The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2

[twosuitsluke]

And look, I'm not bagging on what you like - hell, the live "Jesus of Suburbia" from the "Bullet In A Bible" set is transcendent - but Dev's not wrong.  Green Day is to punk what Nirvana (as compared to Mud Honey, Soundgarden and Green River) are to grunge and what Poison (as compared to Maiden, Sabbath and Motorhead) is to hard rock/heavy metal.   They're the palatable, safe version.  There's no harm no foul in that, but I can imagine for someone like Devin, who at the time felt like he was invested to the maximum in an industry that wasn't either receptive or complimentary of that effort, it was a difficult pill to swallow.

One thing I will say about Devin: I don't know him, I've never met him, but in terms of the "nakedness" he puts in his art, and the candidness of his autobiography and the openness he shows in interviews, I'm not sure there's an artist I can name that has grown - MATURED - so discernibly and so publicly.

Gotta give a hard disagree about Green Day Stads. I fully agree that they became one of the many 'safe' faces of punk rock, it wasn't always that way, and I wouldn't say them were 'safe' in '96. Sure, they were no GG Allin, but they originated from the Gillman St scene, and that's about as fucking punk as you can get.

It's the same as any band that gains fame and fortune. It's hard to have that anger and fuck the world attitude when you have everything you could ever dream of and you're getting smoke blown up your ass daily. Metallica also became 'safe' compared to their early output.

I guess the problem I have is the generalisation and assumption. I feel your statement is a generalised and narrow view of Green Day as a band. There's more to them than that, even though yes, I personally can't stand any of their music post American Idiot. They were a proper punk band that got famous, and yes that changed them as a band. You cam talk about selling out and whatever, but in '96, when Punky Brüster came out, Green Day had released Insomniac the year before, arguably their most punk rock album.

Yes, there were bands who followed the money and didn't represent the 'scene' as some felt they should. Some of these bands Devin's frustration and jabs are fairly aimed at, but there were plenty of bands who found success around that time who are not deserving of it. Bands like NOFX and Bad Religion, like I previously mentioned. Yes they found commercial success, ahd with that started playing to crowds that weren't just hardcore punks. That doesn't actually make them any less a punk band though.

As to your final paragraph though dude, I totally agree, and it's one of the main reasons I love him so much, and binged on his interviews.

[Mosh]

I don't consider the first SYL or Punky Brewster albums to be much more than demos. Especially since SYL did become a band and half the lineup (notably Gene Hoglan) is missing. I actually like the SYL stuff a lot but the first album doesn't have a whole lot going for it for me. Devin really starts to hit his stride with City/Ocean Machine. Everything up to that point is just lead up.

[Metro]

Strapping Young Lad - City
Released February 11, 1997



Tracklisting:
1. Velvet Kevorkian
2. All Hail the New Flesh
3. Oh My Fucking God
4. Detox
5. Home Nucleonics
6. AAA
7. Underneath the Waves
8. Room 429 (Cop Shoot Cop cover)
9. Spirituality

Bonus Tracks:
10. Centipede (2007 Remaster Bonus Track)
11. Home Nucleonics (2007 Remaster Bonus Track)
12. Headrhoid (“Gunt” Demo) [2007 Remaster Bonus Track]
13. Detox (‘96 Demo) [2007 Remaster Bonus Track]
14. AAA (‘96 Demo) [2007 Remaster Bonus Track]

Personnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals
Jed Simon - Guitar
Byron Stroud - Bass
Gene Hoglan - Drums

Additional Personnel:
Chris Valagao - Vocals
Tanya Evans - Vocals



As Dev was putting together Ocean Machine, Century Media wanted a follow-up to Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. He put Ocean Machine on hold and moved back to LA, living with Borivoj Krgen and working in the mail room at Century Media. He hoped to immerse himself in the anger he felt from his previous time living in LA during his time with Vai, and focus that anger on writing the next SYL album, which would become City.

By this point Mike Sudar and Ashley Scribner had moved onto to other projects, and drummer Adrian White didn’t connect with the material Dev was writing. Jed Simon was still on board, but Dev had to find a new drummer and bassist. He was introduced to Gene Hoglan through a mutual friend at an Iron Maiden concert. Gene was a fan of the first SYL record and Dev asked him on the spot if he’d play on the second record. Gene agreed to do it. Dev called up his former Caustic Thought bandmate, Byron Stroud, and got him to join the band on bass. This would be the lineup for the rest of SYL’s career.

With the new lineup complete, the band met up at Steve Vai’s Mothership Studios, where Sex and Religion was recorded. Dev and Steve had stayed in loose contact here and there since the Vai band ended, and Steve felt bad about how that project fell apart and wanted to try to patch up the relationship. He let SYL use his studio and even allowed them to sleep there. The album was mostly written by Dev, with Gene co-writing the drums to Oh My Fucking God. The album was recorded very quickly, and released in February 1997.

City could be considered the real beginning of Strapping Young Lad. The songs feel more focused and the production is much better than Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. Each song has its own identity, whereas most of HAARHT just blends together as an industrial grindcore mush. Even the anger feels more genuine on City. This album is pure chaos…and I love it. I don’t dabble much in extreme metal, but there’s a certain beauty to the madness of this album.

Velvet Kevorkian is a rework of the first half of SunMud/Woman, from the Ass-Sordid Demos.
Oh My Fucking God was co-written with Gene Hoglan.
Detox is a rare Dev song written in Drop D tuning (DADGBE). The song is about how Dev felt during a night on the town with The Wildhearts during his brief time in the band.
A music video was filmed for Detox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f20L0msLsM
AAA was written in a weird guitar tuning: AAAEAE. Dev would use this tuning again heavily on Physicist.
Room 429 is a cover of a song by Cop Shoot Cop, one of Dev’s favorite bands.
Spirituality is the only clunker on this album. It kinda drags and I have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
The bonus tracks are there if you’re into that sort of thing. I think Centipede has cool groove. Nothing else really sticks out to me.

City received high praise from metal publications like Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, and the band started gaining a real fanbase. The band, accompanied by John Morgan on keyboards, toured through 1997 in North America, Europe, and Australia.

Here's some videos from that tour
Sauget, IL 8/13/97: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_pvVWeVO_8
Albany, NY 8/30/97: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD3aRQqaVSs
Atlanta, GA 9/6/97: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_AGVF5YuSPKf1tLabRQjCJwryXlp6Lni

The last show of ’97, in Melbourne, was recorded for a live album…

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Strapping Young Lad - No Sleep ‘Till Bedtime: Live in Australia
Recorded October 12, 1997, Released June 2, 1998



Tracklisting:
1. Velvet Kevorkian (Live)
2. All Hail the New Flesh (Live)
3. Home Nucleonics (Live)
4. Oh My Fucking God (Live)
5. S.Y.L. (Live)
6. In the Rainy Season (Live)
7. Far Beyond Metal (Live)
8. Japan
9. Centipede

Bonus Tracks:
10. Home Nucleonics (‘96 Demo) [Japanese Bonus Track]
11. Headrhoid (“Gunt” Demo) [Japanese Bonus Track]
12. Detox (‘96 Demo) [Japanese Bonus Track]
13. AAA (‘96 Demo) [Japanese Bonus Track]

Additional Personnel:
John Morgan - Keyboards



Not much to say about this live album. It’s a solid performance. It contains the song Far Beyond Metal, which was written around this time but wouldn’t appear on a studio album until SYL’s final album, The New Black. No Sleep has the same bonus tracks as City.
Here’s some (very low quality) footage of that show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR_WTm4b5ZA

The band continued to tour in 1998, hitting Europe, Australia, and Japan.
Some footage from a show in Kawasaki, Japan 10/20/98: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QVbZGXlB-s

With the release of City, Strapping Young Lad was now a force to be reckoned with. Dev thinks of City as the “ultimate” SYL album. But, as stated previously, SYL was never intended to be his main gig. And the exaggerated metal persona he displayed onstage with the band wasn’t an accurate representation of himself, and he got tired of playing that character, so to speak. This, combined with his mental health struggles, which I’ll cover in a later update (That one’s gonna be a doozy…), eventually led to Dev putting SYL on hiatus in 1998, so that he could focus on his solo work.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Decided to drop this one a bit early since conversation had died down. I also went back and added some more photos to the previous posts.

[twosuitsluke]

Nice one dude 

I've never listened to the live album, so will be giving that a spin. After the talk about Devin's podcast, I'm going to listen to the City episode, then listen to the album before posting my thoughts   

[Buddyhunter1]

City is awesome. I think Alien is the best SYL album, but City has its own qualities that surpass Alien. It’s the most genuine-feeling SYL by a long shot. HaaRHT and The New Black are too tounge-in-cheek, the self-titled was a bit phoned in (even though I really like that album), and the anger on Alien feels a bit played-up and manufactured by comparison. The anger and darkness on this album feels incredibly real. It’s also a shame that this was effectively the last industrial metal SYL album, because it does that style so damn well. The sound is heavy as fuck, but the industrial layers and more melodic touches are what make the album so memorable and fun to listen to.

For me, the only clunker on it is Room 429. That song just doesn’t belong on this album imo. It sticks out like a sore thumb, kills the flow/energy of the record, and just isn’t that good of a track to begin with (I’m just talking about the cover, I have no real opinion on the original).

Centipede is an awesome bonus track, too. One of the best SYL songs.

[twosuitsluke]

Just finished listening to the podcast. I've definitely heard Devin talk about a lot of this stuff before but I'm always happy to hear more.

I've never been the biggest Fear Factory fan, but Demanufacture was on repeat a fair bit for me in like '05/'06. It's weird, although there are clear similarities in their sound,  I never really put Strapping and FF together as similar bands. I love hearing how important that Fear Factory show was for Devin, and how it helped him realise his vision of what he wanted his music to sound like.

As someone who is not musical at all, I find it so impressive to hear him talk about having a vision and just making it happen (and at such a young age too).

I haven't watched all the videos you linked Metropolaris, but I at least watched a bit of all of them. The Detox video is fine, but pretty generic and doesn't have the impact S.Y.L. had.

As for the live stuff, I might need to watch the whole video for the Sauget show. The video and audio quality seems way better than the others. I think it's the first time I've seen live footage of Devin from back then. I LOVE how he was still the same goofball back then, had the same stage presence and sense of humour. From hearing him talk, I'd assumed at this point in his career he'd just be doing the generic metal tough guy persona on stage. Nice to see he was pretty much exactly the same, just with enough hair to fucking circle bang!

It's 11pm here, so I'll listen to City and No Sleep 'till Bedtime tomorrow 

[DoctorAction]

Except for Spirituality, which to this day I still can't remember a single thing about, City is a perfect record, imo. Amazing.

[twosuitsluke]

Finished listening to City earlier. Personally I've always vastly preferred Devin's other work over Strapping (outside of a few songs). City is a highlight sure, and a really good album, but I don't connect with it in a way where I feel it could ever be an album I couldn't live without.

Clearly it's an improvement over Heavy As a Really Heavy Thing, although I do like the debut. The run from All Hail to Detox is the best part of the album, and maybe I'm in the minority but I really like Room 429, even if it does stick out like a sore thumb.

Like with Heavy, I don't have the special version of City, so this was my time hearing the bonus tracks. They were OK, but I've not really got anything to say about them. All in all, which is why l love these threads, I gave this a Korean focused listen and feel like I appreciate it more than I did yesterday.

Onto No Sleep 'till Bedtime!

[Buddyhunter1]

There was actually a time when Spirituality was my favorite song on the album. It's just so huge, dark, and apocalyptic-sounding. Nowadays I prefer the faster songs like All Hail The New Flesh and Detox, but Spirituality is still up there for me.

I think I said this in another thread but I was listening to this album in a particularly shitty mood a few months ago, and Oh My Fucking God finally clicked with me after all these years. That song's almost Jane Doe levels of pure rage injected directly into my bloodstream.

[Grappler]

I'm not really into Devin's solo work, but I LOVE Strapping Young Lad.  I didn't give them a chance until a number of years ago, probably when his Ziltoid DVD came out and I caught the live video of him playing Detox live at that show.  I knew he hadn't really been playing SYL songs live, so that was a surprise and something really cool for him to see.

The song knocked my socks off and I really got into SYL later on when I was looking for something different to listen to.  Such a great band and City is the shit!   

[Zantera]

City is a fantastic album! Definitely agree with the hype. Also agree that one and Alien are the standouts in the SYL discography.

Also I was thinking that City and Ocean Machine might be the best duo of 2 albums by the same artist released in the same year, even if under different monikers. I'm not 100% on my final ranking of his releases but I feel the likelihood of both of these being at the top of the different projects is pretty high.

[twosuitsluke]

Also I was thinking that City and Ocean Machine might be the best duo of 2 albums by the same artist released in the same year

*King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard has entered the chat*

[Buddyhunter1]

Also I was thinking that City and Ocean Machine might be the best duo of 2 albums by the same artist released in the same year, even if under different monikers. I'm not 100% on my final ranking of his releases but I feel the likelihood of both of these being at the top of the different projects is pretty high.

There's competition even from Devin himself there, with Ki and Addicted in 2009. I'm not sure if I'd rank Ki quite as high as Ocean Machine or City (though it does come close), but Addicted is my favorite Devin Townsend album, ever.

[Stadler]

Well, they're all third to Genesis' A Trick Of The Tail/Wind And Wuthering, and Kiss' Destroyer/Rock and Roll Over, but I see where you're all going.

[twosuitsluke]

No Sleep 'till Bedtime was OK. I was a little underwhelmed, and after watching a bit of that Sauget show, I was hoping for some weird Devin banter on this album. Unfortunately it didn't deliver. I guess I'll just watch that youtube clip tonight.

[hefdaddy42]

Also I was thinking that City and Ocean Machine might be the best duo of 2 albums by the same artist released in the same year

*King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard has entered the chat*

[Metro]

“O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.

The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form and nothing stands
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.”

   - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “In Memoriam A.H.H.” (1850)

Ocean Machine - Biomech
Released July 21, 1997



Tracklisting:
1. Seventh Wave
2. Life
3. Night
4. Hide Nowhere
5. Sister
6. 3 A.M.
7. Voices in the Fan
8. Greetings
9. Regulator
10. Funeral
11. Bastard

  a. Not One of My Better Days

  b. The Girl from Blue City
12. The Death of Music
13. Thing Beyond Things (Listed as a bonus track on some versions)

Personnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
John Harder - Bass
Marty Chapman - Drums
Chris Valagao - Backing Vocals
John Morgan - Keyboards

Ocean Machine is culmination of Dev’s career up to this point. It’s the project he had been wanting to make for years, but kept having to put it on the back burner due to other commitments and record label bullshit. The roots of the project can be traced back to the Noisescapes days, with songs like Voices in the Fan, Regulator, Funeral, Bastard, The Death of Music, and Thing Beyond Things. Lets get one thing straightened out: The album was originally called Biomech and released under the band name Ocean Machine. Eventually the album was rereleased as a Devin Townsend solo album titled Ocean Machine: Biomech. I use the titles interchangeably. Use whatever title you prefer.



The band Ocean Machine was comprised of Dev on Guitar and Vocals, John Harder on bass, and Marty Chapman on drums. Recording began in 1995 not long after Heavy As a Really Heavy Thing was completed. Further recording took place at Factory Studios in Vancouver in 1996. At the same time, Rob Halford was next door recording with his band “Two” and popped into the studio one day to watch Ocean Machine rehearse and chat with the band. The basic tracks were recorded at the Factory, but Dev wasn’t able to achieve the sounds that he wanted for the album. He ended up taking the material to a studio called Musibelios in Málaga, Spain to rework and mix the album with an engineer/producer named Daniel Bergstrand.

Dev and Daniel spent three weeks in Spain trying to put the album together. The experience was not great. The owner of the studio would randomly kick them out of the building so that he could party with his buddies (One of whom was Antonio Banderas). In addition, they had arrived in the midst of tropical storm season and kept losing power. When they were able to work, they re-recorded most of the guitar and drum tracks, and many overdubs. They were unable to get a decent snare sound, so they ended up sampling the snare from the beginning of the Metallica song Sad But True and copying and pasting that sample for every snare hit on the album. Once they were finished, Dev refused to pay the studio owner, and in turn the owner refused to let them have the master tapes. Dev and Daniel snuck into the studio after hours and made copies of the masters. They ran out of time, and one song was left behind, Ocean Machines, though the demo appears on the Ass-Sordid Demos. Dev left Spain the next day.



Above is a progress chart from the initial 1995 sessions for the album. Of the songs listed, only 3 ended up on Ocean Machine: Voices in the Fan, Funeral in the Rain(Eventually shortened to just Funeral), and The Death of Music. The songs Promise, Come to the Edge, Man, and My Girl can all be found on Ancient and the Ass-Sordid Demos. To my knowledge, the remaining songs Tomorrow’s Flesh, Old, and Visitor at Sea have not been released, unless they were renamed. Dev’s goal was to fit as much music on one disc as possible. John Harder recommended that Dev include some of his demos to fill out the record. That led to songs like The Death of Music and Thing Beyond Things being included.

A music video was made for Life, seen here in glorious 240p
https://youtu.be/IL7SoDwTbZA

Ocean Machine: Biomech was released July 21, 1997 under his HevyDevy records label. Like Punky Brüster, it was at first only available in Japan, where it achieved moderate success. Dev shopped the record around to other labels for wider distribution and eventually made a deal with Inside Out Music, who became the distributor of his solo work outside of SYL. This is the only album released under the name Ocean Machine. Future solo albums would be released as Devin Townsend.

Ocean Machine never toured. In fact I don’t think they ever played a live show. Starting in 1998, Strapping Young Lad would begin to incorporate songs from Ocean Machine into their setlists.
Here’s a video from 1998 of SYL playing a few Ocean Machine songs plus Happy Camper from Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rtiDQyWHEM

The production on this album is unique. Maybe not technically great, but it gives the album a unique atmosphere I haven’t heard anywhere else. It’s hard to describe the sound of Ocean Machine. It’s often categorized as Progressive Metal. Sure, I guess that accurate at points, but don’t expect something that sounds like Dream Theater. Guitar solos are few and far between, and exist to serve the song rather than to show off how many notes Dev can fit in a solo. 

Ocean Machine: Biomech is my favorite album of all time. It wasn’t my first Dev album, but its the one that has had the biggest impact on me and I can’t think of any other record from any other artist that comes close. It came to me at a particular low point in my life. I don’t like to get into my personal life on the internet, but I’ll say that the section of The Death of Music where he repeats “Don’t die on me, don’t go away, when I need you here” was something I needed to hear at that time. I listened to this album on repeat for months and it got me through that time. I would not change a single thing about this record. Thanks Dev.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Infinity update coming soon…
I also stumbled upon an archive of old HevyDevy records blog updates from 1995-1998. Worth a read if you're interested
https://web.archive.org/web/19990202110855/http://members.home.net/hevydevy/archive.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19981206124933/http://members.home.net/hevydevy/news.html
Some interesting stuff to read in there. Not sure who wrote it, probably his wife Tracy.

[The Realm]

Great write up Metropolaris. This thread is moving fast! Sorry been really busy so haven't had much time for comments but am loving this.

Just want to quickly circle back to Sex & Religion. I'm a huge fan of Vai's Passion & Warfare and worshiped that album back in 1990 and remember at the time lots of press leading up to the S&R release and this 'new kid on the block' Devin Townsend who was going to be singing on the record. Expectations were high but I felt this album was a huge let down, a major disappointment for me at the time. Kind of thought I would never hear of Devin again after that album..

Then a few years later I heard about SYL and when I checked them out I couldn't believe this was the same guy.

I actually didn't get into the rest of Devins discography until a few years after that and of course Ocean Machine rules. Just awesome.

[twosuitsluke]

This is where we really start getting to the good stuff. I wouldn't say Ocean Machine is my favourite Dev album, but it's damn close. I think it's a real album experience, and has its own unique sound within his discography.

I know a lot of people say that Funeral, Bastard, Death of Music run is the best three song run in his whole body of work. I like it but admit I'm always kinda waiting for it to click, as it's always just been good to me, rather than great.

As I did with City, I'm going to listen to the podcast episode for this album, then the album, then post thoughts.

 

[Kwyjibo]

This was the first thing I heard from Devin outside Vai's S&R and it blew me away.

This is my favorite Devin record and probably a top 10 record of all time for me.
Which is a blessing and a curse for my DT experience. On one hand I'm impressed that Devin could come up with something so great so early in his career, on the other hand everything that came after had to live up to Ocean Machine - Biomech and consequently failed. Some were close, others far away, but my hopes and expectations were never really met.

I would say the production on this record is shit, it sounds muddy, the bass is almost inaudible and the guitars lack some serious punch, but it fits the mood so perfectly I can't really complain.

The best three song run is Regulator/Funeral/Bastard. Especially Funeral with it's wall of sound guitars gets me every time.

The Death Of Music seems to be everyone's favorite, but while it's nice, it's way too long. On the other hand, the so called bonus track Thing Beyond Things is simply beuatiful in it's simplicity.

I read somewhere this whole record is like the ocean waves rolling in and I can see/hear that.

[twosuitsluke]

I finished the Ocean Machine podcast episode earlier, which raised some questions as well as giving more information. I'm listening to Ocean Machine now, and I think I'll give it a second spin straight after, before posting any thoughts.

I feel a full Devin binge coming on. I was messaging my brother earlier and we were talking music. He is not into anything even remotely heavy, and is currently obsessing over Madonna and her work. I mentioned Devin Townsend abd he was like "who is Devin Townsend?".

Well, that was a rookie mistake! That was the only in I needed. I sent him the infamous 'Kingdom live at EMG' video and am awaiting his reaction  to it (which I'll post here).

I then of course went down a rabbit hole watching loads of vocal coach reaction videos. I love to see people react to Devin who clearly have never heard anything like it before. You can see that they can't quite make sense of what they are actually hearing, just so much visible confusion 

Also, for anyone new to Devy, and following along to this thread to get a better understanding of him and his music, please make sure you watch the link above, it's just awe inspiring!

[hefdaddy42]

This thread is moving fast!

Yes, probably a bit too fast for me to follow along with.  Haven't had time to hit the Vai record yet lol.  But that's more me and all the other music I'm listening to than a problem with this thread.

If I can catch up by the end of the week, awesome, but if not, I will leave it to the rest of you guys and catch up later.

[Metro]

I can space out the updates a bit more if you guys want that.

[twosuitsluke]

It might give a bit more chance for discussion, especially now as we're past some of the early work which may not interest too many people.

Ocean Machine is arguably his best work (and City arguably the best SYL release) so there might be more to say about them 

Edit: My brothers reaction to Kingdom... "Wow he goes hard! I mean it is very impressive".

Don't think he's converted 

[Stadler]

It might give a bit more chance for discussion, especially now as we're past some of the early work which may not interest too many people.

Ocean Machine is arguably his best work (and City arguably the best SYL release) so there might be more to say about them 

Edit: My brothers reaction to Kingdom... "Wow he goes hard! I mean it is very impressive".

Don't think he's converted 

Look, we love him here - I love him, for sure - and his talent is not to be denied, but the reality is, he's very eclectic, and in the larger scheme of things, he's an acquired taste.  It took me something like two decades to finally warm to him and even now, I only really access a portion of his catalogue.


None of this is meant to be a slam; if anything it's a compliment.  I admire him for sticking so completely to his guns and following his muse so faithfully.   

[hefdaddy42]

It might give a bit more chance for discussion, especially now as we're past some of the early work which may not interest too many people.

Ocean Machine is arguably his best work (and City arguably the best SYL release) so there might be more to say about them 

Edit: My brothers reaction to Kingdom... "Wow he goes hard! I mean it is very impressive".

Don't think he's converted 

Look, we love him here - I love him, for sure - and his talent is not to be denied, but the reality is, he's very eclectic, and in the larger scheme of things, he's an acquired taste.  It took me something like two decades to finally warm to him and even now, I only really access a portion of his catalogue.


None of this is meant to be a slam; if anything it's a compliment.  I admire him for sticking so completely to his guns and following his muse so faithfully.

This is my viewpoint, as well.

[twosuitsluke]

It might give a bit more chance for discussion, especially now as we're past some of the early work which may not interest too many people.

Ocean Machine is arguably his best work (and City arguably the best SYL release) so there might be more to say about them 

Edit: My brothers reaction to Kingdom... "Wow he goes hard! I mean it is very impressive".

Don't think he's converted 

Look, we love him here - I love him, for sure - and his talent is not to be denied, but the reality is, he's very eclectic, and in the larger scheme of things, he's an acquired taste.  It took me something like two decades to finally warm to him and even now, I only really access a portion of his catalogue.


None of this is meant to be a slam; if anything it's a compliment.  I admire him for sticking so completely to his guns and following his muse so faithfully.

Oh I couldn't agree more. I'd still never stop exposing people to him though. For me, it was a win for my brother to watch the whole video. The majority of what I listen to, he wouldn't make it past the first moment.

[ReaperKK]

I'm not super familiar with Dev's work but I am familiar with Ocean Machine and I gotta say "Seventh Wave" is a top tier Devin song. I loved it from the moment I heard it some 15 years ago.

[Grappler]

I'm not super familiar with Dev's work but I am familiar with Ocean Machine and I gotta say "Seventh Wave" is a top tier Devin song. I loved it from the moment I heard it some 15 years ago.

That's exactly how I feel.  I once read that the album was meant to sound like music representing the ocean, or how the ocean would write music.  The repetitive main riff and groove feels like it truly represents the waves of the ocean.  The riff just keeps rolling like the waves.

[Zantera]

I love Ocean Machine. Way back almost 15 years ago when I first got into Devin, for whatever reason he didn't fully click with me and I didn't venture past maybe 6 or 7 of his albums (so I still had a lot of gaps at that time) but Ocean Machine and Terria were the 2 that really stood out and I even got them on colored vinyl when InsideOut reissued them. Revisiting Ocean Machine these years later, after having been converted to a big Devin fan and explored most of his discography (still have a few left to listen to) and Ocean Machine just stands up so well. As an album it just flows really nicely and I don't necessarily find myself going "I cant wait for song X or song Y" because the whole journey is just so great.

Maybe at the end of all of this I might attempt some sort of Devin album ranking but it would be hard. Still, I feel like Ocean Machine would be nailed on for the top3 and have a very strong shot at either being 1 or 2. It's just a really special album in my opinion.

[Revenge319]

I love Ocean Machine, but I am very overdue for listening to it again (it's been nearly two years), so I will have to make some time to do that soon. The last five tracks are all great, and Thing Beyond Things is somewhere in my Top 20 favorite songs of all time. I'll be surprised and greatly impressed if any other Devin Townsend album tops this one for me.

Also, I gave Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing and Punky Bruster a listen, and while I thought both were alright, I probably won't seek them out again.

[Metro]

Here's a little bonus. A cover of Sinner - Judas Priest that Dev did with the Ocean Machine lineup. Released on a JP tribute record that Century Media put together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jzSxDnTZ34

[billboy73]

City - This is the SYL album that I revisit the most, though I'm not the biggest SYL fan.  I prefer Dev's other stuff to SYL.

Ocean Machine - Devin has obviously had some interesting productions on a lot of his albums, and Ocean Machine is one of those.   Pretty interesting to read about how this one specifically was produced across the 2 studios.  I think the production works with the mood and vibe of the record.  It gives me that oceanic, underwater feeling.  He's really good at creating atmospheric pieces that conjure up a certain mood, and this album is loaded with that.  The flow of the album is also really interesting.  While I do really enjoy this record, I don't rank it as high as most probably do. 

[Stadler]

Here's a little bonus. A cover of Sinner - Judas Priest that Dev did with the Ocean Machine lineup. Released on a JP tribute record that Century Media put together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jzSxDnTZ34

WOW... I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that.  That was KILLER. I'm not sure I've heard a better Priest cover, EVER.  That's definitely Dev, no doubt, but he did a masterful job of keeping the parts that were essential (IMO, the Priest guitar tone, the chorus vocals) but adding his own touches (the increased sound effects, the verse vocals).   

I really dug that.   Thanks, Metro. 

[Metro]

Here's a little bonus. A cover of Sinner - Judas Priest that Dev did with the Ocean Machine lineup. Released on a JP tribute record that Century Media put together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jzSxDnTZ34

WOW... I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that.  That was KILLER. I'm not sure I've heard a better Priest cover, EVER.  That's definitely Dev, no doubt, but he did a masterful job of keeping the parts that were essential (IMO, the Priest guitar tone, the chorus vocals) but adding his own touches (the increased sound effects, the verse vocals).   

I really dug that.   Thanks, Metro.

Glad you liked it! Definitely check out SYL’s cover of Exciter if you haven’t already