Voivod: Denis Belanger (vocals); Denis d'Amour (guitar); Jason Newsted (bass guitar); Michel Langevin (drums).

Unknown Contributor Roles: Jason Newsted; Michel Langevin.

The storied, decades-long career of Montreal legends Voivod--the most inventive and influential thrash/prog-metal group possibly ever--turned a tragic chapter in August 2005, following the death of guitarist and founding member Denis "Piggy" D'Amour from cancer. It was Piggy's preternatural sense that his time was nearly up that led him to record guitar tracks for several albums' worth of material before he passed, as well as instructions for their use.

KATORZ is the first installment of this material, finished by original members Snake on vocals, Away on drums, and former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. The result is a guitar-thick, fairly straight-ahead, yet extremely engaging affair that cuts through the artsy murk of their previous album, and returns the group to a high-water mark not heard since 1989's NOTHINGFACE. Intense, paranoid, and calculated, KATORZ will remain a bittersweet send-off to Piggy, but with its determined charge, one that will fuel the band's creative vault for years to come.

Spin (p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Propulsive and swinging, devoid of egotism and ugliness, climaxing with heavy music's answer to Talking Heads' 'Life During Wartime'..."

CMJ (p.23) - "Voivod have always experimented, pushing the parameters of metal by twisting prog with thrash and alt-rock, and the cacophonic KATORZ is no different."