VOIVOD Signs With CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS

Century Media Records has announced the signing of Canadian metal innovators VOIVOD.

To coincide with the band's 30th anniversary — the band was founded in late January 1983 — VOIVOD's own company, Iron Gang Factory, has joined forces with global powerhouse Century Media to release the group's new album, "Target Earth", on January 22, 2013 (one day earlier internationally).

Commented VOIVOD: "Our goal has been to find a partner for Iron Gang Factory to help get new VOIVOD music to the world and Century Media, we are proud to say, is the right company to do so globally. We can't wait to release tour and promote 'Target Earth'."

"Target Earth" was recorded in January at Pierre Rémillard's (OBLIVEON, CRYPTOPSY, KRISIUN, MISERY INDEX) Wild Studio in a small town called St-Zénon in Quebec, Canada. The follow-up to 2009's "Infini" will contain the band's first music to be written with new guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain (MARTYR) following the passing of original axeman Denis "Piggy" D'Amour in 2005.

VOIVOD drummer Michel "Away" Langevin recently unveiled the band's new logo which will be used on the upcoming CD. Check it out below.

Several photos from the recording sessions can be found on the band's Facebook page.

According to a posting on the page, fans can "expect something in the vein of 'Nothingface' with some elements from the other albums. It will be a classic VOIVOD album."

Regarding what the new VOIVOD songs sound like, Mongrain said in a recent interview, "As a VOIVOD fan since I am 12 years old and early rise of VOIVOD in late '80s and everything, I think… I'm in conflict of interest right now. [Laughs] I like the old stuff as much as the new stuff, so I think it's a blend of everything. It's really a team work and Blacky [Jean-Yves Thériault] is back on the 'blower bass' — he's got the original sound — and we're having a blast jamming, improvising and writing. I think it's working pretty good."

On the topic of the lyrical themes covered in the new VOIVOD tracks, singer Denis "Snake" Bélanger said, "The song we played [on the recent European tour] ['Kaleidos'] is about conspiracy involving drugs and the FBI… [Laughs] It's hard to describe because we're kind of early in the process. There's another song called 'Target Earth', which is more like a spacy, conspiracy, controlling the information around the world. The main thing is the 'war' of information. You know, somebody Osama Bin Laden is dead, someone [else] says he's not… It gets to a point where everybody has his own story and nobody is sure what the truth is. There's people above everything controlling the information."

In an interview with Exclaim.ca, Away stated about VOIVOD's forthcoming studio album, "It's more in the progressive metal vein, so it's reminiscent of the 'Dimension Hatröss' era."

VOIVOD debuted the "Target Earth" title track during their April 12 concert at the Roadburn festival at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

VOIVOD will embark on a European headlining tour in October. They will also play several shows in Spain as the support act for ARCH ENEMY.

Fan-filmed video footage of VOIVOD performing the title track of their forthcoming album, "Target Earth", on June 29 at Zone Portuaire de Chicoutimi in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada can be seen below.

VOIVOD 2012 is:

Denis "Snake" Bélanger - Vocals
Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain - Guitar
Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault - Bass
Michel "Away" Langevin - Drums