The Devin Townsend Band - SynchestraReleased January 31, 2006
Tracklisting:
1. Let it Roll
2. Hypergeek
3. Triumph
4. Babysong
5. Vampolka
6. Vampira
7. Mental Tan
8. Gaia
9. Pixillate
10. Judgement
11. A Simple Lullaby
12. Sunset
13. Notes from Africa
14. Sunshine and Happiness (Hidden Track)Personnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals
Brian “Beav” Waddell - Guitar, Backup Vocals
Mike Young - Bass, Tuba
Dave Young - Keyboards, Guitar (Sunshine and Happiness)
Ryan Van Poederooyen - Drums
Additional Personnel:
Steve Vai - Guitar Solo (Triumph)
Daniel Young - Tambourine (Vampolka)
Rocky Milino Jr. - Dobro Guitar (Triumph)
Deborah Tyzio - Vocals (Pixillate)
Chris Valagao, Heather Robinson, Hansen Thingvold - Additional Vocals
After the mental and musical shitstorm that was Alien, Dev wanted to make something more peaceful. Similar to Terria, this next album was written as response to Dev’s recent behavior. He began working on the next Devin Townsend Band album, originally titled Human, as a counterpart to Alien. The title was eventually changed to Synchestra, named after a meditation tape by Silver Ships that Dev had listened to as a teenager.
Synchestra was recorded at Armoury Studios in Vancouver as well as Dev’s basement studio. Dev used his 7-string guitar for the majority of the album. Synchestra has the same lineup as the previous DTB album, Accelerated Evolution. The album also features Deborah Tyzio, who sings the female vocals on Pixillate, and Steve Vai, who plays a guitar solo on the song Triumph. Synchestra is Dev’s most progressive album up to this point. Certainly more progressive than Accelerated Evolution, which was more straightforward and focused. This more progressive direction was welcomed by band members Dave, Ryan, and Mike, who were all fans of that type of music. Beav on the other, not so much. He was more into stuff like KISS, and found it hard to be excited about this new direction. In spite of this, I’d say he does a fine job on this album.
Studio Tour where Dev is absolutely high as a kite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXcM01NyxJ4The first 6 tracks, Let It Roll through Vampira, flow together like one long piece.
Let It Roll starts the album on a peaceful note, featuring mostly just Dev and an acoustic guitar. It eventually builds up and flows right into Hypergeek, which serves as a kind of overture for the album.
Wait a minute…acoustic song that leads into an overture? Self-titled band? Sounds familiar…
Hypergeek leads right into the triumphant-sounding Triumph, featuring a country section inspired by Steve Morse’s On the Pipe, and a guitar solo by Steve Vai.
Babysong is a song abut, well, having a baby.
Vampolka is partially inspired by Pipeline by The Chantays.
Vampira is a rare Dev song in standard tuning. It’s a more straightforward heavy metal song inspired by Judas Priest and Metallica. It was released as a single and music video was made for it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjjIna3j1Nc The second half of the album begins with Mental Tan, which serves as a breather leads right into Gaia. Gaia is a heavy, groovy number with some awesome drumming from Ryan.
Pixillate is another heavy song featuring Deborah Tyzio on the verses.
Judgment, A Simple Lullaby, and Sunset from a mini-suite that serves as the climax for the album. Judgement would later be reprised on the song Polyphony on the next SYL album.
The closing track, Notes from Africa was originally written for Terria, but was left off. It contains a reference to "Love?" from Alien.
Sunshine and Happiness is a hidden track, featuring Dave Young on guitar.
Dev’s breakdown of the songs from a forum post in 2005:
http://www.hevydevyforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4655&p=97214#p97214Synchestra is the first record Dev produced, engineered, and mixed on his own. He had been very much involved in those aspects on past albums(With the notable exception of Physicist), but this was his first time doing all of it solo. He had always butted heads with mixing engineers in the past about how he wanted his records to sound, and finally just decided to do it himself. The production is interesting to say the least, even if it isn’t “technically correct”. I’ve heard people say this record sounds “tinny”. It sounds fine to me, but to each their own.
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The Special Edition of the album cam with a bonus DVD entitled…
Safe Zone Tracklisting:
1. Truth
2. Regulator
3. Storm
4. Earth Day
5. Life
6. Deadhead
7. Away / Deep Peace
8. Slow Me Down
9. Truth (Alternate Take)Safe Zone is a live in-studio performance of the band at Greenhouse Studios.
Full Performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFCOzUaV3bc&t=110sTruth (Alternate Take):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny44JwWkSrI The DTB did some touring in early 2006 in support of Synchestra, but Dev devoted most of his time to touring with SYL.
Some (very crusty…) live footage from this era…
Guitar Solo/Deep Peace:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy7PDnbY6d8 Truth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OCE_9RjS-s Vampolka/Vampira:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVWgmijZwb8 Storm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj3i7TSPjYk