VOIVOD Announces New Studio Album, 'Synchro Anarchy'

Canadian progressive sci-fi metal innovators VOIVOD will release their new studio album, "Synchro Anarchy", on February 11, 2022 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2018's "The Wake" was produced by Francis Perron at RadicArt Studio and features cover artwork created by VOIVOD drummer Michel "Away" Langevin.

Langevin comments: "We are eager to present our latest work, a real collaborative effort. The new album represents countless hours of writing, demoing, recording, mixing and so on. The band and Francis Perron at RadicArt Studio gave their very best to make it happen under unusual circumstances, which led us to call it 'Synchro Anarchy'. We feel that the sound and music are 100% VOIVOD, and we hope everyone will enjoy it as much as we had fun making it. We certainly can't wait to play it live."

"Synchro Anarchy" track listing:

01. Paranormalium
02. Synchro Anarchy
03. Planet Eaters
04. Mind Clock
05. Sleeves Off
06. Holographic Thinking
07. The World Today
08. Quest For Nothing
09. Memory Failure

Further details about the album's release formats, a first single and video, as well as the start of the pre-order campaign will be announced on Friday, December 10.

Seven months ago, VOIVOD guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain told The Metal Voice that he and his bandmates were "still in the writing process" for follow-up to 2018's "The Wake". He said: "We're still sharing files and trying to catch up and put more time into it. I think the situation will get better and maybe we'll have a chance to meet more often and jam together; that's where the magic happens, usually. But we've learned to work in this context as well. And that's cool, because I received a bunch of tracks from Away [drummer Michel Langevin], who is programming drums in Logic [audio software] with his computer, and it sounded exactly like Away's playing. I was super impressed, because sometimes when you use a computer, it kind of sounds square. But everything was perfect. So it's really fun to do. It's a different way. So it's gonna bring it different ideas, I think, if we welcome it in a creative way."

Regarding the musical direction of the new VOIVOD material, Mongrain said: "[It's] hard to tell at the moment, but personally, I feel like [injecting] a little bit more thrashy [elements and] some dirtiness, so to speak, to the sound. Compexity has always been part of my influence in songwriting — I don't know what's the problem with me, but it's always there, so I'm not worrying about that side. But maybe [make it] a bit less polished and more rock and roll, I guess."

VOIVOD released a new live album, "Lost Machine - Live", in November 2020 via Century Media Records. The disc was recorded in Québec City during the worldwide touring cycle for "The Wake".

In the summer of 2020, VOIVOD released a new three-track 12-inch vinyl and digital EP titled "The End Of Dormancy" via Century Media Records. The EP is centered around a special "Metal Section" version of the title track (off VOIVOD's latest album, "The Wake") with added trumpets, saxophone and trombones. The complementary songs on this release are exclusive live versions of "The End Of Dormancy (Metal Section)" and the group's classic "The Unknown Knows", recorded at Montreal Jazz Fest 2019.

"The End Of Dormancy" EP came with artwork by Langevin and is available on 180-fram 12-inch vinyl.