Voivod: Onwards To Morgöth

Canadian metal legends VOIVOD are celebrating a momentous 40th anniversary as a band in 2023 and to mark this occasion, they have brought out Morgöth Tales, an album that sees the band re-recording all stages of their past material with the current lineup and some special guests helping out too and the results are truly celebratory. 

We caught up with drummer Michel ‘Away’ Langevin to talk about Morgöth Tales, four decades making music and his artwork in an interview that salutes both the longevity and forward thinking nature of VOIVOD and how much of a legendary and special band they. 

We start off with Away telling us about how the idea for Morgöth Tales came about as an idea to celebrate the anniversary. “I thought about releasing a compilation covering all the albums but I soon realised that we dealt with so many different labels, it would take me years to licence everything, so the label were like, why not re-record the stuff. I was intrigued by the idea and I reached out to the other guys in the band, they got excited immediately.” 

The making of the album proved to be just as much of a celebratory occurrence and showed just how the always forward thinking VOIVOD had developed as a musical entity as Away expands. “It was a wonderful experience, and it also made me realise while recording, the progression we had from thrash metal to prog metal, and the new twist that we have now, which is almost fusion metal.”

 With such a wide range of material to choose from, Away admits that the task of choosing which songs to include on Morgöth Tales was made easier by focusing on different VOIVOD lineups as he tells us. “Once we decided that it would have to fit on one vinyl, it gave us a direction where we knew we could cover all the lineups but not all the albums and that simplified things a bit. It was fun to to put the project together, we pretty much put it together during the tour we did in Europe. In November and December last year, when we opened for OPETH, and also that’s where we got the idea of reaching out to Eric Forrest and Jason Newsted to be part of the album because we wanted to cover those lineups as well.”

Away also expanded on how these new versions of the VOIVOD classics differ from the originals but how they still have the same forward thinking spirit. “It’s really just our interpretation, these songs with the current lineup. We have no goal in terms of trying to recapture the youthful energy but when we play old material with the new material it blends very well and people love it. It was really fun to revisit and realise how we went from thrash metal to prog metal in a short number of years, with some contemporary classical cinematographic music thrown in with post-punk, hardcore and psychedelia.”

Away then excitedly tells us all about the undisputed highlights of 40 years of VOIVOD. “I was there the whole time, the forty years, and it was quite a rollercoaster ride. Lots of twists and turns. Some highlights would be when we released the first album War And Pain in ’84, and also when we toured with SOUNDGARDEN and FAITH NO MORE in 1990 in North America. We also did a short tour with RUSH in Canada in 1990, which was a highlight. I would also say, in 2003, Jason Newsted was in the band but it was also in OZZY OSBOURNE‘s band and we were opening for Ozzy for a big part of 2003. Amazing times!” 

With the anniversary celebrations in full swing and the release of Morgöth Tales, Away also states how much he is enjoying the present of VOIVOD. “I would say that the best time for me is right now because even though we play this intricate music these days, we are winning Juno awards in Canada and getting more and more popular! Many generations of people are showing up at the gigs and so we have a great momentum so we are really enjoying it right now.” 

It’s not all been plain sailing for the band unfortunately though as Away tells us that there have been, of course, ups and down in those forty years but these tragedies make VOIVOD celebrate their triumphs even more. “These are moments that paid off for the very important obstacles that we had. Like the crash in Germany when Eric was very, very badly injured in 1998, or the unfortunate passing of Piggy in 2005. These were very dramatic moments for the VOIVOD family but the fact that we just keep on making VOIVOD live.”  

To finish this brilliant celebration of VOIVOD, Away takes it all the way back and reminisces about his favourite ever album artwork and how it ties in with their debut album. “I think the time I got really struck by an album cover was the first IRON MAIDEN album cover. I went into the store in 1980 and saw that painting. It stuck out amongst everything, and they were already my favourite band of all time. When I went home, I put the music on, which was exactly what I wanted to hear. When the time came for me to do the cover for War And Pain, I had that in mind. I had to represent the music perfectly and it had to attract the eye of the kid coming into the store. It’s my homage to the IRON MAIDEN cover.”

Morgöth Tales is out now via Century Media Records.

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