Churning out hundreds of samey album reviews over a few months to survive unemployment pretty much killed off my interest in Hevy music, but the more fun and interesting artists survived the purge. Some even put out the occasional mellow album to appeal to my new mature/boring taste.
Here are my The Top 25 Devin Townsend Albums across his various, sometimes unnecessarily differentiated projects. Ledge.
Project key:
Strapping Young Lad
Punky Brüster
Ocean Machine
Devin Townsend
The Devin Townsend Band
Devin Townsend Project
Casualties of Cool
Another one for the pile of disappointing rock sequels. Z¹ was a fun pet project, with some good songs amid the daftness, but I can't say I was craving a Z². I was even less enthusiastic when I started listening to it. How do you follow up a quirky project that was DIY even by Devin's standards? Draft in a shitload of musicians and voice artists to extract all its character, of course.
After the planned four-album cycle, what's this next phase of the 'project' even about? A less interesting version of Addicted drowning in a gospel wall of sound, this goes beyond disappointing to being frankly annoying. The only memorable bits are the stupid bits.
Devin's relentless, album-length tirade against a very specific variety of selling out that must theoretically have existed for him to get so hung up on it, this has its bitter cake and eats it by effortlessly being as good as the average 90s pop-punk album, albeit made unlistenable out of context by rampant skits. I'm surprised I never listened to this before. It's not the sort of thing you need to listen to again.
Less personality, more generic, crunchy death metal. Probably cathartic if you're feeling pissed off. Not what I'm here for.
Less artistically annoying than Devlab, which also makes it more boring. Some of it has value as background ambience, until it starts talking to you and you realise it's still on. Stick with Tangerine Dream or sommet.
I thought I'd prefer a watered-down Strapping Young Lad to the real thing, but meeting half-way isn't all that satisfying. I must have listened to this plenty of times over the years, but can't have taken in much. The best songs were re-recorded later anyway.
If the green crayon represents Devin's new care-free pop metal direction, there's still plenty to go. Unfortunately. While undeniably catchy, it goes too far in the other direction from Strapping Young Lad (red?). I don't like him as much when he's considerate of the audience.
Despite being a Devin fan for 15 years, I never felt compelled to check out his first semi-solo band before. I was into some headache-inducing industrial as a teen, but this doesn't do anything that the pioneers didn't. It's a showreel for Devin's impressive vocal range, but mainly sounds like a generic Metal Hammer compilation.
Hevyness was never my criteria for a great album, even less so today, so I was mainly bored by this certified classic. Set it in a cyberpunk megapolis and drench it in synth and maybe you'd be on to something. I know I'm wrong, don't bother to write in. This isn't a democracy.
Gene Hoglan's drums take the lead in a pummelling return to form that would be very impressive if it was actually up my street. Their best so far, but I'm regretting including SLY in this list at all if I'm not going to bloody appreciate them.
This experimental release defies categorisation and exposes the futility of trying to rank things subjectively or objectively, which is always a welcome reminder. Borderline unlistenable, but struggling to impose meaning on the chaos was a more rewarding experience than most of the Strapping Young Lad discography.
By focusing on guitar noodling over kit bashing, the final (ever?) Strapping Young Lad album wimps out and loses the ferocity of its predecessors, making it less distinguishable from Devin's day job. Fine by me.
With more band input and noodling instruments, the amalgam finale to the Project is the most generically prog-metal sounding release across the various Devscographies. Maybe a good place to start, but not that rewarding if you've been following along.
Retreating from the grandeur of Terria and ditching the quirkiness of Infinity (or rather putting it on ice), this synth-drenched melodic wall of sound with catchy choruses aims squarely at being Devin's commercially viable Black Album. It's fine, but lacks character. I never remember it.
Almost a deliberate self-parody of the detox album, Devin's first drug-free collection of songs is quiet, contemplative and largely undistorted (=clean, do you see?). The intermittent spikes of intensity in there are the best parts, even if that's not really in the spirit. The title track is a hidden gem; hidden because I guess I always got bored and switched off before then.
10. Sky Blue (2014)
Calmer and less obnoxious than the likes of Epicloud, this is the only one of his pop-oriented releases I actually enjoy. No idea why it was irrelevantly bundled with the overshadowing Ziltoid album, produced under a different band name, but at least this way I'm not criminally ignoring it like all the supplementary disc twos out there.
Devin decided he wanted to write a tongue-in-cheek B-movie rock opera, or maybe he just wanted to play 80s-style power metal under the respectable veneer of parody. The song-ruining skits of Punky Brüster are back, and just as annoying on repeat plays, but the music in-between is annoyingly good too, so you'll just have to put up with them.
Maybe because it's the first one I heard, or because he's all exposed on the cover, but I always think of this as his Devinitive statement (until Empath, anyway). With its jaunty tempos and deranged carnival ambience catching you off guard, I can see it being someone's favourite thing ever, but like many of his albums, it coasts along a bit after meeting its hits quota.
A latter-day Infinity, this is a hevy, Devy and unhinged collection of BIG songs, filled with guest talent and an orchestra. The evil twin to the minimalist Ghost, there's too much going on to get your head around for the first few listens, or the best part of a decade if you're me. It's probably even better than I'm giving it credit for.
A more satisfying take on the female vocal duet than the Project albums, I'd rather Devin focus on exploring his mellow side more with the likes of this and Ghost. But it's not about me, guy can do what he likes. There's supposedly a plot connecting these cosmic-country soundscapes, but it gets me so spaced out, I forget to pay attention to words.
Four albums in, the familiar DT sound washes in on a cleansing wave of crystal clarity. It would be inappropriate to file this in the ambient new-age section, what with the roaring guitars, bass drums and shouting, but for me it somehow sets a calming mood. Maybe I'm just really easily persuaded by titles. Fffwssshhh.
4. Empath (2019)
Ditching the band and back to his totalitarian best, Devin got his chaotic groove back and released his most impressive album in ages. I listened to it a few times before doing this re-listen, and it already feels like returning to an old favourite. He can call it a day now. Don't do that though.
3. Synchestra (2006)
Devin's Dark Side of the Moon shows all facets of the musician and songwriter at his peak, from mellow ambience to melodic assaults and a polka break for good measure. This scatterbrained "suite" might just be a bunch of random songs connected by instrumental segues, but that "filler" is sometimes the best part and keeps the energy up throughout.
2. Ghost (2011)
Not finding cacophonous metal so satisfying any more, I casually followed what Devin was up to from time to time, and this was exactly what I needed. I've listened to it more than any of his others, which probably makes it my favourite if you want to be picky, but I have the suspicion that plenty of other people do New Age chill-out just as well. Would it be as subtly catchy though?
The first that can rightly but more wrongly be called a chill-out album (dependent on whether you find manic screaming over blast beats relaxing), this is up there with my favourite metal albums and easily Devin's masterpiece. When it's got 'Earth Day' on it, but you're not even sure whether that's the highlight, you know you're dealing with a classic. Kudos for the sincere and worthy ecological theme too. Recycling is literally metal. Unless it's got lead in it, then you can't.
