10/31/2012 21:23

Voivod

Voivod: new album 'Target Earth' in January 2013

Canadian progressive metal pioneers Voivod have premiered the artwork to their 13th studio album, 'Target Earth'. The original art was once again drawn by drummer, Away (Michel Langevin) and features color schemes from each one of the band's previous albums.

Track listing:
1. Target Earth
2. Kluskap O'Kom
3. Empathy for the Enemy
4. Mechanical Mind
5. Warchaic
6. Resistance
7. Kaleidos
8. Corps Étranger
9. Artefact
10. Defiance

'Target Earth' was recorded at producer Pierre Rémillard's Wild Studios in Quebec and mixed by Sanford Parker (Pelican, Nachtmystium) at Hypercube Recording Studio. The album will be available as a CD, gatefold double vinyl and a limited edition deluxe box set (details on that to be announced soon).

The album brings back original bass player, Blacky (Jean Yves Thériault), marking his first recordings with the band since 1991's 'Angel Rat'. It's also the first to feature guitarist, Chewy (Dan Mongrain), who cut his teeth playing guitar to the late Denis D'Amour's riffs and thus has matched his style to a tee. Voivod, as a full group, hadn't sat down to write a record together since 2003's self-titled album. The end result harkens back to the group's late 80s output and after 30 years together as a band, one of their best yet.

'Target Earth' is due for release on January 21st, 2013 in Europe and January 22nd, 2013 in North America via Century Media Records and the album's first single, 'Mechanical Mind', has been recently released as digital download and as a 7" vinyl (with the Voivod skull etching as the "b-side"). The 7" EP version of 'Mechanical Mind' is available in a total pressing of hand-numbered 1000x hand-numbered copies (# 001 - 200 on red vinyl, # 201 - 400 on blue vinyl and # 401 - 1000 on black vinyl).

(source: Century Media)

(older news about the topic:)

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, Cpyptopsy, 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.

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

(source: Blabbermouth.net)