar playing WAS the integral ingredient to this band, one of those guys that is irreplaceable in my opinion.

detuned wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I'm a casual fan of these guys, but I can respect the fact that they should at the very least, retire the band name of Voivod. If the surviving members want to continue on, do it under a different name. They've had a long enough career that they don't need to carry on with the Voivod name.

I don't think they intend to do that, the last album and this one both feature Piggy's home recordings. They've done a few shows with each release, just to help promote the albums. His guitar playing WAS the integral ingredient to this band, one of those guys that is irreplaceable in my opinion.

Yea, I didn't get the impression they were either. I was just throwing that out there in case Jasonic or Away or any members of their management team ever decide to log on to the Heart of Metal boards looking for opinions of fair-weather fans as to how they should direct their future business careers.

i dont care for the cover but this should be interesting to hear as i quite enjoy this band

nevermore wrote:

As odd as it is, I love Away's artwork.

QFT! His stuff on "Nothingface" was brilliant! I am saddened that they are putting Voivod to rest after this album, but hopefully the remaining members will reform into a new band under a new moniker & carry on the crazy metal sound they are known for. I look forward to this album.