Devin Townsend: A Solo Album Retrospective

For my first real band post on this site I wanted to be about a musician that has made a major impact in my life. There have been many musicians that have made me the musician I am to day (Mike Portnoy, Frank Zappa, Steven Wilson, more that I'll feature in their own Retrospective later down the road). But there is one musician that has impacted me more then anyone...Hevy Devy.

As shown in the post title, I'm only sticking to Dev's solo material, for now. As much as I love Strapping Young Lad, his album with Steve Vai (Sex And Religion), and all of his guest spots and production work, His solo material is by far my favorite. For time's sake I'm going to give a brief description of all of Townsend's Solo albums to give you an idea of what to expect if you've never check out the legend yet. Although Dream Theater is my favorite band, Devin Townsend is my favorite musician. I hope this gives you an idea why and a reason to buy his whole discagraphy:

Ocean Machine is the first solo album from Devin Townsend. This nearly 74 minute album showcases the lighter, proggier side of Townsend after showcasing one of the most extreme albums *to that date* ever released, Strapping Young Lad's City. There are the songs that should have been a radio smash hit (Life, Sister), the ambient chill music (The Death Of Music) And the straight head hard rockin' prog (Seventh Wave, Night). Ocean Machine is an album that is a great piece of Piece of Progressive Metal history. While I wouldn't recommend this album first, It is a fantastic album.

Infinity is easily the most fucked up album in Devin's releases so far. It was made right after Devin was diagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder, and the album does showcase that in a big way. While the album does feature the great great Pop friendly *at least should have been* classic Christeen, it also features the Swing driven Bad Devil; The Mickey Mouse on Acid style Ants The instrumental classic opener, Truth to name a few. This album requires the attention span of someone on ADD, but it is worth it.

Physicist, in my favorite review, is perfectly described as "The Music of Strapping Young Lad with Spice Girls style lyrics." And I couldn't agree more. Only one song from this album is currently being played live, Kingdom. While the album does feature some bad production. The song quality is that of SYL, which is a great thing if you are a SYL fan, and a bad thing if you are not. Many regard this as Dev's worst album, but honestly, if this is his worst album, then he has created nothing but masterpieces his entire career. If you like your music heavy and your lyrics about love, buy this album.

Terria is 100%, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite album of all time. It is 72 minutes of absolute bliss. From the monstrous sounds of Mountain, the epicness of Earth Day, to the most perfect ballad ever written, Nobody's Here. This album has everything I want in am album. If you want an album that is just as calm and beautiful as it is heavy as fuck, and hilarious where it needs to be. BUY THIS ALBUM!

Accelerated Evolution is essentially one of the two the best album of Pop Metal. Every song is heavy in it's own right but would be perfect on Top 40 Radio. Songs like Storm, Deadhead, Slow Me Down showcase the power and intensity of Love, while keeping it badass. This is one of Devin's best works of all time. Just one listen to this album will explain why.

Synchestra is easily Dev's most underrated album, even by me. This album features so many great songs like Triumph (featuring a guitar solo by Steve Vai), Vampolka/Vampira, and Gaia. I believe this album is so underrated because it was written around the same time as SYL's best album (at least in my opinion), Alien. When you have the Brutality that is known as Alien, the polar opposite is Synchestra. It is an awesome album that needs to be appreciated.

After the announcement of the breakup of both Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band, Devin wanted to take a hiatus from playing shows. He gave birth to his first child, he stopped smoking pot, and he wanted to explain his life in one gigantic puppet life, coffee induced Metaphor. This story became Ziltoid The Omniscient. Devin recorded this album ENTIRELY by himself. All the guitars, bass and keyboards, and programmed all the drums on the Drumkit From Hell program. The best way I can describe this album is Strapping Young Lad with more Sci Fi and less pot *although when you hear it the first time, you'd never guess Pot wasn't a big part of the inspiration. Songs like By Your Command, Hyperdrive, and Planet Smasher grab you and won't let go. For a an autobiography of Devin Townsend told through the story of Ziltoid. This album is a hilarious yet badass album to bang your head to.

2 years after releasing Ziltoid, Devin realized that he needs to get back to releasing music and playing shows again. So what's a better way to get back into the scene then starting work on a 4 album concept album? The first part is Ki. The album is very mellow, ambient, chill album, that features some distortion, but used sparsely. Songs like Coast, Trainfire, Quiet Riot, and the title track; Ki (featuring Blast Beats over One of the highlights of Devin's Vocal Career.) this album is the perfect album to put on at night when trying to relax, or if you want to go on a quiet drive. It fits the mood perfectly.

This is the other greatest Pop Metal album ever made. This is Devin's answer to Nickelback's Dark Horse. every song is danceable, catchy, and fucking awesome! The album also features Anneke van Giersbergen *most famous for being the vocalist in the band, The Gathering* Her voice is so damn perfect on this album. Besides her vocal reworking of Ziltoid's Hyperdrive, songs like Addicted, Supercrush, Bend It Like Bender, and Numbered are some of the highlights of this fantastic album. This album is exactly why I made this Blogspot. This is the music that would be so fucking huge on Top 40 Radio, but it will never get played because the corporate suits for music aren't willing to give this a shot. It's their loss I guess. But not for you. Buy this album and divulge in 10 of the best damn Pop Metal songs ever made.

So that's it for this retrospective of  Devin Townsend's solo work. Those die hard Devin fans will know that I missed a few albums like Punky Bruster, The Hummer, and Devlab. I did those squarely because those 3 aren't technically solo albums. Am I being a tight ass? Probably. But I believe this is a great intro into Devin Townsend's best work. I hope it gets you guys into his material and then go on to explore everything else he has been apart of.