Dennis “Piggy” D’amour, guitarist for Quebec quartet Voivod, has passed away at the age of 45.

Along with vocalist Snake, drummer Michel Langevin and original bassist Jean-Yves Theriault (later replaced by Jason Newsted), Voivod’s late 1980’s recordings were a heady mix of prog metal, modern thrash and futuristic subject matter. On paper, yeah, that does sound downright awful, but the band were genuine boundary-smashers in an otherwise stodgy scene, and were pretty ferocious live, to boot.