Blabbemouth.com review
VOIVOD - "Voivod" (Chophouse/Surfdog) (8 /10)

It is a tragic, heartbreaking irony that VOIVOD's best album in a long, long time is most likely the band's final one as well. "Katorz", the Canadian group's 14th offering, was not even made in the conventional manner: the band took demos for the disc made by late, beloved guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour and completed the album after his death last year from cancer. The results place D'Amour's inventive and unique guitarwork front and center throughout the record, but it also seems as if the rest of the group — vocalist Denis "Snake" Belanger, drummer Michel "Away" Langevin and bassist Jason "Jasonic" Newsted — have stepped up, giving "Katorz" an energy that their last studio effort, 2003's "Voivod", couldn't quite muster.

Fans of the band's earlier, noisier thrash albums take note: you won't find much to like here, as VOIVOD evolved out of that sound as far back as 1989's "Nothingface". But "Katorz" does channel that album's progression toward a catchier style of futuristic heavy rock, incorporating some of the commercial aspects of 1991's "Angel Rat" and '93's "The Outer Limits" as well. D'Amour's barrage of riffs here are among the meatiest and thickest the guitarist had written in a long while, and it's sad to ponder that the portly axeman might have risen to the occasion even more than usual when faced with his own mortality.

In any case, D'Amour's work drives "Katorz" from one propulsive tune to another, with the opening trio of "The Getaway", "Dognation" and "Mr. Clean" among the hardest-hitting and most infectious tunes VOIVOD has recorded in years. "Silly Clones" lets Langevin and Newsted take center stage as the solid rhythm section that these two seasoned musicians are, although D'Amour is never too far in the background. Belanger, meanwhile, delivers some of the most impassioned performances of his career on "Clones", the aforementioned "The Getaway" and "Odds And Frauds", with the lyrics this time around a bit more biting and clever, without losing VOIVOD's trademark sci-fi surrealism.

As with many current albums, "Katorz" seems to lose steam as it barrels toward the finish line with the meandering "No Angel", although "The X-Stream" and "Polaroids" nearly regain the bounce and energy of the album's earlier songs. Yet the group's trademark sound remains intact throughout and the emphasis on Piggy's contributions is a fitting and loving tribute to this long-underrated guitarist's considerable talents. It may be difficult not to sentimentalize "Katorz" because of the loss of this gifted musician (not to mention gentle, funny and likable human being), but it's so often true that we don't know what we had until it's gone. Like any longstanding rock group, VOIVOD has had its ups and downs in terms of both output and success. If "Katorz" is the band's last work — and it's a credit to modern recording technology that we have it at all — then it's a fitting testament to a fallen metal soldier and a worthy goodbye for one of heavy music's most original and distinctive bands.

- Don Kaye

www.stylusmagazine.com review
Recording a rock band these days is a disjointed process. Typically, the drummer records first, then guitars, then vocals. Mixing and mastering follow, each of which affects an album like editing affects a film. What we end up hearing as a singular entity almost always involves multiple instances of time and space. The Postal Service and Alias & Tarsier arose through post and email, respectively, but Voivod's Katorz, through tragic circumstances, one-ups them. Denis "Piggy" D'Amour recorded the guitar tracks for the album into his laptop prior to his death in August 2005 of colon cancer. His bandmates pulled the tracks from his computer, arranged them into songs, and recorded parts around them.

Voivod began in the early '80s as a raw, wildly intense proto-thrash outfit. After two albums, the Canadian band began forging its identity on 1987's Killing Technology. It introduced sci-fi elements, lyrical and sonic, that the band honed on Dimension Hatross and arguably perfected on 1989's classic Nothingface. Every Voivod album sounds different, but a common thread running through the band's work is abstraction; D'Amour often layers complex, dissonant chords on top of meaty riffs, liberally using alternate tunings and effects (Voivod's cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine" is a veritable feast of guitar tones). In 1995, Eric Forrest replaced original singer Denis "Snake" Belanger for three albums that reintroduced the band's early aggression in focused form. However, Forrest was badly hurt in a car accident, and the band disbanded. Eventually, D'Amour and drummer Michel "Away" Langevin reunited with Belanger, and enlisted ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted for a strong, self-titled comeback in 2003.

In summer 2004, D'Amour was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. Shortly before his death, he called Langevin to his bedside and presented him with around twenty-four songs of guitar and bass tracks he and Newsted had done. D'Amour had an amazingly realized vision of the songs, recording all necessary embellishments and solos and even instructing that his tracks be re-amped (played through an amp and re-mic'ed) to bolster their tone.

Re-amp his guitars the band did, and they sound massive. When Newsted joined Voivod, he brought a directness that made the band sound rawer and less spacy. It's this more rocking Voivod that bursts from the speakers on Katorz. Langevin ably lays down drums to D'Amour's guitars, a difficult task given that the tracks often wavered in time. As a result, the album ironically sounds live—like a band playing together in the studio. D'Amour's driving riffs have a '70s hard rock quality (the MC5 and Steppenwolf come to mind), and would likely appeal to fans of Queens of the Stone Age. Newsted's fluid bass lines also have a classic rock feel. But it wouldn't be Voivod without spiky dissonance, which rears its head on "Dognation" and "Red My Mind." After 20+ years, Belanger's vocals aren't so bratty anymore—they even sound downright wise on "Odds and Frauds" and "No Angel." The songs are catchy, the sound is electric, and, as he's done throughout Voivod's career, Langevin provides quirky, tasteful artwork.

In short, this is a package D'Amour would be proud of. Sam Dunn, director of Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, is making a documentary about Katorz and D'Amour's life. Supposedly his laptop has another album's worth of material, including rare acoustic guitar work. It may be difficult for his bandmates to go into the studio again and record to his "ghost" tracks, but let's hope they do.

Allmusic.com review
2005 was a rough year for one of metal's most respected bands, Voivod, as their co-founding member, Piggy, passed away at the age of 45. But before his death, the guitarist laid down a multitude of completed parts for songs the group was in the midst of working on. So as a tribute of sorts to their friend, Voivod finished off a handful of these tracks, and issued them as 2006's Katorz (a title that the late guitarist had scrawled on a CD demo). Interestingly, although they're known primarily for prog-metal explorations (remember the near 20-minute "Jack Luminous?"), Voivod are at their most straightforward and economical on Katorz, especially such tracks as "Dognation" and the album opening "The Getaway." And even though they started off of as an extreme thrash metal band (originally influenced more by Venom than Pink Floyd), Voivod is not afraid to inject some melody into the proceedings, as evidenced by "Odds and Frauds." Arguably their most consistent album from front to back since 1989's metal classic Nothingface, Katorz serves as a fitting send-off to one of metal's most underrated guitarists. With the tracks on Katorz this strong, it bodes well for the additional unfinished material the group plans to complete and release at some point in the future.

-Greg Prato