On August 26, 2005, Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, guitarist and co-founder of Canadian band VOIVOD, died in Montreal at 45. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer only that summer; surgery revealed the disease was far advanced, and he entered palliative care, slipping into a coma on August 25 and dying the following night. D'Amour was one of metal's genuine originals. Classically trained on violin as a child and shaped by KING CRIMSON, PINK FLOYD and RUSH as much as by VENOM, he built VOIVOD's sound from dissonant, unresolved chord voicings that sounded like nothing else in thrash — angular, industrial and strangely beautiful. Albums like Killing Technology, Dimension Hatröss and Nothingface rewired what metal guitar could be. He left behind recordings made in 2004 that became the posthumous albums Katorz and Infini.