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What's your favorite version of Devin Townsend?
- Thread starter crienne
- Start date
I like his varied output and he's an awesome guy from what I have seen, but I'm probably more of a fan of his days in SYL.
Probably his early solo career (Ocean Machine / Infinity / Physicist / Terria) is my favorite stuff. Though I got into his music via SYL. City and Alien are great, in particular.
Accelerated Evolution and Synchestra under the Devin Townsend Band moniker were both great too and I think I prefer those two albums to any of the ones I'd listened to from DTP onward.
I fell off of being a regular listener in the last several years so I have less of an opinion on that stuff, but generally I feel that while he became even more prolific in his creation, his actual quality and the diversity of his 'sound' kind of waned.
Accelerated Evolution and Synchestra under the Devin Townsend Band moniker were both great too and I think I prefer those two albums to any of the ones I'd listened to from DTP onward.
I fell off of being a regular listener in the last several years so I have less of an opinion on that stuff, but generally I feel that while he became even more prolific in his creation, his actual quality and the diversity of his 'sound' kind of waned.
I saw them at Ozzfest when they were touring for The New Black and it's what got me into Devin's music. Their sound was so intense, they pretty much put all other bands that day on notice, and I saw some amazing bands on that day.
What does ocean machine fall under? Solo work? If so, then that.
Also, why did he create a whole new band name and not just use Devin Townsend?
Also, why did he create a whole new band name and not just use Devin Townsend?
I still haven't listened to Empath yet, but I agree that Ocean Machine, Terria, Accelerated Evolution, and Synchestra might be his best albums, so for you to rate Empath up there with them is very interesting!
I need to take some time and sit down and listen to it all in one setting.
Wot, no mention of his incredibly brief stint in The Wildhearts (the UK's secret Best Band Ever)? :-)
Too difficult to pick a specific Devin project, but I've got a soft spot for his SYL stuff as it was where I first heard any of his solo work.
Too difficult to pick a specific Devin project, but I've got a soft spot for his SYL stuff as it was where I first heard any of his solo work.
It's definitely good. To me it feels like the variety and whole album experience of Synchestra mixed with the craziness (not heaviness though) of Deconstruction.
As much as I fucking love DTP stuff (and it's quite a lot) I was really craving something that utilized all of Dev's talents and sounds like the old days. It seemed like for a lot of DTP he'd zero in on a particular piece of his sound for each record. With Empath it kinda plays like a greatest hits where everything is new. I absolutely love it and I could see it ranking pretty high when all is said and done.
He's a wonderful person and positive artist. My favorite stretch of Devin albums was Ki through Ghost. Everything after that has been kind of chasing the same sound without really doing much for me and the stuff before that (with a few exceptions) I just couldn't get into.
*logs in for the first time in a while purely to reply to this thread 😂*
I don't know, to me it's all Devy, I don't tend to think of DT/DTB/DTP as terribly different things (though latter DTP certainly developed a bit more of a consistent sound), obviously Strapping is a different beast (and City is amazing).
My favourite albums are Ocean Machine, Ki and Transcendence (Empath might wind up being something I mention in the same breath, it's excellent) and while Ki is under the DTP name it's not really like what DTP became, so let's go with plain ol' Devin Townsend.
I really loved DTP's output but I'm glad that if he was feeling disillusioned Devin ended it, particularly if he felt pressured to stick to a certain sound and mood with it. Transcendence also felt like a fitting end to that phase of his career. Empath definitely has a wilder, more creative energy to it and it's awesome to hear.
I don't know, to me it's all Devy, I don't tend to think of DT/DTB/DTP as terribly different things (though latter DTP certainly developed a bit more of a consistent sound), obviously Strapping is a different beast (and City is amazing).
My favourite albums are Ocean Machine, Ki and Transcendence (Empath might wind up being something I mention in the same breath, it's excellent) and while Ki is under the DTP name it's not really like what DTP became, so let's go with plain ol' Devin Townsend.
I really loved DTP's output but I'm glad that if he was feeling disillusioned Devin ended it, particularly if he felt pressured to stick to a certain sound and mood with it. Transcendence also felt like a fitting end to that phase of his career. Empath definitely has a wilder, more creative energy to it and it's awesome to hear.
after doing the Vai album (Sex & Religion) he didn't really want to put his name out there, so he shielded himself behind "personas": Strapping Young Lad came first and their debut album is actually mostly Dev w/ a couple of guys helping out in certain tracks IIRC. Ocean Machine was supposed to be the other persona/band, but it didn't really pan out (at least not with that lineup) after Biomech, so it was all scrapped. Then SYL got a permanent lineup for City onwards and Dev had a mental breakdown of sorts between that and Infinity, which caused him to reevaluate his outlook on the musical output he was producing: Infinity was meant to be the symbolic union of his both sides, SYL and OM, and thus it sounded all over the place in terms of tone and feeling.
As for the question of the OP... I can't really pick one. If I'm really precise, I'd say his period from late 90s to early 00s (essentially from SYL's City to his solo album Terria) is probably his best IMHO - I consider both Ocean Machine and Terria two of his best albums, period, and City is my favorite SYL album by far. After that he still maintained a high quality but I don't think he reached the heights of those three albums I mentioned (though DTB's Synchestra and SYL's Alien come really close but... no cigar, at least in my view).
After he took a break and rethought his process, went completely sober and formed the DTP... I think the tetralogy (Ki/Addicted/Deconstruction/Ghost) is incredibly strong and varied: at least Ki and big parts of Ghost include some of my favorite material Dev has ever composed. Sadly I think he decreased the quality a bit after the planned 4-album cycle: neither Epicloud, Z2 nor Transcendence are better than the ones that came before though they're still great albums with some amazing moments (I mean... it's Dev, there's usually a couple of "those" moments in probably every one of his albums bar Devlab) and worth listening to unless you intensely dislike "wall of sound" production and/or catchy metal.
But then, Empath... man, this one feels like Infinity to me, but supercharged: a mixture of every side of Dev in musical form. I'm still trying to "digest it" but I love the second half of that album, especially Hear Me and Singularity. It's complex, brutal, funny, emotional, sincere and absurd at the same time. I hope it kickstarts Dev into another renaissance after feeling a bit "trapped" in the DTP sound that was becoming standard - another reinvention a la Ki.
And another thing: I fucking love Casualties of Cool and I hope CoC2 delivers. Ché Aimee Dorval has a beautiful voice and I'm grateful Dev decided to work with her.
first off, kudos for that username 😁
I think you're totally right about Ki and how different it sounds to the rest of the DTP's output. It kiiiinda sounds like Ghost because that's the mellower one, but also doesn't sound like that at all except for, maybe, "Winter" and "Lady Helen" - it really doesn't have the overt new-age influences of Ghost nor its outright beauty. If anything, I consider that the closest album to Ki is Casualties of Cool - I see them as related in my mind, like CoC "grew" out of Ki by taking the blueprint and then doing a different -specific- thing with the same materials. The Ché Aimee Dorval connection also helps in grouping them together in my mind haha
But, yeah, CoC to me feels like an "after-midnight", smokey lounge version of Ki that's less concerned about redefining the artist's sound and more about setting a certain nocturnal mood.
Alien is a masterpiece of extreme metal, years ahead of most things released to this day. Got to be Strapping Young Lad for me, fam.
Just Devin Townsend because he'll never top Terria. One of my alltime favorite albums.
Used to be a big fan back in the day but a lot of the DTP stuff just isn't that good. I should give Empath a chance but i'm worried i'll just be disappointed again.
Used to be a big fan back in the day but a lot of the DTP stuff just isn't that good. I should give Empath a chance but i'm worried i'll just be disappointed again.
Missed this thread last week mind if I rebump it? The Poll shut too soon, my Vote? Well there is a reason my username is a SYL song, cos I frggin love that band, as well as all the rest of the stuff Dev does (not into hummer/devlab too much tho)
There's good reasons why we love this guy
Puts out an Album (Empath) - people love it so he responds with
Meanwhile on the Empath live side of things
Followed by
Not to mention Moth and the other stuff cooking in his brain, the Ziltoid mobile game I think he said he may do a e.p for that or at least a couple of Songs right?
Who else loved Punky Brewster? Only Dev could put out a Punk pisstake Album and it's frickin better than most pop punk shit in the last 20years.
There's good reasons why we love this guy
Puts out an Album (Empath) - people love it so he responds with
Meanwhile on the Empath live side of things
Followed by
Not to mention Moth and the other stuff cooking in his brain, the Ziltoid mobile game I think he said he may do a e.p for that or at least a couple of Songs right?
Who else loved Punky Brewster? Only Dev could put out a Punk pisstake Album and it's frickin better than most pop punk shit in the last 20years.
The one where he convinces Gene Hoglan to fully commit to making Dark Angel the greatest band in this world again :P
Bumping this thread - Only saw this today, popped up in my feed uploaded 6 days ago, Acoustic Pro Shot 2029 from CBC - the other month back I believe.
Haunting Acoustic version of SYL's Love & then Normal? Life.
Funeral
Ih-ah
Coast
Love me some Acoustic Townsend.
Haunting Acoustic version of SYL's Love & then Normal? Life.
Funeral
Ih-ah
Coast
Love me some Acoustic Townsend.
