VOIVOD To Return To Studio This Month To Complete 'Definitive' New Album

VOIVOD singer Denis "Snake" Belanger has told the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil that the band will return to the recording studio in late September to resume work on their 14th album, tentatively due in early 2006 via The End Records.

Only hours before he slipped into a coma last week due to complications from colon cancer, VOIVOD guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour gave the group's drummer, Michel "Away" Langevin, instructions to go to the guitarist's personal computer and lift the final guitar tracks Piggy had been working on for the upcoming CD. "He had to know that his days were numbered. And he wanted to make sure that the album would get done even after he was gone," stated Piggy's friend Lucien Francœur.

According to Snake, the upcoming album will be "the definitive VOIVOD" effort. "I am sure that Piggy would trust us to complete the project as a tribute to him," he said.

In a recent interview with Billboard.com, VOIVOD bassist Jason Newsted (ex-METALLICA) spoke about the material slated to appear on the group's next CD. "It's the most complete demos I've ever been involved in," he said. "[VOIVOD singer] Snake has already chosen his effects — exact timing of milliseconds for delay. We've had a long time to develop the demos, so there's about 23 or 25 songs that are absolutely listenable right now."

VOIVOD will be issuing their first DVD in October covering the band's original lineup period (1983-1991). Scheduled for release on October 25 via Music Video Distributors, "DVOD-1" features all the '80s videos, plus rare live and studio performances of classic VOIVOD songs. The band are also tentatively planning on releasing two more DVDs during the coming months. "DVOD-2" will contain footage shot during the Eric Forrest era of the band, while "DVOD-3" will cover the band's most recent lineup, including Newsted (a.k.a. Jasonic).

This past spring, D'Amour laid down guitar tracks for a reunion CD from the legendary AUT'CHOSE, a '70s band from Montreal. That album, "Chansons D'épouvante", was released in May via Disques Artic.

As previously reported, D'Amour died late Friday (Aug. 26) in a Montreal hospital from complications of advanced colon cancer. The 45-year-old guitarist had been diagnosed this summer and that the disease had spread to his liver, rendering the condition inoperable. Last Thursday, D'Amour slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness. He was surrounded by family and friends at the time of his death.

Piggy's funeral will be held today (Sept. 1) in Jonquière, Quebec.