VOIVOD’s Efficiency With Orchestre Symphonique De Québec To Be Recorded For Dwell Album

Canadian sci-fi steel innovators VOIVOD will carry out with the Orchestre Symphonique De Québec, carried out by Dina Gilbert, on June 4 at Grand Théâtre de Québec in Quebec Metropolis, Quebec, Canada. The present can be recorded for a attainable album.

“The issue with making a file is that it’s a must to pay numerous royalties, as a result of there are numerous musicians and it prices a fortune,” VOIVOD drummer Michel “Away” Langevin informed Le Soleil. “Nevertheless, we’re engaged on recording the Quebec Metropolis present and ultimately releasing it on vinyl or CD. We actually wish to try this.”

In line with Langevin, there are not any plans to launch a professionally filmed video of the live performance. “A DVD prices a lot, way more, so we forgot about that concept and centered on the audio,” he mentioned. “We’ve not but determined to show this efficiency right into a reside album, however we’re working very arduous on this main undertaking.”

VOIVOD beforehand performed two exhibits with the Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal on January 29 and January 30 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The band’s setlist on January 29 was as follows:

01. Experiment
02. Holographic Pondering
03. The Unknown Is aware of
04. The Finish Of Dormancy
05. Into My Hypercube
06. Forgotten In Area
07. Cosmic Drama
08. Pre-Ignition
09. Nuclear Battle
10. Fall
11. Tribal Convictions

Encore:

12. Astronomy Domine (PINK FLOYD cowl)

Concerning how the collaboration with the Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal took place, Langevin informed The Metallic Voice in a December 2024 interview: “Oh my God, I feel we have been dreaming about that without end. However it got here by a wierd chain of circumstances, the place I did an interview for the journal L’Itinéraire, for homeless individuals promoting magazines on the road, after which I did an interview with one of many journalists for the journal, and it ended up being revealed on-line by La Presse. After which the individuals directing the orchestra, the group, they had been made conscious of that by one of many musicians from the orchestra, which is a steel dude and he is a fan.”

The drummer continued: “It is humorous as a result of since my cousin Richard Langevin is married to Diane Dufresne, a well-known singer from Montreal, and she or he had accomplished the orchestra earlier than, so that they received in contact with him, as a result of I used to be mentioning him within the article as a result of he confirmed me how to attract. [Laughs] And anyhow, they phoned Richard, my cousin, and he phoned my mom. [Laughs] And once I got here again from touring with VOIVOD, I had a message on my answering machine saying that the orchestra had been in search of us. So, fairly wonderful.”

Langevin added: “We did not method [the orchestra], however we at all times talked about both doing symphonic exhibits or doing a soundtrack for a sci-fi film or one thing like that. It is a part of the desires now we have.”

VOIVOD guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain, who beforehand wrote an eight-minute association for the brass quintet that carried out with VOIVOD on the Montreal Worldwide Jazz Competition (Competition Worldwide de Jazz de Montréal) in June 2019, went on to say that the collaboration with the Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal is “a dream come true.”

“I by no means tried to write down for a complete orchestra,” he defined. “I do know just a little bit about it, learning orchestration at college and figuring out my music idea and all that. However what occurred is that my assist with the undertaking was to offer the music sheets to the arranger, Hugo Bégin. He did an incredible work. He took the music sheet that I wrote for guitar and bass. So he had a template to work on. And so he orchestrated it for the entire orchestra and added his personal colour to it. And it is very environment friendly. It is like a film soundtrack, just like the film we used to observe, like ‘Planet Of The Apes’ and ‘Ben-Hur’ and ‘Mad Max’ and all that. VOIVOD has been influenced because the starting by these motion pictures, so you may hear it, however with the entire orchestra, it is very thrilling. So I exchanged numerous e-mails and messages with Hugo, the arranger, and we labored actually arduous on it and he was actually, actually quick and environment friendly. And till the final minute, the final day, there was little modifications right here and there, nevertheless it’s gonna be wonderful. It is a dream come true, nevertheless it’s so huge that you just solely think about one thing like that in your wildest desires, however you recognize it isn’t gonna occur. So that is only a life-changing expertise, a bonus in a profession. It is gonna be grandiose.”

Added Langevin: “We’re additionally gonna put numerous work into the visuals with an organization referred to as Noisy Head. They’re actually excessive tech. It is gonna be spectacular. They did stuff for Lizzo or CHEMICAL BROTHERS. And likewise they did a symphonic present with the music of Harmonium. And so, yeah, it is gonna be fairly sci-fi visually as nicely.”

VOIVOD is a Canadian heavy steel band from Jonquière, Québec. Their musical fashion has modified a number of occasions because the band’s origin within the early Nineteen Eighties. Beginning out as a pace steel band, VOIVOD have added a mixture of progressive steel and thrash steel to create their very own distinctive steel fashion, and are credited as one of many “huge 4” Canadian thrash steel bands, together with SACRIFICE, RAZOR and ANNIHILATOR. They’re thought of by many as some of the influential steel bands from the ’80s, influencing and gaining reward from a number of bands and throughout quite a few genres.

VOIVOD discovered mainstream success within the late Nineteen Eighties with their fifth studio album, “Nothingface” (1989),which is the band’s solely album to enter The Billboard 200 chart, peaking at quantity 114.

VOIVOD‘s long-awaited official documentary, “We Are Related”, obtained its world premiere on July 29, 2024 on the Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition in Montreal, Quebec. Canada.

“We Are Related” dives deep into the 40-plus-year legacy of some of the unique and influential steel bands in historical past. From their explosive beginnings in Jonquière to their groundbreaking international journey, VOIVOD‘s story is one among unparalleled creativity, resilience, and evolution. The movie covers VOIVOD‘s historical past from unlikely origins in northern Québec on the peak of the Chilly Battle to underground success to sharing excursions and phases with IRON MAIDEN, RUSH and METALLICA. Included within the documentary are excessive and lows all through these 40 years, from major-label assist and Billboard recognition to seismic lineup adjustments and an occasion many critics claimed to be the tip of VOIVOD: the demise of co-founding guitarist and composer Dennis “Piggy” D’Amour.

Directed by Felipe Belalcazar and produced with full entry to the band’s archives, this movie options unique insights and appearances by steel icons like Tobias Forge (GHOST),Mikael Åkerfeldt (OPETH),Jason Newsted (METALLICA),Zach Blair (RISE AGAINST, GWAR),Tom G. Warrior (CELTIC FROST, TRIPTYKON) and Ivan Doroschuk (MEN WITHOUT HATS),amongst many others.

VOIVOD has been touring in assist of its newest album, “Morgöth Tales”, which was launched by way of Century Media, The Orchard and Sony Music.

The band’s 2022 launch, “Synchro Anarchy”, garnered vital acclaim, successful the 2023 Juno Award for “Finest Arduous Rock/Metallic Album” in Canada.

As soon as extra recorded and combined by Francis Perron at RadicArt Studio, mastered by Maor Appelbaum and produced by VOIVOD, “Morgöth Tales” contains contemporary studio re-recordings by the band’s present lineup of 9 particularly chosen, not-so-obvious picks from the band’s hyper-classy and very various again catalogue (between 1984 and 2003) in addition to a brand-new tune and the album’s title observe, “Morgöth Tales”.

Picture credit score: Catherine Deslauriers