Canadian metal band Voivod brings tour with NYC heavyweights Prong to UC Theatre
One of the most influential metal bands to ever emerge from Canada, headbanging futurists Voivod bring their co-headlining tour with New York band Prong to the UC Theatre Saturday.
Founded in 1982 in a small Quebec town, the quartet initially mixed elements of hardcore punk and thrash metal on raw early recordings like War and Pain and Rrröööaaarrr put a spotlight on the corrosive guitar of principle songwriter Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, the distinctive delivery of singer Denis "Snake" Bélanger and the pummeling rhythm section of drummer Michel "Away" Langevin (who also created the group's unique album art) and bassist Jean-Yves Thériault. Closer to the end of the decade, efforts like Killing Technology and Dimension Hatröss refined the band's sound with added elements drawn from progressive rock (particularly Pink Floyd and their fellow countrymen Rush) and a science fiction bent to the lyrics of the two conceptually driven albums.
Their complex sound reached an apex with the release of Nothingface in 1989, which featured a cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine." During the '90s, the band would dilute their experimental metal with more of a psychedelic, alternative-rock sound with musical differences leading to the departure of Bélanger and bassist Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault. Bassist/singer Eric Forrest would fill the void, performing on the albums Negatron and Phobos, new recordings that pushed the sound in yet another direction with more of an industrial-metal influence.
The band would reunite with Bélanger for it's tenth studio album in 2003 that also featured former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted playing four-string and handling production chores (the effort was also issued on his Chophouse record label). Tragically, D'Amour would succumb to colon cancer two years later, though the group would put out two posthumous albums that featured the guitarist's last recorded works. Voivod would soldier on, bringing Thériault back into the fold and adding new guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain in 2008, who made his recorded debut with the widely acclaimed 2013 album, Target Earth.
While Thériault split from the band again in 2014, Voivod brought on new bassist Dominique "Rocky" Laroche to record and release the Post Society EP two years later that featured a cover of the Hawkwind classic "Silver Machine." The band would take its time writing the songs for Voivod's latest conceptual epic, but upon its release in 2018, The Wake was hailed by critics and fans alike as one of the quartet's career-best efforts.
The band stayed busy since the rise of COVID-19, writing new material during the shutdown and releasing their 15th album Synchro Anarchy in 2022 as well as last year's career-spanning collection of re-recorded deep cuts from the band's catalog entitled Morgöth Tales along with the new title track to mark the band's 40th anniversary.
For their first Bay Area show since the pandemic, Voivod brings its co-headlining tour with NYC metal contemporaries Prong to the UC Theater in Berkeley Saturday night. Guitarist and singer Tommy Victor was working as a sound engineer at legendary East Village punk institution CBGBs when he founded the trio with bassist (and CBGBs co-worker) Mike Kirkland and former Swans drummer Ted Parsons in 1986. Prong independently released it caustic debut EP Primitive Origins the following year that showcased the band's raw, concise blasts of crossover thrash that drew equally on punk and metal influences in a way parallel to fellow CBGBs outfit and future MTV hitmakers Helmet. The band would build up a solid local following with its furious live shows, issuing its first album Force Fed on In Effect in 1989 before signing a major label deal with Epic Records.
The band's muscular first effort for the label Beg To Differ got solid reviews and became an underground sensation, laying down a sonic template that influenced the emerging groove metal scene that would be spearheaded by the likes of Pantera and Bay Area headbangers Machine Head. On their follow-up album Prove You Wrong, Prong began to incorporate more elements of industrial music. By 1994, the band's line-up had expanded to include keyboard player and programmer John Bechdel (who would later become a member of Ministry) and former Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven for the more industrial-metal sound of Cleansing.
The band would split up after Epic dropped them shortly after the release of Rude Awakening in 1996, with Victor going on to play guitar for Danzig before reconvening a new version of the band in 2002. While he would take breaks to collaborate with both Danzig and Ministry (Victor and Raven both wrote and toured with Al Jourgensen's group for the album Rio Grande Blood in 2006), Prong has been touring and releasing new music regularly ever since. Victor and the current line-up of the band featuring longtime bassist Jason Christopher and new drummer Tyler Bogliole play classic material alongside songs from Prong's latest album State of Emergency that came out last year and features a cover of the early Rush classic "Working Man."
Opening the show will be SoCal thrash-metal band Hirax, a group led by singer Katon W. De Pena that released its first album Raging Violence in 1985. While they would dissolve within a few years, the vocalist continued to pursue music, forming the band Phantasm with former Metallica bassist Ron McGovney and ex-Dark Angel drummer Gene Hoglan, who would go on to play with a who's who of metal greats including Death, Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Fear Factory, Dethklok and Testament. That band also split after only a couple of years. However, De Pena stayed involved with the underground music scene and by the late '90s there was enough interest in Hirax that the singer put together a new band. They have been performing and recording in various configurations led by De Pena since 2000.
Voivod and Prong with Hirax
Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m. $32.50
UC Theatre