Metal Reviews

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Uhhh... I've made it through four songs, and I'm sure my girlfriend would not let me play this while we mess around.

Holy crap this is frikin weird.

I prefered Devin Townsend when he was in Strapping Young Lad, now that was damn heavy. "Detox" from the City album goes off. I just love playing that as loud as i can while driving with the windows down and watching people wind their windows up with a scared look on their faces when i drive next to them or stop at lights, lol.

How much different is his solo stuff compared to SYL? I have heard bits and pieces, some of it was OK, but really need a good listen. Fill me in, Eyesore....

Devin Townsend Band stuff is far less aggressive than SYL. It's still heavy, but in a smooth, epic way. Think reading epic Latin poetry as opposed to watching Apocalypse Now. It's all very, very good, but if your favorite part of SYL is the aggression, it might take you awhile to get into DTB, if you do at all.

If you go into Devin's solo material with an open mind and like music other than just heavy stuff, you're likely to love it. I gave a quick synopsis of his solo stuff earlier in this thread, but here it is again, I'll include the Devin Townsend Band album this time.

PHYSICIST
If you want heavy, go with Physicist. It's like diet Strapping Young Lad, a killer CD. MP3: NAMASTE

INFINITY
If you want crazy-weird (for the most part), go with Infinity. Also get the Christeen EP with the 4 demos that are 100 times better than most bands' final products. The epic "Processional" is a must hear song from Devin. It's amazing! MP3: CHRISTEEN

TERRIA
Accelerated Evolution, which you have, is similar to Terria, but more straightforward where Terria is more expansive and open, more epic. MP3: CANADA

ACCELERATED EVOLUTION (as the Devin Townsend Band)
This album has touches of Terria and Ocean Machine, but it's less complex and a more raw, straightforward rock/metal mix. "Storm," the MP3 below, is my least favorite on the CD. It's about his wife, I assume, so it's a bit "foofy" if you ask me. Still a great song, though.
MP3: STORM

OCEAN MACHINE
Ocean Machine is where it all began. It's just a killer metal/rock album. It's similar to Terria, but not as epic. Very emotional. MP3: LIFE

ASS-SORDID I & II
The Ass-Sordid I and II CDs are basically b-sides, unreleased shit and old school demos. Some really kick ass shit on these albums. There also some not-so-cool material, but it's still cool hearing Devin at 17 years old, which is precisely the point of including those early songs. (Website only release)

PUNKY BRUSTER
Punky Bruster is a punk CD, written and record in one week for $1500. It tells the tale of a death metal band, Cryptic Coroner, selling out and going punk. It's hilarious! And it kicks the shit out of most punk bands out there and this guy wrote everything in ONE FUCKING WEEK!! MP3: FAKE PUNK

PROJECT EKO
Project EKO came with the 2 CD version of Accelerated Evolution. It's a 3 song ambient metal CD, not much metal I guess, but that's what it's called. Musically it's like what Arjen Anthony Lucassen did with Ambeon, but only the quieter moments. Good shit.

DEVLAB
The Devlab CD is 15 untitled songs of ambient weirdness. Not much singing, a lot of whispering and humming. Great background music to study or touch your lady friend to. (Website only release)

HUMMER
Hummer is coming out before Synchestra and is supposed to be similar to Devlab, but more of an experiment in low frequencies. It'll be another website only release, just Devin doing something weird and letting the fans have a chance to hear it.

And I'm assuming you've heard SYL? Anyway, everything Devin has done is quality. He's the King Midas of the music world!

Very different. It still has the wall of sound and depth of SYL...and it's still metal, but otherwise it is a totally different beast.

Man...I cannot wait to hear this CD!!

DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND
Synchestra
(InsideOut)

Reviewed by : Carl Begai
Rating : 9.0


Devin Townsend has been dubbed a genius by his peers and fans alike, but to truly understand why you have to go beyond the sonic anarchy of the beloved Strapping Young Lad and soak up his more melodic, civilized fare. Synchestra marks Hevy Devy’s latest journey away from SYL, and it’s an album reminiscent of his classic Ocean Machine (now ten years old!), only with much more depth. Sounding like it was composed to be one long song, Synchestra ebbs and flows beautifully, caressing you one moment and kicking you in the teeth the next. The ceremony begins with two short atmospheric bits (‘Let It Roll’ and ‘Hypergeek’) before kicking into high gear with ‘Triumph’, a melodic, hypnotic seven minute high class rock anthem full of Townsend trademarks. Plenty of outstanding tracks on this record, particularly ‘Gaia’ – complete with a couple fleeting (intentional?) Piggy chords (see Voivod) – the monolithic ‘Pixillate’, the scorching Alice-In-Wonderland-down.the-rabbit-hole ‘Vampira’ (preceded by the Finntroll-esque instrumental ‘Vampolka’), and the big-ass Ocean Machine-styled riff rocker ‘Notes From Africa’. Perhaps the only bump in the road is the plodding swampsong ‘A Simple Lullaby’, which makes lots of noise but never seems to go anywhere, particularly after the equally heavy and far superior ‘Judgement’. Then again, some SYL fans may get off on it thanks to the over-the-top vocals. The album closes with a “hidden” two-and-a-half minute punk-pop song that recalls the near legendary Punky Bruster, another of Townsend’s triumphs. It’s interesting to note how vastly different Synchestra is from DTB’s first album, Accelerate Evolution, the latter coming off as cold and clinical in comparison in spite of having been written by the same guy. And therein lines Townsend’s genius; you think you know what he’s got in store and he still manages to blow your mind.

I hope you'll be reviewing it for the site.....

Absofuckinglutely. I think we all should. The Monday after it's release: 15 individual reviews on the best album of 2006!

To say I'm incredibly excited about this would be an understatement.

Yep. Same here. I cannot wait to here "Notes From Africa." That song was supposed to be on Terria, but was left off. So I expected it on an Ass-Sordid CD or whatever. Then Tracy, Dev's wife, says that Devin just couldn't find the right elements to make the song whole, so it was never finished and will probably never be released. Fuck. That sucked.

But during the Synchestra sessions Devin found whatever he needed to finish the track! So, I've been waiting for this song for many years now. I can't wait to finally hear it.

You are a true fanboy my friend.

And proud! Hahaha. But I would never go down on him, I'm not that kind of fanboy. :o

Just one question : I thought I read around the time of "Alien" 's release that Dev and Tracey got divorced?

Nope. I think in the past they've had problems, but they're still happily married.

Some more info:

“I’m a ping-pong, I can go until I’m bored with one emotion and then I do the other. I need that time of light when I can put the dark in and vice-versa, so The Devin Townsend Band is the antithesis of Strapping Young Lad. I couldn’t have written Synchestra if I hadn’t done Alien. Now that I’ve written Synchestra, I can write other things.” The emotional imbalance Devin Townsend describes is just one of the many facets of the man’s deep and involved work. After exhausting himself emotionally with Strapping Young Lad’s Alien album, Townsend volleys back to more soothing and calm avenues with Synchestra, an album that bathes in the lavish soundscape of Townsend’s utopia-gone-mad world.

“With the last SYL record, I tried to find the limit as to how far I could go emotionally and go in a direction that in hindsight, was uncomfortable,” begins Townsend. “With Synchestra, the intention was to make me feel better about going that far. The whole idea behind Synchestra was to let it be whatever it wants to be and I think it’s the first record I’ve done this quickly and naturally. It’s basically one song from beginning to end.”

At 14 songs, Synchestra sees Townsend rely on the more upbeat nature of his personality, culminating in free, easy-going songs like ‘The Baby Song,” “Triumph” and “A Simple Lullaby.” According to Townsend, finding a starting point wasn’t very difficult. “At the end of Alien, we had the kid scream in ‚Info Dump’ which was a lot of static and distortion. The screaming is meant to show that this is as far as I can go; I can’t take this any further. With Synchestra, it starts up again, and the idea was to find the human element as opposed to the alien element. [For this record] I spent a lot of time with my family and tried to make music that offered a little bit of hope for me.”

One of the more odd quirks to Synchestra is the one-two punch of “Vampolka” and “Vampira,” both of which are album highlights. “It’s the easiest song to listen to, so I think people will find it strong as a result of that. “Babysong” I think is the strongest on the album. It’s the only song on the record that is kind of weird lyrically, so I wanted to make light of that with the polka so things wouldn’t get too precious too quickly. I think with “Vampira” because it’s really obvious, I wanted to make it incongruent with the rest of the record.” Townsend’s concluding remark towards the album may come as a surprise for many of those who have followed metal’s resident madman throughout the years, but sincerity rings aloud on Synchestra, as does Townsend’s hopes for his audience.

“I want them to have something that makes them happy. I want them to put on something that doesn’t involve some dude yelling at them. I really have something for myself where I have a bad day and put on this record, it will cheer me up. There’s no swearing on this record and unlike my past records, I didn’t try to bowl people over with the first song. With Synchestra, I didn’t want to impose that emotional pressure on people and invite people into the record so by the 11th song, then you could have it bowl them over.”

„Synchestra“ is released as regular edition in jewel case as well as special edition in digipak, with extended 16 page booklet and bonus DVD. On this DVD you will find a 57 minute long live in the studio gig of the Devin Townsend Band.

I can't wait for this release.

=]

Having seen Megadeth many times before, I can assure you that they were most certainly on that night.

The Portnoy/Christy performance was UNREAL. UN FUCKING REAL...I'll remember that forever.

Look Everyone (And Kvlters): Everything's Doparific!

Listen! Eating After Karate Equals Diahhrea!