Andrew Danso

It’s a prodigy, droves flocked in over two hundred people, went to cheer on the Devin Townsend Project, who are wrapped in the kind of zaniness, charisma and gimmick which Mark Zuckerberg could never get away with. This show wasn’t about the fifty nerds at the front, waving Ziltoid dolls in the air, this was a carefully plotted metal show, with less of the baldy middle-aged bloke behind “Ghost”, and more of the angry boy in front of “Deconstruction”.

A common theme spanning through, in particular, Irish folk gigs is the idea of playing something airy and ambient through the PA before the lights go up, to not only set a kind of laid back mood in the room, but to emphasise the effect of jiving when it eventually gets going. Townsend implores a similar psychology, except while the roadies are setting up, a ‘radio’ ‘Ziltoid 5.3’ gets going, playing stuff like Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and Beyonce. Not only did it work in getting the crowd full of laughter in anticlimax, but it also served to misdirect them, so that when he eventually chugged into “ZTO”, it looked like their face had hit the wall.

It’s hard not to notice a lot of his older productions sounding enhanced live, and it’s a worthy cosmetic touch. Reproducing “Seventh Wave”, “Deep Peace” and “Bad Devil” they had much greater guile live, than their usual habitat on CD. Two tracks ripped from Deconstruction were played, “Stand” and “Juular” which served to pulverise the crowd, and the double encore finish got quite a few laughs in its irony – he twice told the audience to ‘shut up’ while playing through “Heaven Send” off “Ki”, which got this snotty nosed critic teetering, and completely on his side.

8/10 Powerplay #139

This was just a bit of note taking I did before I planned to review the said albums. Since then, I've never got my finger out and put together a working piece.

This is entirely meant to be subjective - from my own point of view – and since that’s no different from pulling a search off a fanzine, at the very least, I can say that you have been warned.










So, how best to define DTP without the press release? What does it mean to me?

Essentially what the Devin Townsend Project is, is a cathartic release in the form of music to the aftermath of drug addiction and an emotional reaction to a long-term band break up.

In many ways the concept is its limitation, yet Townsend claims a fervent freedom in the yin and yang of the projects idea; the limitations I’m thinking off, are when something heard is more like the old, instead of the new (the entirety of Addicted! as an example).

• Its size, passion, intention, ideas, complexion. Most of all, because of its honesty it’s an extremely brave record.
  

• Its powerful beginning and ending (tracks: Praise The Lowered & Poltergeist).

• I feel that Deconstruction wants to display a thwarted stream of consciousness (e.g. an awareness of being a little angry and thinking about it) through the form of metal, but unfortunately I think it’s closer to proving how limited the genre can be, in its failure to do so.

• For sake of genre bashing, I think the album has more in common with power metal, than it does progressive, death metal, etc. It wants to be heavy in its zillion progressions, but with so much going on, it's flimsy than weighty.
  

• Its misdirection. If every action has an opposite reaction, then it’s OK to laugh at the silliness dotted throughout the album. Despite the records best attempts at taking itself seriously, the humour (or intended mania) doesn’t stick. Deconstruction proves the opposite; many of his fans are finding the album hilarious, when it's meant to be plugging a sense of derangement.

Ghost is a cathartic lullaby to tune out the four album concept. I find the ideas here much more rich and complex than that of Deconstruction, and better yet, I think Ghost & Ki prove that Townsend is better in doing something neurotic than all out metal. He’s much better writing with his age in mind, than something he would build upon twenty years ago. He’s great to listen too when there’s a straight-jacket applied.

I feel that Ki & Ghost (specifically in that order) are his greatest achievements.

New personnel with a different focus in its crosshairs; this encapsulates the ‘Devin Townsend Project’ with only two records in. It’s an obvious ploy made by Townsend, to not least further his career but to keep us (and himself) guessing on the eventual output. Ki was a success. It spanned of everything deep within the Townsend vein and some. Following on from Ki was sure to be deflating. Branded a collectively ‘more fun and straight to the point’ record, Addicted! is infinitely that PR line and less.

If warning shots were fired by Townsend, prior to the eventual criticism of Addicted! then we’ve taken two the chest. He’s dead right, Addicted! has no where near the same care or depth associated with Ki. You’ll be dosing on disco and pop, fused with his typical industrial metal (think a minor SYL) or you’ll be listening to incredibly straight to the point, heavy, metal. However, everything presented is expectantly polished. The ‘to the point’ material is very effective, that even outdoes a lot of his better productions under SYL. The pop or disco implementation is unpalatable, and so are the shoddy but necessary choruses. Interestingly there are about five core tracks the album manoeuvres around, (which are very much accomplished) with the commercial beef intertwining between.

Of the four ‘Devin Townsend Projects’ (four announced, two complete) it doesn’t take half a brain cell to know that Addicted! will be on the bottom of Townsend’s barrel (mine too), when it comes to rating the albums one by one. That’s not to say this is a bad record (in fact it’s the very opposite), but suffers considerably from the negative clichés that greatness indirectly spawns. What next though, for Townsend - we can’t wait.

7.5/10 Metal-Mayhem.co.uk

As with any year during Q4, there’s too much to buy. Bloodbath The Fathomless Mastery, Virus The Black Flux, Cynic Traced In Air, Atrox Bionuclear No Coil For Tesla, Portishead Third, Squarpusher Just A Souvenir, and Opeth The Roundhouse Tapes (DVD) are the only items I can think of which I’ve either reserved via pre-order or haven’t bought yet. This isn’t to mention the amount of DVD’s, books, and games to buy. Like many, I’m finding it all too much on the wallet, as well as too much facing time management and priorities. Hopefully throughout that list, I’ll be able to write about some of those releases, (at least within the usual genre) but firstly clearing up thoughts about one of last years albums may make the slate cleaner.

As the titles reads, I’ll get on with it. This was one of my favourites last year, and I believe it is Townsends best record. Although I disagree with most of what Townsend discusses on his forums (partially related to himself constantly addressing younger teenagers. A better example may be the thread last year titled something like “Dev Should Write A Christmas Song” which now this year, hopefully will be titled “Dev Shouldn’t Write A Christmas Song”, showed and laid arrogance on his part, due to his comments after the lyrics were published and the content of the publication. Whatever your reaction, the spotlight is his excuse) his music ‘speaks’ much louder. Ziltoid was loosely an album based on his concept derived from the age of eight allegedly. And although boasting a silly, ‘comedic’ value to the overall creation of the album, the final exorcism is never really received in such a way. This is because the album hosts such memorable characteristics, and boasts incredibley beautiful sparks of many musical ideas, that comedy is difficult to find within. Ziltoid may be partially humorous, but it’s what lies beneath its' veneer which makes it so extraordinary. The thought process into its pacing is quite excellent, as your smiling or on hindsight laughing at its brilliance, but then absolutely absorbed within its rapture of ideas, it makes for a truly fitting entertaining experience. The most important aspect of this album is its mix. It is the atmosphere which also keeps this concept alive. The slight reverberant spaced elements placed onto the audio bus, all work to create Ziltoid The Omniscient, without it, the record wouldn’t have been so memorable (not to mention the clever take on the arpeggio).

His best work to date and I’m very much looking forward to Ki – 5/5.

No, it's not a progenitor of SYL. And it's true, just because the trio consists of SYL members along with Townsend handling mixing and production duties, doesn't automatically point fingers at a smug comeback under a different heading. Zimmers Hole is known for its parodies of the genre, and combining them with semi-death metal, thrash and power elements (the power aspect is a subject of debate), and on that topic, it's all here, as you would expect. This album is actually somewhat masterful, authentic, and generally kicks ass.

It begins, carries and stops with usual SYL elements, so what's there to complain about immediately? Sure, the supposed comedic value of the album does not appeal to myself; (actually it's really not funny. If you read on iTunes supposedly this release is littered in satire; trust me, it's just not) but the album is packed complete of excellent musical features which exceeds the wasted silliness, and I believe that the records' most vocal points - regardless of my personal opinion on it's stance on metallic comedic value - are its musical content. The record is also paced excellently, but again, I wouldn't have expected anything less from the SYL members, and this is were I will differ with "Rock Reviews". It claims this album stands apart from the "plain bread-and-butter releases that crowd the market these days", but rather I believe that's where it certainly belongs. What's the record really deviating from? Not being funny? That’s almost certain. I'm also not attempting to criticise this record on the subject, because I really liked this one. If anything, to say that this record is doing a great deal different within the genre, is a clear misinterpretation or an impulse thought of giving it decent critical acclaim. To myself, this record appears to be more of a solidified metal record, combining typified SYL elements like song writing, song structure and perhaps even production. And here's the cleverest part that should end my, almost, contradiction of what I mentioned at the beginning; it won't remind you of a single SYL record. Of course, you're hearing the same group play, but it's ambiguity with similarity is incredible and this is another huge debt to the group, of what they're attempting to achieve.

ZH, you definitely don't rule the land, but you've certainly been ruling it for thirty days - 4/5.