Katorz (CD - 2006)

Unknown Contributor Roles: Jason Newsted; Michel Langevin.

The storied, decades-long career of Montreal legends Voivod--the most inventive and influential thrash/prog-metal group possibly ever--turned a tragic chapter in August 2005, following the death of guitarist and founding member Denis "Piggy" D'Amour from cancer. It was Piggy's preternatural sense that his time was nearly up that led him to record guitar tracks for several albums' worth of material before he passed, as well as instructions for their use.

KATORZ is the first installment of this material, finished by original members Snake on vocals, Away on drums, and former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. The result is a guitar-thick, fairly straight-ahead, yet extremely engaging affair that cuts through the artsy murk of their previous album, and returns the group to a high-water mark not heard since 1989's NOTHINGFACE. Intense, paranoid, and calculated, KATORZ will remain a bittersweet send-off to Piggy, but with its determined charge, one that will fuel the band's creative vault for years to come.

2005 was a rough year for one of metal's most respected bands, Voivod, as their co-founding member, Piggy, passed away at the age of 45. But before his death, the guitarist laid down a multitude of completed parts for songs the group was in the midst of working on. So as a tribute of sorts to their friend, Voivod finished off a handful of these tracks, and issued them as 2006's Katorz (a title that the late guitarist had scrawled on a CD demo). Interestingly, although they're known primarily for prog-metal explorations (remember the near 20-minute "Jack Luminous?"), Voivod are at their most straightforward and economical on Katorz, especially such tracks as "Dognation" and the album opening "The Getaway." And even though they started off of as an extreme thrash metal band (originally influenced more by Venom than Pink Floyd), Voivod is not afraid to inject some melody into the proceedings, as evidenced by "Odds and Frauds." Arguably their most consistent album from front to back since 1989's metal classic Nothingface, Katorz serves as a fitting send-off to one of metal's most underrated guitarists. With the tracks on Katorz this strong, it bodes well for the additional unfinished material the group plans to complete and release at some point in the future. ~ Greg Prato minimize