VOIVOD's New Concept Album Tentatively Due In Late 2027
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In a new interview with Robert Cavuoto of Metal Rules, VOIVOD's drummer and founding member Michel "Away" Langevin spoke about how the band's "Symphonique" live album, a special collaboration with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra (Orchestre Symphonique De Québec),inspired the songwriting process for new material from Canada's progressive sci-fi metal innovators. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think that the symphonic concerts really influenced us in the writing and recording of the future studio album. In between tours, we are doing — we write a new album, and we are recording the album three songs at a time. And I think it's gonna sound a bit like a movie soundtrack. It's a concept album with the [VOIVOD mascot cyborg] Korgull coming back and everything. So, it's kind of interesting what's going on right now."
Elaborating on VOIVOD's creative mindset at the moment, Away said: "We're trying to be more and more experimental. And the last couple of albums were pretty intricate, and we won awards for them, so it's giving us confidence. And we do have a secret weapon — it's Chewy [Daniel Mongrain], our guitar player. He teaches jazz at college, and he has a lot of notions. And he already charted music for [VOIVOD's 2018 album] 'The Wake'. We had the string quartet for the Montreal Jazz Festival and [2020's] 'The End Of Dormancy' EP, he charted parts for a brass quintet. And so we try to include newer sounds in our music that will make it even more like a journey for the listener. There are no limits for us, it seems like, so we're gonna try to push it really."
Asked when he thinks the new VOIVOD album will be released, Away said: "We have so many shows planned and so many projects in the works. I would say late next year [2027]. At least people will be able to enjoy the symphonic album. And also we have a video game coming out called 'Nuclear Warrior', and it's based on end-of-'80s, early-'90s aesthetics. And again, we are all involved. I supplied a lot of low-res art Chewy's working on turning the VOIVOD music into 8-bit style. [VOIVOD frontman] Snake [Denis Bélanger] is doing the voice for the main character, and [VOIVOD bassist] Rocky [Dominic Laroche] is testing the game, so it's pretty fun. And the documentary 'We Are Connected' is coming out soon as well. And we just released a book with Jeff Wagner, 'Always Moving' — it's more than 500 pages long. So many things are in the works, and tons of reissues all the time."
Away added: "I've dedicated my life to VOIVOD for 43 years now, and it's pretty fun to be able to release all of these projects, because the people into VOIVOD are very loyal. So we try to supply them with as much stuff as possible."
"Symphonique" is due on June 5, 2026 worldwide via Century Media Records. "Symphonique", which functions like an epic piece of cinema, showcases VOIVOD's pioneering futuristic metal with the strains of a symphony orchestra, and features a carefully curated VOIVOD best-of setlist composed of 12 songs across 73 minutes, recorded live on June 4, 2025, at the Grand Théâtre in Québec City, Canada.
VOIVOD previously played two shows with the Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal on January 29, 2025 and January 30, 2025 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Mongrain, who wrote an eight-minute arrangement for the brass quintet that performed with VOIVOD at the Montreal International Jazz Festival (Festival International de Jazz de Montréal) in June 2019, called the collaboration with the Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal "a dream come true."
VOIVOD's long-awaited official documentary, "We Are Connected", received its world premiere on July 29, 2024 at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec. Canada.
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
