The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2

[The Realm]

Count me as someone who also loves Ziltoid. Definitely one of my favourite Dev records.

[Glasser]

Count me as someone who also loves Ziltoid. Definitely one of my favourite Dev records.

Absolutely!!!! Deconstruction might be my favorite though.

[twosuitsluke]

Yea, I too love Ziltoid. The sequel sounds a lot more polished but the original has a certain charm to it.

[Metro]

Next update coming next week. Not sure which day. A Tuesday perhaps.

[Buddyhunter1]

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Next update coming next week. Not sure which day. A Tuesday perhaps.

[Mosh]

The 'core' songs on Ziltoid are among Devin's best: By Your Command, Solar Winds, Hyperdrive, Color Your World, and The Greys. The songs that are more there to move the plot along are enjoyable enough but I don't really go back to them, but that's what you usually get when it comes to concept albums. Sometimes I think the album leans a little too heavily into the ultrafast brutal tremolo picking/kick drum triplet type of thing, it gets monotonous after a while. But when this album is good it's really fantastic and you hear hints of what's to come with DTP, particularly Addicted and Deconstruction. The humor and story are surprisingly effective for me. It's goofy but Devin does goofy well.

[Metro]

...Now What?

Dev continued writing music during his hiatus and amassed over 60 songs of varying styles.
His plan was to release a new solo album compiling some, but not all of the new material.

The tracklisting for this album, entitled Ki:

1. A Monday
2. Coast
3. Disruptr
4. Gato Negro
5. (Purge)tory
6. Stand
7. Waveform
8. Heaven’s End
9. Dinosaurs!
10. Lady Helen
11. Ki
12. Addicted
13. Quiet Riot
14. Demon League

Eventually Dev scrapped the single album idea, and instead chose to expand this project into 4 albums. Each album would cover a different side of his music and feature a different lineup of musicians. This 4 album series was called the “Devin Townsend Project”. The overall theme for this series is Dev reckoning with his past, and learning to how to live and write without drugs and alcohol.

The Devin Townsend Project - Ki
Released May 25, 2009

Put on your 3D glasses now



Tracklisting:

1. A Monday
2. Coast
3. Disruptr
4. Gato
5. Terminal
6. Heaven’s End (Incorrectly titled “Heaven Send” on most versions)
7. Ain’t Never Gonna Win
8. Winter
9. Trainfire
10. Lady Helen
11. Ki
12. Quiet Riot
13. Demon League



Bonus Material:
1. Synchronicity Freaks
2. Oodles of Noodles
3. Testing Fender Gear

Personnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals, Bass
Duris Maxwell - Drums
Jean Savoie - Bass
Dave Young - Keyboards

Additional Personnel:
Ché Aimee Dorval - Vocals (Gato, Trainfire)
Ryan Dahle - Vocals (Gato)
Bjorn Strid, Peter, Christopher, Grant, Corey, Jeremy, Ryan - Backup Vocals

The first album from the DTP is Ki (pronounced like Key). Ki was born from late night jams where Dev had to play quietly with a clean tone so as to not wake his newborn son. He became obsessed with getting the best clean guitar tone, and bought an Eric Johnson Stratocaster and a Fender Amp. He also started writing in Open B and Open Bb tunings for the first time ever. Dev felt frustrated with this new life of fatherhood and producing other people’s music instead of his own. He tried to put that anger into the music he was writing, but he had to figure out how to do it quietly. The result is an album that is restrained for the most part, only occasionally and temporarily exploding into aggression. Ki is unlike anything Dev had done before, the closest comparison being Terria.

Dev put together a new band just for this album. He brought back Dave Young from the DTB on keyboards. He met Jean Savoie, who was working at a local music store and playing in a Beatles cover band. Jean joined the new  band on bass. Duris Maxwell was recruited as the drummer after Dev met him at a local blues jam. Duris had a long career as a session drummer and played with bands like Jefferson Airplane and Heart, and he even played with Jimi Hendrix at one point. The band met up to record the album at a house that Dev had rented and converted into a home studio. Most of the album was written by Dev alone, but the band would jam every day during the sessions, and some of those jams would turn into songs. Ki also features Dev’s first collaboration with Ché Aimee Dorval, who sings on the songs Gato and Trainfire. Dev was looking for a female vocalist for the album and Dave Young recommended Ché. Gato also features Ryan Dahle on backup vocals.



Coast was the first song Dev wrote for the DTP (Not counting the re-recording of Hyperdrive)
Coast also features a riff from Jesus Christ Superstar.
A music video was made for Coast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_T-LM3VYpE
Gato features a melody from The Dark Crystal, the same melody heard on Skeksis, from Alien.
Heaven’s End features members of Soilwork on gang vocals.
Ain’t Never Gonna Win and Winter evolved from studio jams. ANGW was originally called Pornogra-Free.
Lady Helen was named after Dev’s grandmother
Ki contains lyrics from the song Soft, originally from Ass-Sordid Demos II.
The name Ki came from an album by Japanese New Age artist Kitarō
Quiet Riot borrows from the song Cum On Feel the Noize, originally by the band Quiet Riot. The Jean-Michael mentioned in the song refers to Ozzy Osbourne’s real name, John Michael.
The door opening and closing at the very end of Demon League is meant to be the "protagonist" of these four records leaving to go to a rave, which is where the next album picks up...

Universe in a Ball was considered for this album, but was left off and ended up on his next album, Addicted.

Three bonus tracks were available for download (No longer available)
Synchronicity Freaks was one of the first songs written for the DTP.
Oodles of Noodles is another studio jam.
Testing Fender Gear is exactly what the title says.


Japanese artwork for the album.

Some videos of the recording sessions…
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_AGVF5YuSPIwtMrZL7Bw5ZhHJt66oWW0

Dev recorded commentary tracks for all 4 of the original DTP albums. I tried to upload them to YouTube to share, but they were hit with copyright strikes because you can hear the album in the background. I even tried fiddling with a noise gate to try to block out the music, but no luck. If anyone wants to hear the commentary tracks, shoot me a PM.

Ki was released May 25, 2009. Reception was positive, but a little surprised at the direction Dev had taken post-SYL. Ki sold 800 copies in the US in it’s first week, and reached #69 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. Ki is my 4th favorite Dev album, across all his projects. It’s a very vibe-y record, and rather appropriately reminds me of winter.

Dev didn’t tour specifically for this record, but would play songs from Ki when he started touring again in 2010.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I love me some Ki. Actually all the DTP albums are great,  but that clean guitar tone on Ki is just otherworldly. I absolutely love that sound.

[The Realm]

Yes I also love Ki and all the DTP albums. I'd say Ki was possibly the one that took the longest for me to fully take in and absorb. But really great stuff on this album and agree with Puppies on the clean guitar tone.

[DoctorAction]

I love Ki. Probably my joint favourite late Dev album.

He's done so much stuff that I don't listen to the ones that don't speak to me. But my limited rankings:

Terria
Accelerated Evolution
Ki
Empath
Epicloud
Synchestra
City
Alien

[Buddyhunter1]

The DTP era is around where I became a fan (not until 2011, but still), and I still think it's his best. Ki is a lovely album, and one of his most under-appreciated, I think. I've never really heard another album like it, especially the songs like Disruptr, Gato, and Heaven's End. The build-up in Disruptr is just perfect and makes it one of my favorite songs by him. Songs like Winter, Lady Helen, and the title track are also incredibly beautiful.

This isn't the only "clean Devin" album, obviously, but this is easily the best showcase of that side of his sound, in my opinion.

[Kwyjibo]

The DTP era is where Devin slowly starts to lose me, but I still like Ki a lot. It's definitely more mellow than most of his previous ones but songs like Disruptr, Gato and Heaven's End still rock.

The result is an album that is restrained for the most part, only occasionally and temporarily exploding into aggression.

And I think herein lies one of Ki's problems, it is sometimes too restrained. A song like Disruptr has a nice build up, but it lacks (imo) one final climax to make it a really great song. And there are others where I think it (the song) is almost there but is still held on a leash and not really let go.

And regarding the clean tone. Surprised to read that Devin put some much effort into it, cause I think it's really nothing special. Like a lot of musicians who do mainly heavy and distorted guitars, his clean tone is kinda there, not bad, but really nothing special.

[Adami]

I love Ki. I remember him talking about finding the drummer and the dude would just play a beat and stare at the tom like he wanted to kill it and then eventually hit it. Really inspired me to be restrained at times.

I'd say these four albums are my favorite of his all in all and I don't think he's ever returned to that level of greatness.

[KevShmev]

While it has some great songs, Ki is very much an "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" album.  Great album to listen to from start to finish and get lost in. 

[cramx3]

I didn't know anything about the recording of the album, so it actually makes a lot more sense regarding the "restrained" part. It's an album I didn't care for on my first many listens and only really clicked for me after seeing some of these songs live in 2020 when Che was on tour with him. I still don't love the album, but it has it's moments of awesomeness.

[The Curious Orange]

The DTP albums are where Dev really kicks up a gear, but Ki is more of a prologue to that than the start of it. It's a strong album, it loses it's way a little in the 2nd half, but it's a great listen and Heaven's End is one of my fave Dev tracks. It was so nice to see this material represented so strongly on the Orders of Magnitude DVD.

Ki is the top half of the bun, Addicted is the cheese, Deconstruction is the burger and Ghost is the bottom bun.

[Zantera]

Ki is easily my favorite out of the DTP albums. Just overall a strong album.

[Phoenix87x]

Does anyone know if sister has any specific meaning? or just a cool interlude

[Metro]

He talks about it in his podcast here


Also, next update coming sooner rather than later...

[billboy73]

I gotta catchup a bit:

Synchestra - For some reason this is probably my least listened to Devin album (not including ambient, Punky, demos etc).  Not really sure why though.  I gave it a listen a few days back and I was like "wow, there is a lot of good stuff here, why do I never reach for this album".  It probably was an album that I bought when I went on a buying spree.  When that happens something I bought usually gets pushed to the wayside, as I don't have time to listen to everything when I pickup a ton of new stuff like that.  I definitely agree that album drags a bit in the middle, but the opening trio and the closing suite of songs are really great stuff.  Synchestra will definitely get more spins in the future.

The New Black - Knowing that Devin was already done with SYL and this album was to fulfill a contract, it definitely could have been a lot worse.  I find the New Black to be overall pretty decent considering the background of the making of the album.

Ziltoid - I started getting into Devin after this album had come out, but before DTP.  I didn't start with Ziltoid though.  I think I finally bought Ziltoid after Ghost had come out.  I had heard about the album and the concept, it didn't sound super appealing to me.  The main turn off though was the programmed drums.  Never been a big fan of programmed drums, but when I finally caved in and bought Ziltoid, I quickly got past my reservations.  I would still love to hear it with real drums though.  It's just a fun album, and I don't find it fetid at all!  The concept, while silly, is actually pretty cool and well fleshed out.  I think this album flows really well.  The songwriting here is great from Devin, and that helps with the flow.  It has some really nice melodic moments and some heavy moments that build tension.  I love Devin's Ziltoid voice, and the narration works fine for me on this album.  Overall, a great record with a fun concept that I revisit often.

I want to give Ki a listen before I comment, as it has been a while since I have listened to it.

[Metro]

That's right folks, its the return of
ADDICTED FRIDAY! 

The rules are simple: You listen to the DTP album Addicted on a Friday. If you do, you win. If you don't, you lose.
Don't lose.

The Devin Townsend Project - Addicted
Released November 17, 2009




Tracklisting:

1. Addicted!
2. Universe in a Ball!
3. Bend it Like Bender!
4. Supercrush!
5. Hyperdrive!
6. Resolve!
7. Ih-Ah!
8. The Way Home!
9. Numbered!
10. Awake!!

Personnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
Anneke van Giersbergen - Vocals
Ryan Van Poederooyen - Drums
Brian Waddell - Bass
Mark Cimino - Guitar

Additional Personnel:
Dave Young - Keyboards
Susanne Richter - Vocals (Ih-Ah!)
Rob Cunningham, Hugh Gilmartin, John Rafferty, Brian Johnson, Steve Lobmeie - Backup Vocals

Addicted is the second album from the DTP. Addicted represents the poppy, more accessible side of Dev’s music. A side that had been present in small doses on past albums with songs like Life, Christeen, Material, Stagnant, Slow Me Down, Sunshine and Happiness, and Hyperdrive. Addicted was inspired by commercial rock albums with big, heavy production, like Nickelback and Metallica’s Black Album.


Addicted was recorded The Factory in Vancouver and at Dev’s home studio. Dev once again put together a new band for this album. He brought back DTB drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen, as well as DTB guitarist Brian “Beav” Waddell, this time on bass. Mark Cimino, whom Dev met back in 1992 when he was recording the Vai album, joined the band as the second guitarist. Like on Ki, Dev wanted a female vocalist for the album. He wasn’t sure who to chose, when one day out of nowhere, Anneke Van Giersbergen emailed him a clip of her singing Hyperdrive with her band, Agua de Annique. Dev was immediately impressed and asked her to sing on Addicted. Addicted would be the first of many collaborations between them.



Universe in a Ball was considered for the Ki album, but Dev had trouble adapting the song to the style of Ki.
A music video was made for Bend it Like Bender
https://youtu.be/FaCefwkz4HY
This version of Hyperdrive was recorded in Open C# tuning to accommodate Anneke’s voice. This is the only time Dev has ever used that tuning.
Resolve is an admitted ripoff of the Wildheart’s song Vanilla Radio.
Ih-Ah came to Dev in a dream. Susanne Richter sings backup vocals on it instead of Anneke.
The main riff to The Way Home was written by Beav.

Dinosaurs and Juno were intended for Addicted, but were ultimately left off and included in the Contain Us box set.

Some clips from the recording of the album…
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_AGVF5YuSPLM733auTbja2P9cqe4G2u3

Addicted was released November 17, 2009. Reception was generally positive, though I’ve seen some scathing reviews criticizing the poppy direction of this album. Addicted was the second Dev album I heard. Part of me wanted to hate it because I was a stupid teen obsessed with Dream Theater who thought “Pop=Bad”, but I can not hate this record. I do think he’s done this aspect of his sound better on future releases. I lent this album to a girl I dated back in high school. She broke up with me but refused to give me back the CD.

Dev returned to touring in 2010 under the Devin Townsend Project name, playing songs from Ki, Addicted, and past solo albums. The live lineup was similar to the Addicted band, but Mark and Anneke were unable to commit to touring, so Dave Young joined as the second guitarist and Anneke only performed with the band on special occasions. The band’s first tour was opening for Cynic and Between the Buried and Me.

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

The Devin Townsend Project - Live in the USA 2010 EP
Recorded February 1, 2010, released February 14, 2011


no album art for this one, enjoy this picture instead

Tracklisting:

1. Supercrush!
2. Kingdom
3. Truth
4. OM
5. By Your Command

Personnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals
Dave Young - Guitar
Brian “Beav” Waddell - Bass
Ryan Van Poederooyen - Drums
Macbook Pro - Background stuff

This EP was recorded in Baltimore, MD at “Sonar”, a (now closed) venue that looks like a parking garage with a stage attached. It was released as a free download(No longer available) as a promotion for a 2011 European tour. It contains most of the band’s set that night, excluding only the first song: Disruptr.

Some sources incorrectly refer to this EP as “Live in Europe”.

The EP was later included in the Contain Us box set.

Full show, including Disruptr:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAixNvR4LsM

This was the second release I heard from Dev, so this was my first time hearing most of these songs. I think it's a solid performance, but looking back on it, Dev's humor and self-deprecation is a little much.

[The Curious Orange]

I don't think it's fair to describe Addicted as pop - by any objective standard it's fairly f*cking heavy and noisy.

I LOVE this album, it's a top-3 Dev album for me, and doesn't have a bad song on it. The use of AVG's vocals is inspired genius. All together now - "We are one, and we have found, they only wanted you around, to hold it down so stand your ground, we won't be here forever...."

[The Curious Orange]

https://www.loudersound.com/news/devin-townsend-announces-empath-live-in-america-will-be-released-in-august

[Stadler]

Addicted is my favorite Devy album.  Love every part of it.  I think "poppy" is relative; there's nothing really "poppy" about it other than the melodicism of Anneke's voice, but it certainly gives it a sort of different flavor, a variability, that increases it's accessibility.

As I've said too many times for it to not be creepy at this point, but the Live In London footage of this album being performed is mandatory viewing for fans of Devin, and, in particular, Anneka.  She steals the show, IMO.

[KevShmev]

While I think Terria is Devin's best album, Addicted is the one I listen to the most. They are 1a and 1b for me. While not poppy, Addicted is certainly a bit more accessible and catchy by metal standards than Devin's usual fare, and it goes without saying that Anneke's voice is the secret sauce of this amazing record.

[Buddyhunter1]

This is my favorite Devin album and one of my favorites of all time. The sound of it is just fantastic - incredibly colorful and bright but still heavy and complex. This is the best production a Devin album has ever had and probably the best showcase of his "wall of sound" style, which is a bit funny considering Devin's said in podcasts and commentaries that the sound of this album was kind of an accident and wasn't really what he was going for. It's one hell of a happy accident then, cuz the production on this record sounds amazing and is miles better than that of say, Epicloud.

Really though, it's the songs that make this album special. Addicted, Universe In A Ball, Bend It Like Bender, Hyperdrive, Awake... so many amazingly-written bangers on here, and the second half introduces some nice quieter songs to keep the album from being too one-note.

I've never seen the title track live before, and I really hope I get to one day. It might just be my favorite song he's ever written. That colossal main riff, the screamed vocals, that massive chorus, and that freaky guitar solo over that groovy-as-hell riff? Perfection.

[cramx3]

Addicted is my favorite Devy album.  Love every part of it.  I think "poppy" is relative; there's nothing really "poppy" about it other than the melodicism of Anneke's voice, but it certainly gives it a sort of different flavor, a variability, that increases it's accessibility.

As I've said too many times for it to not be creepy at this point, but the Live In London footage of this album being performed is mandatory viewing for fans of Devin, and, in particular, Anneka.  She steals the show, IMO.

Addicted is also my favorite Dev album.  I basically agree with everything you say here PLUS The Retinal Circus DVD is one of the greatest live concerts captured on video IMO.  It's what won me over as a Devin fan before I even heard any of this full albums.  That concert and specifically a lot of the Addicted songs made me a big fan.

[Adami]

Addicted is an amazing album. I was a huge fan of Anneke prior but I'm glad this album brought her a huge new fan base.


My only issue with the album is the lack of sufficient bass. It's technically there I guess, but not really.

[Pappy]

Going back a little. KI is still my favorite Devin album to listen to start to finish. Something about the entire vibe I just love. Coast into Distruptrrrrrr. Cmon.

On to Addicted. Love the addition of Anneke on the record. Their voices are just magic together. I'm still hit or miss on Bender and Universe. Sometimes i dig them sometimes i just have to skip ahead. The run from Hyperdrive to Awake is incredible.

[Buddyhunter1]

I'm still hit or miss on Bender and Universe.

Universe In A Ball is awesome, probably my second favorite song on the album! That main riff is just infectious. I wasn't super into Bender at first, I found it a little too poppy, but I've since gotten over that and now it's one of the best songs on the album to me.

[Metro]

Resolve is the only clunker on this album for me. I almost always skip it.

And can we get some love for The Way Home? One of the most underrated Dev songs, and one of his best vocal performances.

[cramx3]

I'd just like to add that I got to see a rare US performance of Devin with Anneke at a Progpower festival a few years ago.  One of my all time favorite concerts ever. Got to see Numbered live which was incredible.

[ReaperKK]

Resolve is the only clunker on this album for me. I almost always skip it.

And can we get some love for The Way Home? One of the most underrated Dev songs, and one of his best vocal performances.

The Way Home is one of my favorite Devin tracks. Addicted is a fantastic album, it's tied with Terria as my favorite record.

[KevShmev]

I've never seen the title track live before, and I really hope I get to one day. It might just be my favorite song he's ever written. That colossal main riff, the screamed vocals, that massive chorus, and that freaky guitar solo over that groovy-as-hell riff? Perfection.

I am with ya.  Addicted and Tiny Tears are always neck and neck in the battle for being my favorite Devin song, and it's wild because I am generally not a fan of screaming vocals at all, yet Addicted, which features mostly screaming vocals, couldn't stick to landing any better than it does.  Incredible song.