KATORZ

Piggy's first post-humous album (apparently there might be more to come) and the guitar maestro left us something good from outer space. Although not as classic as "Dimension Hatross", "NothingFace" or others, it is nonetheless a good album, especially in comparison to other metal contemporaries. Much in the vein of previous outing "Voivod". As with other Voivod albums, a good amount of spins are recquired in order to fully appreciate the scope of this work. Standout tracks after a few spins are : "Red my Mind", "Silly Clones" and "The X-Stream".

Thank you Voivod for doing what must have been a difficult, heartwrenching work. I am sure Piggy would be proud of this one.

R.I.P Piggy !

Katorz marks what will likely be the end of Voivod. While the album was being recorded, founding guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour died of cancer. He was one of the greatest metal guitarists who ever lived, and barely anyone has heard of him. Determined to ensure the fans had one last hurrah, the rest of the band added their parts to Piggy's completed guitar demos and released this album. Like the previous eponymous effort, Katorz is fairly straight-foward, though it contains elements of old. As always, Piggy's fretwork is original and inspired. Jason's Newsted proves a fitting bassist, which is hard considering that the excellent Jean-Yves Theriault once played in Voivod. Away's drumming is great and Snake's vox, though not great, fit the band.

Standout tracks include Dognation, Polaroids, and, of course, The X-Stream. I was so happy when this song appeared on Guitar Hero II, because it's catchy, fun, and perhaps it will teach people who Piggy was.

While all of the songs are enjoyable, it's a bit to straight-forward to call prog, plus it's not the greatest of swan songs. Still, any fan of Voivod should own this album simply because it's the end of the line for one of metal's most challenging acts. R.I.P. Piggy.

"Katorz" is the eleventh full-length studio album by Canadian metal act Voivod. The album was released through The End Records/Nuclear Blast Records in July 2006. It´s the successor to the 2003 eponymously titled album. Although guitarist Denis "Piggy" D-Amour died from complications from colon cancer in August 2005 (aged 45), D-Amour had recorded both his guitar parts and Jason "Jasonic" Newsted´s bass parts for the material featured on "Katorz" before his death. He had even left instructions for the remaining members on how he imagened the songs to sound. An incredibly innovative guitarist and songwriter...this is D-Amour´s swansong (although "Infini" (2009) showed that D-Amour had even more material written and hidden in his archives).

So the recording process of "Katorz" was relatively unusual, as the drum and vocal parts were recorded after the guitar and bass parts. I´m not sure how that works for a drummer, but they may have had to adjust the tempos of the original guitar/bass recordings to the drum tracks.

Stylistically the material on "Katorz" sounds like a more raw, unpolished, and attitude filled version of the material found on the preceding album (both albums are if compared to earlier Voivod releases, closest to the style on "Angel Rat" (1991)). So no stylistic surprises (this is still hard rocking heavy metal with a touch of dissonance and Denis "Snake" Bélanger´s unique punked vocals on top), but the sound production has a touch of demo quality to it, which is of course only natural given the circumstances of the recording process. The extra rawness of the sound actually becomes Voivod very well and they don´t sound as domesticated as they did on the last album.

It´s not that "Katorz" is a great revelation in the discography of Voivod and this period of Voivod is arguably one of the least interesting, but when that is said "Katorz" is still a pretty decent quality release and I find myself enjoying it more than I enjoyed the self-titled release from 2003. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

Katorz is the first of two albums that were recorded after guitar player Piggy's death. Fans will know he had a computer full of recorded riffs, solos and song ideas. By means of tribute to their beloved guitar wizard and friend, the band chose to assemble the available material into songs. And they did a terrific job!

The song writing and style of Katorz is very similar to the 2003 come-back album Voivod, meaning we get an upbeat and rocking version of classic Voivod. The riffs and songs are a lot less progressive then on their masterpieces from the end of the 80's but Piggy's riffs and chords remain an interesting and original feature.

It is quite amazing how natural the songs flow. Given the source of this material I had expected a more disjointed feel and more haphazard transitions in the songs. But no complaints about this at all. Snake's vocals are in better shape then on the preceding album. He still strains his voice but it isn't as grating and tuneless as on the preceding album. Away and Jasonic lay down a solid rhythmic basis.

Every song is good on this album but none strikes me as really remarkable. As such I appreciate it slightly less then Voivod, which suffered from its length, but had more real highlights. A good album for the fans and a worthy tribute to one of the greatest guitar players in metal.