Author Topic: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: The End  (Read 26040 times)

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Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

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This album's awesome. It's probably my favorite solo album of his prior to the DTP, and it's accessible enough to be a pretty good starting point if you're not too familiar with Devin. Deadhead is an obvious highlight, but Storm and Sunday Afternoon are almost as good. Then you've got Depth Charge, Suicide, Slow Me Down... a very consistent album. Slow Me Down is easily my favorite of the "poppy album closer" trilogy that started with Terria and ends with Synchestra.

This is also I think the first album in his discography that absolutely nails the production. This album sounds fucking MASSIVE.
I pretty much agree with everything said here. Just an incredible album.
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Offline DoctorAction

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Love Accelerated Evolution. Was my first.  :azn:

I'd previously seen Dev supporting The Wildhearts where he did some solo and SYL numbers (I think that was after Physicist came out) and he kept my attention but in a "WTF is this" kind of way.  :lol

A while later I'd heard Fluke on an Inside Out sampler so picked this up at HMV. I remember the drive home with it in the car thinking, "omg, this is AMAZING". The sound is huge, the songs really memorable, vocals and pacing of the record...  :tup

Like Terria, it's my joint favourite Dev and I wouldn't change a thing on it. Wonderful.

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Offline Zantera

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I hadn't heard this one until quite recently and it really blew me away. Honestly it's up there with Ocean Machine and Terria for me out of his solo albums. Fantastic.

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I definitely like this a lot more than Terria. Production is a big improvement and just general song writing is more focused and concise.

For some reason, not sure why, I keep imagining Jason Newstead playing bass on this. Feels like he’d be a great fit.
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Offline Buddyhunter1

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For some reason, not sure why, I keep imagining Jason Newstead playing bass on this. Feels like he’d be a great fit.

I can barely hear the bass on this album. Is that why you think of Jason Newstead? :lol
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For some reason, not sure why, I keep imagining Jason Newstead playing bass on this. Feels like he’d be a great fit.

I can barely hear the bass on this album. Is that why you think of Jason Newstead? :lol

Also a possibility! But really I think it’s just the riffs. I can just see 90s era Jason playing them.
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Offline Fonzie

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I love this album. Deadhead, Storm, and Away are favourites   

There are a couple of lesser moments, but really this is very good.
Level with OM:B for top honours so far

Online Kwyjibo

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Great record by Devin, my second favorite of all his bands/projects behind Ocean Machine. Almost every song is a winner, and a special mention goes out to Away, a very cool atmospheric piece, even if it meanders a bit towards the end.

And his best sounding record production wise up to this point.
Must've been Kwyji sending all the wrong songs.   ;D

Offline Metro

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Discussion Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #183 on: April 19, 2023, 09:00:00 PM »
Dev and Video Games

At some point, video game developer Electronic Arts reached out to Dev to get him to record a cover of “American Woman”, as they couldn’t get the rights to Lenny Kravitz’s version of the song. Dev wasn’t a fan of the song or video games, and he ultimately turned EA down. It’s unknown what game EA wanted the song for.

Interplay Entertainment, another video game company, asked Dev to do the soundtrack for the game “Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel”. He composed 13 ambient tracks for the soundtrack along with Stuart Garfinkle and Matt Gruber. Dev was excited for the opportunity to explore ambient music, but overall didn't enjoy the experience. The gig came with too many parameters that he had to follow and didn’t offer him enough freedom.
Other bands like Killswitch Engage, Meshuggah, and Slipknot licensed songs for the soundtrack.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel Soundtrack
Game released January 13, 2004



You can listen to the soundtrack here: https://archive.org/details/fallout_brotherhood_of_steel-2004
The songs Dev contributed are tracks 32-44, labeled Ambience 1-13.

Not much to say about this one. It’s just ambient background noise, certainly not required listening. This release is a very minor footnote in Dev’s catalog, but worth mentioning.

Fallout 3, released in 2008, included a reference to the Strapping Young Lad song Detox



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

Hey, speaking of ambient background noise…

Devlab
Released December 4, 2004



Tracklisting:

1. Devlab I
2. Devlab II
3. Devlab III
4. Devlab IV
5. Devlab V
6. Devlab IV
7. Devlab VII
8. Devlab VIII
9. Devlab IX
10. Devlab X
11. Devlab XI
12. Devlab XII
13. Devlab XIII
14. Devlab XIV
15. Devlab XV


Personnel:
Devin Townsend - noises, beeps, sweeps, and creeps

Devlab is an experimental/ambient album Dev worked on in his free time in his home studio and on tour. The album is meant to be a soundtrack to a dream.
The tracks are nameless, but are commonly referred to as Devlab I-XV.

Parts of the Brotherhood of Steel soundtrack were reused for Devlab.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGSQBWiDXLs

I consider myself a patient and tolerant man, but I have neither the patience nor the tolerance for this album. This is the only album in Dev’s catalog I have never been able to finish. I tried to listen to it in full for this writeup, but I couldn’t do it. Sorry Dev, you lost me on this one.

Alien update coming Monday.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2023, 06:20:23 PM by Metropolaris »

Online Kwyjibo

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Discussion Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #184 on: April 19, 2023, 09:36:16 PM »
I never listened to Devlab as I thought it wouldn't be my thing. Your writeup confirms that.
Must've been Kwyji sending all the wrong songs.   ;D

Offline Zantera

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Discussion Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #185 on: April 20, 2023, 09:59:27 AM »
As someone who likes ambient music I don't really find Devlab to be particularly great either. It's fine for what it is, just not really a standout in his discography and sort of by default an easy pick among the weaker albums he's done.

Offline billboy73

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Discussion Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #186 on: April 21, 2023, 09:04:52 AM »
Accelerated Evolution - This is a really great record.  I have it just below Terria for my favorite Dev album.  I think Terria draws me in just a little bit more, but both are great records.  Lots of really catchy songs on this one, and it's a little more straightforward than Terria.  Depth Charge is such a great opener, and the album just continues at a high level from there.  The production is excellent.  The drums sound huge, and I especially love the snare tone here.  Dev's vocals are killer here as well.  This is usually the record that I recommend to check out first for someone who has never checked out any Dev.  The fact that it is a little more straightforward, and doesn't really have any of that Devin weirdness, makes it a good place to start for a newbie.  I usually wouldn't want to start someone off with a concept album about an alien searching for the best cup of coffee  :hat

Devlab - Not really an ambient music guy, but I have put this on in the background a few times.  It's just not my thing.  I did not know about the video game soundtrack stuff, but I probably won't check it out anyway. 

Offline Buddyhunter1

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Discussion Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #187 on: April 21, 2023, 09:06:49 AM »
I also have not been able to completely sit through Devlab from start to finish. I have skimmed around it and there does seem to be some cool electronic stuff later on in there, kinda like Project EKO, but I don't feel like sitting through all the I'M GONNA MELT YOUUUUUUU to get there.
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Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #188 on: April 21, 2023, 03:10:11 PM »
I didn't get around to posting about Accelerated Evolution, but I must say that although it doesn't quite reach some of the highs on Terria, it is a much more consistent record, and I really do love it. I don't often think of it as one of my favourite Devy's, but listening to it the other day, it's just great. I'm gonna have to give it the edge over Terria I think, but they are so close.

1. Accelerated Evolution
2. Terria
3. Ocean Machine
4. Infinity

5. Physicist
6. City
7. Christeen + 4 Demos

8. Strapping Young Lad
9. Heavy As a Really Heavy Thing
10. Sex and Religion

11. No Sleep 'till Bedtime
12. Ass Sordid Demos II
13. Ass Sordid Demos I
14. Punky Brüster
15. Ancient

16. IR8 Vs. Sexoturica


I've checked my last.fm, and I've only listened to Devlab once. I'm gonna queue it up and give it my second listen ever :lol

Offline Metro

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #189 on: April 22, 2023, 10:05:53 AM »
Friendly reminder to recycle and eat your beets today  :tup

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #190 on: April 22, 2023, 12:14:08 PM »
Friendly reminder to recycle and eat your beets today  :tup

Shut up and think of something more important to say.

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #191 on: April 22, 2023, 01:09:09 PM »
Friendly reminder to recycle and eat your beets today  :tup

Shut up and think of something more important to say.

Shut your face and take a seat. Cuz after all, you’re just talking meat.

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #192 on: April 22, 2023, 01:14:55 PM »
But what about music?
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Offline Metro

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Devlab
« Reply #193 on: April 22, 2023, 03:42:01 PM »
Well, it's JUST entertainment, folks...

Offline Metro

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #194 on: April 23, 2023, 09:59:59 PM »
Strapping Young Lad - Alien
Released March 22, 2005



Tracklisting:

1. Imperial
2. Skeksis
3. Shitstorm
4. Love?
5. Shine
6. We Ride
7. Possessions
8. Two Weeks
9. Thalamus
10. Zen
11. Info Dump


Bonus Tracks
12. Zodiac (Melvins Cover) [Japanese Bonus Track]
13. Love? (Extended Edition) [Japanese Bonus Track]


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

Additional Personnel:
Dave Young - Keyboards
A bunch of people - Backup Vocals



Strapping Young Lad’s 2003 self-titled album showed that the band was back, but not necessarily with a vengeance. The anger was there, but seemed very phoned-in in comparison to the first two albums. Going into the writing for the next album, Dev wanted to recreate his mindset from City and make this album as extreme as possible. He had begun to doubt his bipolar diagnosis, and stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication. The detox of coming off of those drugs, combined with a lack of sleep, plus the fact that Dev continued to smoke weed and drink(the two things that he believes triggered his psychosis in the first place), resulted in Dev “flipping out”, in his words. The result is an album that is absolutely SYL at their most extreme.

Dev and Gene wrote the bulk of the record in a warehouse in Vancouver. Byron was on tour with Fear Factory and Jed had moved to Philadelphia, so neither were involved in the writing of this album. 

The Making of Alien: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu_-Cpkaam8

Alien was recorded at The Armoury studios in Vancouver. This album marks the first time Dev used a 7-string guitar, tuned GCGCGCE. This guitar and tuning would feature heavily on Dev’s next few albums. Dave Young of the Devin Townsend Band played keyboards on the album. Alien features a choir of many men, women, and children who sing backup vocals throughout the album.

Skeksis is named after the antagonists of the movie “The Dark Crystal”, one of Dev’s favorite movies. The chorus also quotes a melody from the soundtrack to the movie.

Shitstorm was written after a water main broke in Dev’s basement. Flooding it and destroying gear, merchandise, and master tapes for past albums. Shitstorm is by far the angriest and most chaotic thing he’s ever written.

The chorus to “Love?” is an admitted rip off of the chorus of City of Love by Yes.
An extended version of “Love?” Was included as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the album.
“Love?” was originally written in 2003 for a cancelled EP that would have contained 4 new songs and 4 covers. Two of those covers were Zodiac, originally by Melvins, and What’s New Pussycat, originally by Tom Jones. Zodiac would end up as a bonus track on the Japanese version of Alien. What’s New Pussycat was considered for the main tracklisting of Alien, but ultimately was left out and remains unreleased. The remaining songs intended for the abandoned EP are unknown.

Two Weeks is a unique song for SYL. It’s a lighter, acoustic song that serves as a break from the persistent chaos.

Thalamus was originally titled “Mega Bulldozer”, and was incorrectly titled that on some versions.

The closing track, Info Dump, is a noise collage that Dev wrote at 4AM in his basement. It’s meant to be a reflection of his mindset during this album. It contains a morse code message that repeats:

Quote
“X2 + Y2 = Z2 All is in an echo. Reflections of an eternal present connect now and emerge. OM OM OM OM.”

OM in morse code is “———  ——“. This rhythm would later show up in the song Color Your World, from Ziltoid the Omniscient.

Music videos were made for “Love?” and Zen
Love?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO78lMTSRbA
Zen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmiahLU2oek

The music video for Zen would appear in the movie “Shoot ‘Em Up”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvmwullSc7w

Alien was released March 22, 2005. It sold 3,697 copies in its first week. Dev has said it’s the SYL album he is most proud of. Critics welcomed the more aggressive nature of this album and it was received very well.

SYL toured heavily in support of Alien, primarily in the U.S. I found very little live footage from this era. Weird.

Backstage footage and a performance of “Love?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOJXWKYKqvo

Imperial and Skeksis live at the Gods of Metal Festival in Italy
https://youtu.be/7VIioZ0cbIU

Dev put everything he had into Alien. At the end, he was mentally and creatively spent, and did not want to do SYL anymore. However, he owed Century Media one more record to complete the contract. So he quickly started work on the final SYL album…
« Last Edit: February 08, 2024, 07:37:54 PM by Metro »

Offline Zantera

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #195 on: April 24, 2023, 02:46:42 AM »
Alien is fantastic. I go back and forth on whether I like Alien or City more but it doesn't really matter, both are wonderful.

Offline DoctorAction

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #196 on: April 24, 2023, 08:15:46 AM »
It sure is an impressive album. I've not listened it in a long time as I'm not in a head space that really matches it, but that's not to take anything away from it.

That breakdown in the middle of Shitstorm ("If you want crazy...." through to "Fuck yooou!") is almost the most intense thing I've ever heard in my life.  :lol  :metal  :hefdaddy
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Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #197 on: April 25, 2023, 03:10:48 PM »
Alien was where my Devy journey started. I heard Love? on a Metal Hammer cover CD. I loved it almost straight away, and it's still my favourite Strapping song.

I didn't really 'get' the album back in 2005, but I know I wasn't really ready for it.  I don't listen to Strapping anywhere near as much as I do Devin's other output, but this is the album I revisit the most if I do want a Strapping hit.

I didn't post about Devlab, but there's not much to say. I don't hate it but there's little that grabs my attention.

1. Accelerated Evolution
2. Terria
3. Ocean Machine
4. Infinity

5. Alien
6. Physicist
7. City
8. Christeen + 4 Demos

9. Strapping Young Lad
10. Heavy As a Really Heavy Thing
11. Sex and Religion

12. No Sleep 'till Bedtime
13. Ass Sordid Demos II
14. Ass Sordid Demos I
15. Punky Brüster
16. Ancient

17. Devlab
18. IR8 Vs. Sexoturica

Offline Buddyhunter1

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #198 on: April 25, 2023, 03:47:01 PM »
This is definitely my favorite SYL record, and I think it's an all-time top 3 Devin album. City has a cooler production style and feels more genuinely dark and angry to me, but Alien makes up for both of those things with its songwriting and sheer consistency. It's a wild and exhilarating ride from Imperial all the way to Zen. Skeksis is a fantastic, sprawling song with some of Gene Hoglan's best drumming. Love? is super catchy and awesome, especially the extended version which really should be on the proper album; the edit definitely lessens the impact of the song a bit. And did they really need to edit out the swears? Did they forget that you literally just listened to Shitstorm of all fucking songs? :lol Some other highlights are We Ride (super energetic and fun) and Possessions (gotta love how the ending of the song is basically just an orgasm).

The big elephant in the room is Info Dump. I know a lot of people who love this album either pretend it don't exists or basically never listen to it, and yeah, when I listen to this album I usually stop at Zen. That said, judging it as a noise piece, I think it's actually really damn good. The structure of it is incredibly effective, starting out as barely-discernible background noise, before settling into an ominous lull, then slowly building up in volume and intensity until everything drops into absolute hellish insanity. And I gotta say, the last time I listened to it with the volume cranked decently high, I was actually shaking a little towards the end. I think the song is very well executed and put together, and succeeds at being legitimately unsettling. But it's just... not on the right album. The rest of the album just isn't a good match for it, sonically or mood-wise. Thankfully Zen is a satisfying enough closer that I don't think it really brings down the album, but it's a weird oddity on what is otherwise such an obviously excellent metal record.
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Offline billboy73

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #199 on: April 27, 2023, 10:23:15 AM »
Alien was the first Strapping album I bought after buying a few Devin albums when I started getting into his stuff.  Definitely makes it interesting knowing what he was going through during the making of this album.  I am not as big on this record as a lot of Dev fans tend to be.  I actually like the self-titled just a little bit more than Alien.  Still, there is some good stuff here.  Skeksis, Shitstorm, and Love are all solid.  We Ride is my favorite thing here, and Zen is decent as well.  Nothing else really grabs me all that much though. 

Offline Metro

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #200 on: April 27, 2023, 05:59:40 PM »
Taking a little break from this thread for a week. Just really busy in real life, and I also don’t want to get burned out on this when I’m only at around the halfway point.
Thanks for reading, folks! Hope y’all are enjoying it so far, and hopefully this mini-break can allow more people to get caught up with the thread.

Here’s something cool I found. A commercial Dev did for the final season of The Osbournes.
https://youtu.be/-21An_uudxc

Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #201 on: April 28, 2023, 03:20:21 AM »
Taking a little break from this thread for a week. Just really busy in real life, and I also don’t want to get burned out on this when I’m only at around the halfway point.
Thanks for reading, folks! Hope y’all are enjoying it so far, and hopefully this mini-break can allow more people to get caught up with the thread.

Here’s something cool I found. A commercial Dev did for the final season of The Osbournes.
https://youtu.be/-21An_uudxc

Yea take the break dude. This is coming along nicely and I'm sure the rest of us can whip up some conversation in the meantime.

I listened to Alien again yesterday and it is just so good. It totally outshines the rest of the SYL catalogue for me. I know it's mainly based on bring me gateway to all things Devy. I'm gonna keep it on rotation in one of my regular playlists for the next few months.

That commercial  :lol  I love that there's all those stuff out there for Devin that I had no clue about.

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #202 on: April 28, 2023, 03:41:31 AM »
I think I prefer Alien over City, but I’m not entirely sure. They both fit a similar mood or mindset and are pretty interchangeable to me. I think you could hypothetically make a ‘best of’ with just the best tracks from those two records, but it wouldn’t make sense both in flow and difference in production styles.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Shalev Amir

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #203 on: April 29, 2023, 12:59:02 AM »
I'm just dropping here to share my love for Info Dump. It's my favourite SYL track! Builds so nicely.

Offline Metro

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Alien
« Reply #204 on: April 29, 2023, 01:11:04 PM »
.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2024, 07:38:39 PM by Metro »

Offline Metro

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Synchestra
« Reply #205 on: May 03, 2023, 10:11:59 PM »
The Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra
Released 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=bXcM01NyxJ4

The 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#p97214

Synchestra 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.

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

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=110s

Truth (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
« Last Edit: May 04, 2023, 01:34:46 PM by Metropolaris »

Offline Buddyhunter1

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Synchestra
« Reply #206 on: May 04, 2023, 07:32:19 AM »
This is the start of what I feel is Devin's weakest 3-album run (I'm ignoring the ambient records) and a brief slump in his discography. It certainly has some highlights - Vampira is fun as hell, and Triumph, Gaia and Pixillate are very enjoyable proggy cuts. But then you've got stuff like Babysong which does nothing for me, and I check out pretty quickly into the suite at the end; I find it tedious as hell to get through.
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Offline Zantera

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Synchestra
« Reply #207 on: May 04, 2023, 09:23:11 AM »
Synchestra as a whole is a pretty excellent album in my opinion and maybe his last great album in a while (I don't mean that to knock the few following this but I don't think I'd put any of the DTP albums higher, maybe Ki). The only real negative for me I suppose is that I don't really have any strong favorite songs on here, it's more of a "liking the album as a whole" thing. But it's kinda written that way to be like a long song cycle and it kinda works as that IMO.

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Synchestra
« Reply #208 on: May 04, 2023, 09:25:04 AM »
This is was my first Dev album. Not my favorite but holds a dear place in my heart. I first heard Vampira on youtube however many years ago and thought it was dumb as hell. But then I noticed......it was stuck in my head! So I listened to it again. And again. And again. Suddenly I loved it. So I got the album and then Ziltoid and I was hooked.

Has a few meh moments but tons of highlights. And I guess I'm one of the few who loves The Baby Song.
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Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2: Synchestra
« Reply #209 on: May 05, 2023, 07:38:31 AM »
OK, I really quite enjoy Synchestra. It's quality does rise and fall in places, but it's the great thing about Devy, you never know where his albums are going to go. I'll start by saying I love how this album starts and ends!

I might be in the minority here but the bookend songs on this record are my favourites. Let it Roll starts things off beautifully, and although it's short, I listen to it on it's own fairly often. Hypergeek serves as a bit of an intro to Triumph but it continues the album on a high. Triumph is a pretty good song, nothing too flashy or different but i dig it. I love the little instrumental breakdown around the 3 minute mark.

I don't hate Babysong, but I get why it wouldn't be for everyone. Anyway, onto the great Vampolka! I love it's weirdness, and for those familiar with the Final Fantasy series, parts of it are very reminiscent of different Chocobo themes from various games. Then we have it's second part, Vampira. Also great, if slightly more serious than the first part. It's the third real highlight of the album and another song I can spin anytime, anywhere.

Mental Tan reminds me of parts of the Ziltoid records, and I could imagine this bring used as an interlude with the story being narrated over the top.

Gaia feels like classic Devy, and a pretty cool song all told. This section of the album, going into Pixillate>Judgement>A Simple Lullaby, does drag though.

The album brings it back at the end though, and I personally love Sunset>Notes from Africa>Sunshine and Happiness. Is there a more aptly named song in his catalogue than Sunshine and Happiness? It puts me in such a good mood. I'd take a whole album in this style honestly (you could chuck Canucklehead on the same album too).

So yea, my main takeaway is the album drags in the middle, some of the songs could've been shortened and Let it Roll/Sunshine and Happiness are the best songs on the album.





1. Accelerated Evolution
2. Terria
3. Ocean Machine
4. Infinity
5. Synchestra

6. Alien
7. Physicist
8. City
9. Christeen + 4 Demos

10. Strapping Young Lad
11. Heavy As a Really Heavy Thing
12. Sex and Religion

13. No Sleep 'till Bedtime
14. Ass Sordid Demos II
15. Ass Sordid Demos I
16. Punky Brüster
17. Ancient

18. Devlab
19. IR8 Vs. Sexoturica