Opeth

OPETH frontman Mikael Škerfeldt and ENTOMBED's recently departed guitarist Uffe Cederlund openly admit to owing a musical debt to VOIVOD guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, who passed away on August 26, 2005.

Had it not been for VOIVOD's landmark 1988 album "Dimension Hatr?ss", OPETH would not have been formed.

"I listened to that album every day on my way to school for a month and a half," says Mikael Škerfeldt in the latest issue of the Swedish magazine Close-Up. "It was like Piggy totally created his own chords, disharmonic stuff that no one else did back then. For me, a major part of the band's appeal was, 'How is he able to make it sound so disharmonic and crazy?' That's something I wanted to pick out [on the guitar] myself. In essence, it's basically the 'devil's interval,' the chord BLACK SABBATH used in the song 'Black Sabbath'. You play those three tones together in ONE chord and get the VOIVOD feeling. It should be played rhythmically as well.

"There have never been any other bands that have sounded like VOIVOD, not even today," continues Škerfeldt. "Many bands cite VOIVOD as a huge influence, but none have really been able to bring it into their own music. However, I would imagine that groups like NEUROSIS probably have listened to VOIVOD quite a lot."

Fellow Swede Uffe Cederlund, who last month announced his departure from the legendary death metal outfit ENTOMBED, regards "Rrr???aaarrr!" (1986) and "Killing Technology" (1987) as VOIVOD's finest albums. The guitarist was fortunate to having met Denis "Piggy" D'Amour at two occasions.

"I've never heard anyone play guitar the way Piggy did. He must have been completely fucking crazy," Uffe Cederlund tells the magazine. "The band as a whole was so weird in a way. That appealed to certain people, but most people probably didn't get it. Piggy was so original that there was no point in even being influenced by him. If you had nicked something from him, people would've instantly recognized where you got it from. Of the newer generation of acts, CURSED have the same vibe [as VOIVOD], but it's always been punk bands that have that VOIVOD energy. That energy is something that I always wanted ENTOMBED to have."