The Devin Townsend Project - DeconstructionReleased June 20, 2011
Tracklisting:
1. Praise the Lowered
2. Stand
3. Juular
4. Planet of the Apes
5. Sumeria
6. The Mighty Masturbator
7. Pandemic
8. Deconstruction
9. Poltergeist
Other Songs:
1. Ho Krll (iTunes Bonus Track)
2. Terrorizer
3. Deconstructing BadgersPersonnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboards
Ryan Van Poederooyen - Drums (Praise the Lowered, Stand, Planet of the Apes, The Mighty Masturbator, Ho Krll)
Dirk Verbeuren - Drums (Juular, Sumeria, The Mighty Masturbator, Pandemic, Deconstruction, Poltergeist, Terrorizer, Deconstructing Badgers)
Additional Personnel:
Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - Orchestra
Amsterdam PA’dam Chamber Choir - Choir
Fredrik Thordendal - Guitar Solo (Deconstruction)
Guest Vocalists:
Paul Kuhr (Novembers Doom) - Praise the Lowered
Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) - Stand
Ihsahn (Emperor) - Juular
Tommy Giles Rogers (Between the Buried and Me) - Planet of the Apes
Joe Duplantier (Gojira) - Sumeria
Paul Masvidal (Cynic) - Sumeria
Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan) - The Mighty Masturbator
Floor Jansen (After Forever, Nightwish) - Pandemic
Oderus Urungus (GWAR) - Deconstruction
Florian Magnus Maier (Dark Fortress) - Stand, The Mighty Masturbator
The third album from the DTP is Deconstruction. Deconstruction represents the chaotic, aggressive, and progressive metal sides of Dev’s music. It was originally conceived as an orchestral EP, entitled “Deconstruction of a Cheeseburger”, to be released after the original version of Ki.The next DTP album, Ghost, was actually recorded before Deconstruction, but Deconstruction is still the third album in the series. It was recorded after Ghost because Dev wanted to record something more mellow first, and didn’t think he’d be able to get into that headspace if he did Deconstruction first.
Deconstruction is a concept album, partially inspired by The Divine Comedy. Dev touches on the story in his podcast, but he gets way more in depth about it in the album commentary, which I definitely recommend listening to. As previously stated in the Ki writeup, you can’t find these commentaries on Youtube, but I have them and am happy to share them. The story is about a man who is obsessed with learning the secrets of the universe, and decides to go to Hell. There, he sees a bunch of weird shit and eventually meets Satan himself. Satan presents him with a cheeseburger and tells him that to understand the secrets of the universe, he must eat the cheeseburger. However, our main character is a vegetarian and can’t eat the cheeseburger.
Like Addicted, Deconstruction was recorded at The Factory and Dev’s home studio. Unlike the other DTP albums, Dev didn’t put together a new band for Deconstruction. Most of the record is just Dev, who plays guitar, bass, and keyboards in addition to singing lead vocals. He originally wanted to have 4 different drummers:
- Ryan Van Poederooyen
- Dirk Verbeuren (Formerly of Soilwork, now with Megadeth)
- Brooks Wackerman (Formerly of Bad Religion, now with Avenged Sevenfold)
- And an unknown 4th drummer, possibly/maybe Gene Hoglan.
He eventually settled on just 2 drummers: Ryan and Dirk. Ryan was chosen because he is a hard-hitting drummer and also Dev’s live drummer with the DTP. Dev wanted to give Ryan a head-start on the material since he would be playing some of it live. Dirk Verbeuren was chosen because he’s a faster drummer who’s capable of blast beats. Perfect for the chaotic sound of this album. The two drummers split the material, each playing on different songs, and both drummers play on The Mighty Masturbator.
Deconstruction also features many different guest vocalists from the metal world, listed above. Fredrik Thordendal from Meshuggah plays a guitar solo on the title track. Dev wrote the orchestration and choral arrangements with help from Mike St. Jean and Florian Magnus Meier, and hired the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the PA’dam Chamber Choir in Amsterdam to play and sing on the album. They only had 4 hours to record the orchestra, and the orchestra sightread the music. The choir was not impressed or amused with Dev’s lyrics about farting and cheeseburgers, or the tongue twisters he threw in just to mess with them, like “Cinnamon Synonym”.
Deconstruction was mixed by Jens Bogren and Dev in Sweden. A remixed version of the album was included in the Contain Us box set. Having listened to the remix for the first time recently, after listening to the original mix for the past 12 years, the only significant difference I heard was that the bass guitar is a little clearer.
Praise the Lowered was originally titled (Purge)tory.
Juular was originally titled “Jugular” but Dev misspelled it and decided to keep the typo. Juular was the only single released for this album and a music video was made for it.
https://youtu.be/n-DKs0qfdEk The Mighty Masturbator is the longest song Dev released up to this point. The song in a way is meant to poke fun at long, pretentious progressive metal songs full of guitar wankery.
The Mighty Masturbator was the original title for the Ziltoid album, and the song even features an appearance from Ziltoid himself at the end. Ziltoid is the greatest guitar player ever to have lived.
The arpeggios Dev plays when the full band comes in are from Numbered, as are some of the lyrics.
The arpeggios at 5:57 are a sped up version of the arpeggios from the song Ki
The rave section comes from Traestorz, an electronic song included in the Contain Us box set.
The riff at the end of the rave section is the same riff as the outro to By Your Command, but slowed down (Pound pound pound ye push ye push…)
The final part of the song is taken from the Infinite Waltz section of Processional from the Christeen EP.
Pandemic contains lyrics from the arpeggio section of the song Ki:
“Here’s a little riddle bout a when I was a little toddle, Piddle in the puddle and my head was in a muddle You can sing it when you’re sad, You can sing it when you’re mad, You can sing it in the shower come along the latest fad”
This progress chart from the recording sessions shows other songs not included on the album.
Terrorizer (Formerly known as “Madd at My Dadd”) was not included on the album or Contain Us, and instead was released on the compilation CD “Fear Candy 100”, included with issue 216 of the magazine, Terrorizer.
https://youtu.be/eeutihZh18I Ho Krll was a iTunes-exclusive bonus track and also included in the Contain Us box set. It was originally intended for Ziltoid the Omniscient.
Illuminati, Turning Black, and The Universe may have become other songs.
Brown Man was included in the Contain Us box set, and it requires your immediate attention
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOARd5vjlGk Deconstructing Badgers was also recorded during the Deconstruction sessions (Not shown on the chart) and is a cover of a song from a Weebl cartoon
The original:
https://youtu.be/EIyixC9NsLI Dev’s uploaded his cover to YouTube in 2013.
https://youtu.be/C0apsOhWV2M Deconstruction was released on June 20, 2011, the same day as the following DTP album, Ghost. Dev says he structured this album like a roller coaster. It starts slow and gradually builds momentum, and by the time you get to Pandemic, it’s all speed and frenetic chaos until the end. There’s some much needed breaks from the chaos along the way, like the clean sections of Planet of the Apes and Sumeria. If Deconstruction is a meal, it’s a triple, or even a quadruple cheeseburger with a side of fries, and large soda. It’s a lot to take in, and it may be too much for some people. Understandable, but if you can digest it, it’s a satisfying experience.
Deconstruction is my 4th favorite DTP album, and somewhere in the top 10 for all of Dev’s discography. I first listened to Deconstruction on a drive to Harrisonburg, VA. So whenever I listen to it, I think of mountains and James Madison University. Absolutely what Dev had in mind when making this album.
Topic: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2 (Read 27157 times)
