Warriors of Ice

The past few years have seen Canadian metal legends Voivod respectfully get their due. After a successful run in 2003 and 2004, the band went on indefinite hiatus. Along the way, offers started coming in for the band to reform and play live shows again. It was something they were unsure of at first, originally agreeing only to do two festival shows in 2008, first in Quebec as part of HEAVY MTL and then later that summer in Calgary's Monsters of Rock Fest. In 2009, Voivod embarked on their largest European tour in more than a decade. The group played at ever major summer festival in Europe, including Germany's Wacken Open Air and Norway's Hole In The Sky, and were invited out by Phil Anselmo as special guests of Down for their Canadian national tour. The band was back and touring in a big way, with new guitarist Dan 'Chewy' Mongrain (Martyr, Gorguts) filling in for the deceased Piggy and making the other original members of the band excited to be playing these classic Voivod songs once again. Late in 2009, Voivod released the live Tatsumaki DVD, filmed the previous fall when the band toured Japan for the first time ever. In order to celebrate its release, the band did a sold out hometown show at Montreal, Quebec's Club Soda. It was their first headlining show in the city of Montreal in more than ten years and it was celebrated in grand style. The show was recorded for posterity and is now being released as the fifteen-track Warriors Of Ice, the first official Voivod live album to feature original band members Denis 'Snake' Belanger on vocals and bassist Jean-Yves 'Blacky' Theriault. Warriors Of Ice highlights the classic period of the original Voidvod line-up and also offers a few new songs too. Containing songs that span from 1984's War And Pain right up to 1991's Angel Rat, two songs from the 2009 album Infini are also included mid set too. The album has all of the band's signature songs, from early classics "Voivod" and "Nuclear War" to "Tribal Convictions" and "Astronomy Domine". Warriors Of Ice is an absolute must for diehard fans of the band and a great starting point for the uninitiated too.