Here's a review of the new Voivod record submitted to one of the site I write for... Feel free to comment or tear my ass to shreds...
Artist:: Voivod
Title:: Katorz
Genre:: Metal
Label:: The End Records
Year:: 2006
Rating:: 6/10
Reviewer:: SIXXSWINE
As we all know, fan or not Denis “Piggy” D’Amour long-time guitarist and co-founder of passed away in 2005. At the time of his passing Voivod had written and tracked several songs that would be used for the follow up to their self-titled record issued in 2003. When Piggy passed away, it put Voivod’s future in limbo, would there be a new record? Would there no be a new record? Keep in mind Voivod had experience somewhat of a resurgence, they had added bass player Jason Newsted, they issued a critically acclaimed record and had gotten a slot on Ozzfest , which earned them scores new fans and promptly sent the old fans running to the record stores to pick up the self-titled record. They were riding high on an underground scale, then the bottom fell out.
Katorz is Voivod’s 14th overall release and it was put together by the surviving members of Voivod as a tribute to their beloved fallen guitarist “Piggy.” Voivod has been known for their off the wall arraignments and their progressive tendencies, there is nothing like that on Katorz at least not enough of it. This record is more of a contemporary record, it’s more straight forward it and sounds current, it is very garagey and under produced. For this project they used producer Glen Robinson, whom they had worked with on the Nothingface record. They musicianship is great that’s a given, Snake has sounded better, but there is a decline with age, there is material on this record that might have been better suited for someone else to sing. It sounds like he is under performing because he’s just the same guy he was back in the early days. Sonically Newsted doesn’t add anything bottomendwise to the songs, he’s going through the motions, the drumming is decent but over shadowed by the various other “things” going on. I question how much of this record Piggy would have authorized for use, there is some fantastic guitar playing and there is stuff where he is under performing. Maybe that was the vision at the beginning of the project? This record is stripped down, still maintains some of the trademark sound but not enough to make this a worth while experience. The standout tracks on Katorz are; “The Getaway,” “Silly Clones,” “No Angel,” and “Polaroids,” solid songs, but they just can’t save the entire project. This record is on par with Metallica’s St. Anger, which is funny because that’s the making of that record that sent “Jasonic” running for the backdoor. Unfortunately when someone dies, there is a risk in releasing material that they were not around to sanction, such is the case here.
1. The Getaway 2. Dognation 3. Mr. Clean 4. After All 5. Odds and Frauds 6. Red My Mind 7. Silly Clones 8. No Angel 9. The X-Stream 10. Polaroids
