Following the release of 2018's The Wake, Voivod have been navigating their way through a busy touring cycle and after a short period of quiet have now announced a dose of new (or rather reimagined) music with the EP The End Of Dormancy. Set for release on 19th July via Century Media Records, the EP will feature a very special version of the track taken from 2018's The Wake alongside some special, previously unheard, live tracks.
Explaining the construction of The End Of Dormancy - Metal Section, guitarist Daniel "Chewy" Morgan comments: "I initially wrote the opening riff of the song on tour, outside, behind a club in Germany on a sunny day and recorded right away. It had that Quartal Harmony over a pedal point that to me evoke soundtracks of classic roman movies when you hear the brass (Lituus, Cornu and other instruments). It has a military and solemn vibe to it. When in 2019 we had the honour to be invited to play the Montreal International Jazz Festival, we all thought we could do something special in the context. I had the idea to do a brass arrangement and add in an extra open improvised Sax Solo section which doesn't exist in the studio version.
I started to write and was able to finish the arrangement in time for the rehearsal but it was sooo much work that I could only do one song. We hired top players of the Montreal scene, they were very excited to be part of it. It's not every day that a brass section plays with a metal band so it was as exciting for them as it was for us! We had one rehearsal and it worked perfectly! Then we played the show and the crowd went totally nuts!!! You can hear it on the live version: It was a great moment for everyone and we had a real blast! The live version is also on the EP, but will not be on the upcoming live album "Lost Machine", since that was recorded during a different show...
When the video idea of that song came up, I thought, we could record the brass over the studio version and make the video version unique, and share this version with the rest of the world, giving something special to the fans and immortalize the brass arrangement at the same time. So, I just cut out the improvised section that was in the live arrangement and we could time a studio session with all the same guys."
As far as details around the EP are concerned - it will be made available on 180g. 12" vinyl in the following limited editions:
Black vinyl
Light Blue vinyl - 200x copies from CM Webshop Europe
Neon Yellow vinyl - 400x copies from CM Distro
Transparent Magenta vinyl - 200x copies from Band Webshop
Side A:
1. The End Of Dormancy (Metal Section) [08:15]
Side B:
1. The End Of Dormancy (Live Montreal Jazz Fest 2019) [09:08]
2. The Unknown Knows (Live Montreal Jazz Fest 2019) [05:08]
To pre-order head over to https://voivodband.lnk.to/TheEndOfDormancy-EP?utm_campaign=CMRPressHeidi&utm_source=PressRelease&utm_medium=email