Katorz is the eleventh studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Voivod, released on July 25, 2006.

Katorz
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 25, 2006
Recorded2004–2006
StudioChophouse Records, California (original demos)
Studio Piccolo and Studio Multisons, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
GenreHeavy metal, thrash metal[1]
Length45:10
LabelThe End (US)
Nuclear Blast (Europe)
Victor (Japan)
ProducerGlen Robinson and Voivod
Voivod chronology
Voivod
(2003)
Katorz
(2006)
Infini
(2009)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blabbermouth.net8/10[3]
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles9.5/10[4]
Chronicles of Chaos8.5/10[5]
Metal Storm(favourable)[6]
Rock Hard8.5/10[7]
Stylus MagazineB+[8]

Demos for the album had been made, but before the band could properly begin recording it guitarist Denis D'Amour (a.k.a. Piggy) died on August 25, 2005, due to colon cancer. The guitar and bass tracks for Katorz had been recorded by D'Amour and bassist Jason Newsted (formerly of Metallica) on D'Amour's Mac at Newsted's house in California. When D'Amour would send the band a Pro Tools CD of the demos, he wrote "Katorz" on it, a phonetic spelling of "quatorze", the French word for fourteen.[9] After D'Amour's death, Langevin and Bélanger recorded their drum and vocal tracks, respectively, to be added to those existing tracks.[10] The song, "The X-Stream", is included in the videogame Guitar Hero II.

Track listing

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All lyrics are written by Denis Bélanger; all music is composed by Voivod

No.TitleLength
1."The Getaway"3:58
2."Dognation"4:06
3."Mr. Clean"4:16
4."After All"4:44
5."Odds & Frauds"4:50
6."Red My Mind"4:41
7."Silly Clones"3:18
8."No Angel"5:06
9."The X-Stream"4:58
10."Polaroids"5:08
Total length:45:10

Personnel

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Voivod
Additional musicians
Production
  • Glen Robinson – producer, mixing with Voivod
  • Dominique Lejeune, Olivier Ouimet – assistant engineers
  • Howie Weinberg – mastering at Masterdisk, New York

References

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  1. ^ "Metal Storm Awards 2006 - Metal Storm". Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  2. ^ Prato, Greg. Katorz at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  3. ^ Kaye, Don. "Voivod – "Katorz"". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  4. ^ Popoff, Martin (June 2, 2006). "Voivod – Katorz". Bravewords.com. Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  5. ^ Smit, Jackie (August 12, 2006). "Voivod – Katorz". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  6. ^ "Voivod – Katorz review". Metal Storm. May 25, 2006. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  7. ^ Mühlmann, Wolf-Rüdiger (2006). "Review Dynamit: Voivod – Katorz". Rock Hard (in German). No. 231. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  8. ^ Lee, Cosmo (August 21, 2006). "Voivod – Katorz". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on August 22, 2006. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  9. ^ Papadoyianni, Elina (July 13, 2006). "Interview with Michel Away Langevin from Voivod". Metal Temple. Yiannis Mitsakos. Retrieved February 3, 2021. When Piggy was doing the demos in 2004, every time he brought us a pro-tool CD, he wrote Katorz on it, so we thought it was very natural to name the album Katorz.
  10. ^ Pardo, Pete (2006), "Jason Newsted Speaks About Voivod's Katorz!", Sea of Tranquility, retrieved May 7, 2014