Voivod drummer Michel “Away” Langevin is launching a new band, Kosmos, which will release its self-titled debut Sept. 4 via the End Records.
The mostly instrumental group — which also includes Alex Crow (keyboards and programming), Vincent Peake (bass), and Jetphil (guitars) – was birthed out of weekly Krautrock-dominated listening sessions. “After a good six months of that, we were like, ‘Why not try to write that type of music?’,” said Langevin.
The finished product wound up comprised of tracks that sound like Voivod instrumentals (the album opening “Psycho”), airy Moog explorations (“Dream”), and organ-heavy jams in the vein of Deep Purple or Kansas (“Grand Grizou”).
With most of its members committed to other bands, a full-fledged Kosmos world tour is unlikely. But Langevin is hopeful that the band, which is already writing new material, will play a few shows here and there in support of the debut.
Langevin is keeping busy with several upcoming Voivod-related releases, including the group’s final studio album, comprised of tracks left over from the last sessions with late co-founding guitarist, Denis “Piggy” D’Amour. The group will congregate in the fall to finish off the tracks.
В
Also forthcoming are reissues via Sanctuary Records of all of Voivod’s releases for the Noise label during the 1980s. Each album will be remastered and updated with a DVD of vintage live performances. “There are quite a few treasures there — like the first U.S. show, when we opened for Venom at the Ritz in New York,” Langevin says. “There are also the demos we sold through the fan club in the ’80s, a lot of rehearsals from ’83 and ’84 when we were writing the first two albums and sketches for the album covers.”
In addition, there will be book of Voivod-related artwork that Langevin has assembled, with a working title of “Voivod in Art” (Troubleman Unlimited).