Lightwork is a weird album. I think the biggest "problem" with it is that Devin's plan to make a more straightforward, accessible album by hiring a producer and purging some of his more chaotic creative energy with The Puzzle didn't really end up succeeding. The start of the album starts off promising in that regard - the first four songs are all quite straightforward, catchy, and immediately-gratifying tunes. I especially love how emotionally-charged the melodies on Equinox sound, and the more subdued instrumentation on Moonpeople is a lovely change of pace for him. The mixing on Call Of The Void feels a bit off to me (that hi-hat is super distracting during the choruses) but it's still a good, peaceful song.
After that song though, things start going a bit off the rails in terms of accessibility. With a couple exceptions, the rest of the songs are sprawling, difficult-to-digest pieces that throw a bunch of different ideas together often at the cost of compositional cohesion. That's not inherently a bad thing, but it does result in the album feeling more like Empath than his more actually accessible albums like Epicloud. I absolutely disliked Empath at first, but that album grew on me like crazy after a few listens as I got used to the chaotic nature of it.
I don't think I'll end up enjoying Lightwork as much as Empath, but I am starting to warm up to the second half of the album in a similar way. Every song has at least one or two fantastic moments - it's just the structure of the songs as a whole that doesn't feel reigned-in enough. Heartbreaker, Dimensions, and Heavy Burden don't even have proper choruses, and I think that's a missed opportunity, especially for Heartbreaker which has a perfect chorus contender at 1:47 that never comes back! Dimensions has that lovely middle section starting at around 2:20, but it's over far too quickly. Heavy Burden has a nice atmosphere to it, but the goofier moments feel a bit pointless. It kinda reminds me of Borderlands, though that song eventually ended up being one of my favorites on Empath after the catchiness and vibe won me over.
Speaking of winning me over, I might actually prefer the new chorus on Celestial Signals after all. It's less bombastic, but the different chord progression does make the song feel less repetitive, and you bet I'd be singing along to that "never regret for a minute" refrain if I were hearing it live.
So yeah, I was initially disappointed with the album and now I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. If anything, I want to keep listening to it, which certainly counts for something. Devin's more recent albums have certainly been more difficult to get into, but I'd probably take that over him starting to sound stale, which I certainly felt on parts of Z2 and Transcendence.
Oh, and I definitely wouldn't call the bonus disk better than the main one here. I could definitely see people preferring Starchasm Part 2 and Factions over anything on the main disc - those are some kickass and immediate songs that leave me wanting more heavy Devin material - but most of it feels like odds and ends that wouldn't fit on or improve the album. Thus far I think Transcendence is the only album where I'd actually swap out a couple songs on the main disc for ones on the bonus disc, were it up to me.
Topic: Devin Townsend v. Offer Your Posts (Read 229365 times)
