About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Voivod achieves the unthinkable and heals their wounds with a cathartic live set in Japan from last year.



Pros

• The return of original Voivod bassist Blacky is a tremendous success.
• Dan Mongrain nails nearly all of Piggy's signature riffs, chords and solos.
• Voivod hasn't been this fast and aggressive in years.

Cons

• None.

Description

• Released November 17, 2009 by MVD Visual.
• Featuring ¾ of Voivod’s original lineup including the return of Blacky.

• Featuring Martyr’s Dan Mongrain on guitar.

Guide Review - Voivod - 'Tatsumaki: Voivod Live Japan 2008' DVD

Following the terrible tragedy of Denis “Piggy” D’Amour’s passing, the remnants of Voivod were left with a grab bag of puzzle pieces by Piggy, which they assembled into two farewell salutes, Katorz and Infini. Almost unanimously it was assumed the band would never continue on from this point.

Flash forward three years after Piggy’s death and nobody in their right minds could’ve foreseen the legendary Voivod back on a stage in their first-ever Japanese appearance. After a 17-year hiatus, original bassist Jean-Yves “Blacky” Theriault returned to the fold (despite helping his crew out with session work on The Outer Limits). Buzzworthy enough, as Blacky remains today the only bassist truly able to match Piggy note-for-note in linear progression.

The bigger newsbyte of course, is the addition of Martyr mastermind and guitarist Dan Mongrain to the band. Bearing more hair than Troy Polamalu and danged near the entire arsenal of his predecessor, Mongrain achieves what no one would assume possible: the full-on replication of Piggy’s position in Voivod.

Tatsumaki: Voivod Japan 2008 captures this provoking moment with a band licking its wounds by turning up the jets and focusing strictly on the Blacky era of the band leading up to their Angel Rat album. What this equates is a blast inferno of speed and sonic boom as the set bears a heavy lean on selections from Killing Technology, Dimension Hatross and Nothingface, albeit their title anthem “Voivod” from War and Pain leads off the show in raucous spirit. “Nuclear War” from the same album likewise makes an appearance.

Only “Tribal Convictions” suffers in translation with a couple of slipped transitory chord progressions which are difficult to nail no matter the experience of the musician. Otherwise, Tatsumaki: Voivod Japan 2008 is flat-out awesome. “Tornado” is issued with such beastly confidence Denis “Snake” Belanger wails the chorus in Japanese for his rabid hosts.

Bringing out Angel Rat’s two sharpest cuts “The Prow” and “Panorama,” this set feels as Voivodian complete as any next to the whirling “Overreaction,” “The Unknown Knows” and “Brain Scan.” The fact Dan Mongrain assumes the incredible burden of playing Piggy’s entire repertoire had to have made him want to toss his cookies. He and Blacky are the undeniable stars of the show, even as Snake and Michel “Away” Langevin step up their own game in accordance.

Simply put, Voivod hasn’t sounded this urgent and demonstrative in years, despite releasing quality projects of late including the group’s triumphant final wave to Piggy, Infini. This set is an emotional bloodletting for Snake and Away and even Blacky, who was there from the beginning. A decided air of vengeance coats this inspirational concert and Piggy is thusly championed. Testimonials from Dave Grohl and a mini film by French documentarians called “Panorama: Seeking Voivod” in the bonus features validates what this writer predicted back in 1989: Voivod is the band of the future…