Voivod (band)

Voivod
Voivod at Hellfest 2013
Voivod at Hellfest 2013
Background information
OriginJonquière (Saguenay), Quebec, Canada
Genres
DiscographyVoivod discography
Years active1982–present
Labels
MembersMichel "Away" Langevin
Denis "Snake" Bélanger
Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain
Dominic "Rocky" Laroche
Past membersDenis "Piggy" D'Amour
Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault
Pierre St. Jean
Gilles Brisebois
Eric "E-Force" Forrest
Jason "Jasonic" Newsted
Websitewww.voivod.com Edit this at Wikidata

Voivod is a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière (now part of Saguenay) Quebec. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger, guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, drummer Michel "Away" Langevin and bassist Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault. The band has had numerous members changes throughout its 42-year career, with Langevin as the only consistent member. Their current line-up includes Langevin, Bélanger, Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain (guitar) and Dominic "Rocky" Laroche (bass).

Voivod's musical style has changed several times since its inception. Starting out as a speed metal band, they have added a mix of progressive and thrash metal to create their own unique metal style, and have been credited as progenitors of the "technical thrash metal" sound along with Coroner, Watchtower, Dark Angel, Mekong Delta, Anacrusis and Blind Illusion, among others.[1][2]

To date, Voivod have released sixteen studio albums, as well as one EP, one live album, two compilations, seven demos and one DVD featuring a live concert. They have been grouped with Sacrifice, Razor and Annihilator in the "Big Four" of Canadian thrash metal.[3] The band found mainstream success in the late 1980s with their fifth studio album Nothingface (1989), which is Voivod's only album to enter the Billboard 200 charts, peaking at number 114.[4] The band won the "Visionary" award at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards.[5] In 2019, Voivod's fourteenth studio album, The Wake, won the Juno Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year.[6] Voivod's most recent studio album Morgöth Tales, a collection of re-recorded songs, was released in July 2023.

  1. ^ "Prog Metal Legends Watchtower Are Back to Working on First New Music in Over Three Decades". Ultimate-Guitar.com. May 16, 2022.
  2. ^ "20 Of The Greatest Technical Thrash Albums Of The 1980's!". worshipmetal.com. March 29, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  3. ^ "13 Canadian Metal Albums Everyone Should Own". Kerrang!. May 2, 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  4. ^ "Voivod Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  5. ^ Munro, Scott (September 15, 2017). "Marillion, Anathema, Steve Hackett among Progressive Music Award winners". Prog Magazine. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  6. ^ "Voivod Won The Juno Award For 'Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year'". Kerrang!. March 17, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2022.