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 PRE-ORDER EPICLOUD RIGHT NOW DON'T WAIT DON'T EVEN THINK  Who? Devin Townsend has, over his 15 year career, released fourteen albums that have ranged from extreme metal (Strapping Young Lad releases, Deconstruction) to relaxed chillout (Ghost) and up-beat poppy rock metal (Addicted!, some tracks from Infinity and Accelerated Evolution). However he's probably best known for his 'wall of sound' progressive metal, which makes up arguably the bulk of his material (Accelerated Evolution, Physicist, Infinity, Ocean Machine, Synchestra, Addicted! etc.) The Devin Townsend Project In 2006 Devin dissolved both his extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and his progressive metal band The Devin Townsend Band, and told everyone to go away because he was tired of it all. But then he decided to release four albums because gently caress you, that's why.  Ki (2009) - A relatively quiet album for Devin, with lots of odd complexities and weird sounds going on. I love this album, it's very rewarding if you listen to it multiple times. The female vocalist 'Che' will be on Devin's upcoming album Casualties of Cool  Addicted! (2009) - Devin admitted two musical guilty pleasures before releasing this album - Enya and Eurobeat pop. This album has hints of both. Driving drums and multilayered female vocals to be precise. Not that it's devoid of crushing guitars. This is my favourite of the Devin Townsend Project albums (so far) and probably the most accessible. Contains a redone and vastly improved version of 'Hyperdrive' from the Ziltoid album.   Deconstruction & Ghost (2011) - These two albums came out together and could not be more different. Deconstruction is Devin's return to his extreme metal roots, with screaming and yelling and... circus music all over the place. It's an incredibly complicated listen and demands effort from fans to really get into it, but it's worth it. Ghost is a new-age chill out album. Yes, you read that right. It's got flutes and acoustic guitars and humming all over it. It was Devin's way of letting off steam after the batshit insanity of Deconstruction. Upcoming Releases Epicloud (Due September 24th) has 'new agey stuff, jazzy stuff, really heavy stuff', loads of choirs and orchestrations, and the wonderful vocals of Anneke (who was on Addicted!) In one interview Dev called it 'A very commercial sounding (for the most part) but beautiful and melencholic album full of easy to digest dev songs…Epicloud. I don’t know why it came out, but it did, so I’m going to get it out of my system' Effervescent is a sample from Epicloud. It has a feel good cheesy choir and Ziltoid. What more could you want?  Casualties of Cool (Due ??? Metalstorm has it as December) is 'a duo with myself and Che (ki)… it sounds like haunted Johnny cash songs. late night music, completely isolated sounding and different than anything I’ve done. Che sings most of the leads, and it’s probably the truest reflection of who I am in life at this point. Trying to release it in tandem with Epicloud.' Cool Stuff From The Thread 1. This is a chart that shows every single reference from one Devin song to another. Devin fans need new hobbies. Potential Thread Discussion Points 1. Will Devin ever be as powerful as he was with the skullet? 2. What foodstuff will Ziltoid be after in Z2? 3. Who can write the best Anneke/Devin/Ziltoid fanfiction? tote up a bags fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Aug 13, 2012 |
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Jul 29, 2012 09:27
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Since Ziltoid was after coffee on Z1, I'd say he's after a biscuit on Z2.
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Jul 29, 2012 10:49
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It should also be mentioned that he's touring this fall:  Also, while they're current status is unknown, Ghost 2 and Z2 should probably be mentioned under upcoming releases.
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Jul 29, 2012 13:15
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Some of my friends worship Devin. I have a few of his albums and they're enjoyable but I feel like SYL's City is the best thing he's ever done. It's got his signature style without all the goofy monkeycheese bullshit that's on stuff like Deconstruction. Addicted and Ghost are both pretty sweet though, I'll give him that. I'm going to see him on that September tour but I admit I'm mostly going for Katatonia.
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Jul 29, 2012 17:55
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Figures florida gets skipped yet again. Maybe I'll make a trip to Chicago or somesuch....
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Jul 29, 2012 23:20
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I just recently moved to Boston from Tennessee. I was hoping to be able to catch acts like Devin Townsend and Steven Wilson from my new location. No dice.  edit: woops Worcester is on there. I'm blind and dumb, but at least that's good news. Still sad about the lack of Steven Wilson, though! Kegwen fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Jul 29, 2012 |
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Jul 29, 2012 23:38
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Bruce Boxliker posted:Some of my friends worship Devin. I have a few of his albums and they're enjoyable but I feel like SYL's City is the best thing he's ever done. It's got his signature style without all the goofy monkeycheese bullshit that's on stuff like Deconstruction. Addicted and Ghost are both pretty sweet though, I'll give him that. I'm going to see him on that September tour but I admit I'm mostly going for Katatonia. I first heard Devin through SYL's Alien, which is an absolute beast of an album. I'm not really into his floaty space-crunch Devin Townsend Band stuff so much. I did like the latest four-album release though, especially Deconstruction and Addicted. The reason why I think he is so awesome is his range and versatility (both vocally and musically) and how much of a dork he is and how much he embraces that aspect of his personality. He is so cool to his fans and is very humble despite everything he has done. Also,   henpod fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Jul 30, 2012 |
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Jul 30, 2012 09:15
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I love the fact that the music is so honest and that he is making just the kind of music he wants. No bullshit, just expression.
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Jul 30, 2012 10:53
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henpod posted:Also,   (Tuska Open Air 2011 festival) I also got into Devin through City and short after, Biomech. Those still remain my favorites. I was at Tuska 2011 and while I enjoyed the band a lot, I spent most of the time wishing for some older stuff. I'm not familiar with much of his later work, so I assume most of it was that. I like Addicted though and will definitely get the new album. And of course see them in november.
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Jul 30, 2012 11:22
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Saw DTP live in Dublin last year, one of the greatest gigs ever. Devin is a god.
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Jul 30, 2012 15:16
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Weird seeing him play a Les Paul.
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Jul 30, 2012 17:31
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henpod posted:The reason why I think he is so awesome is his range and versatility (both vocally and musically) and how much of a dork he is and how much he embraces that aspect of his personality. That is what I love most about him. To quote him from his European Tour download album: "You know what? Just be who you are, don't be afraid to be a fuckin' cheeseball, baby. And then continue to loving CRUSH IT!"
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Jul 30, 2012 17:41
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Schizotek posted:Figures florida gets skipped yet again. Maybe I'll make a trip to Chicago or somesuch.... Yeah, a HUGE part of the reason I moved away from FL is that bands I wanted to see rarely toured there, you'd get the odd Scandinavian black or death metal band curious to see what the Tampa scene is like, and that was basically it.
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Jul 31, 2012 03:07
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Devin is my one man crush and everything he does is gold
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Jul 31, 2012 06:19
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During the brief period where new thread titles were being solicited, I was thinking of how to properly word the fact that Devy is the only man who can get away with calling anything "epic" in 2012 with his dignity intact. If Epicloud really is kinda Addicted pt. 2, I'm cool with that.
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Aug 1, 2012 06:22
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Samples of all the Epicloud tracks have just been put up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OngSHLiBoK4 Really liking the new version of Kingdom, and the rest are all sounding pretty great.
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Aug 3, 2012 11:51
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Like I just said in the metal thread, sounds cheesy as hell, but I love Devin so I am definitely looking forward to the effervescence and choirs. The sound seems a tad too processed though, which he has a habit of doing. It's still going to be awesome. Edit - 'Grace' sounds awesome, like 'Stand' pt.2 henpod fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 14:28
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 I cannot wait for this album!I'm presuming that the overprocessed sound will not be nearly as jarring when not through youtube's compression. I find he tends to balance the overprocessed sound with cramming so much detail in the mix - it just works.
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Aug 4, 2012 02:27
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This sounds alot like an even poppier Addicted, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
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Aug 4, 2012 02:30
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It reminds me of Synchestra most of all, with splatterings of Addiced!. Given they're two of my favourite records by him, I'm totes ok with that.
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Aug 4, 2012 02:33
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There's just so much going on in those tracks. Going to be an interesting one, for sure.
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Aug 4, 2012 03:22
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I'm thinking he was going for grandiose and nailed it.
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Aug 4, 2012 03:27
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I'm not sure I like that he's remaking Kingdom. It's one of my favorite songs and part of the reason why I like it is because on Physicist, which was an album that suffered from a few creative and production problems, all that chaos kind of came together and worked for that song. With those samples, some songs sound great and others sound the same. But I'll always love Devin, even if he's making music I'm not really feeling. But so far I don't think Epicloud sounds anything like Addicted, and I loved (most of) Addicted.
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Aug 4, 2012 04:15
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Bubba Smith posted:I'm not sure I like that he's remaking Kingdom. It's one of my favorite songs and part of the reason why I like it is because on Physicist, which was an album that suffered from a few creative and production problems, all that chaos kind of came together and worked for that song. From what I can get, Physicist is mighty compressed and after hearing a sample of the new version, it really sounds like has been opened up, so it might surprise you yet.
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Aug 4, 2012 06:47
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I thought I read something about new versions of Life and Pixillate. Are they on Epicloud or the recent live album?
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Aug 4, 2012 22:44
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Fina posted:I thought I read something about new versions of Life and Pixillate. Are they on Epicloud or the recent live album? They're on the Encores disc of the new live album.
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Aug 4, 2012 22:49
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Really excited for Epicloud now. I've been crazy about Devin for a few years now, but this year my interest sort of wained. It may have something to do with the fact that I saw Dev live 5 times last year, but I just couldn't get interested in his music in the same way that I was, despite having hastily bought VIP tickets for The Retinal Circus after the amazing London shows last year when I was on a Devin high. Luckily the samples of Epicloud have rekindled my love for Devin, and I listened to Ocean Machine for the first time in aaaages yesterday. drat. I still love that album so much. For me it has a great balace of cheese, but also depth, and despite the longish run time, it never feels long. New Devin material is just what I need I think, as I kind of burnt myself out on the albums of his that I like. Even so, I would probably say that I am more excited for Casualties of Cool, and the possibilities of hearing a more melancholic, haunted side of Devin. I expect it will have a similarish vibe to Ki, with less density. Greg Puciato (of The Dillinger Escape Plan) has heard Epicloud, and tweeted a lot of praise for it. I would look for the tweets to link, but it was a little while ago now, and I am far too lazy, but the general gist of it was "this is what stadium rock/metal should sound like" along with a whole load of other stuff. TDEP being another favourite of mine, this makes me super stoked.
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Aug 5, 2012 11:44
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQmlU-pf-MY Okay officially tent-in-pants excited for this album.
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Aug 5, 2012 19:26
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Devin Townsend truly missed his calling by not voicing villains in musical animated features.
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Aug 5, 2012 21:35
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Devin has such a huge catalogue of music, and I love hearing certain riffs and musical themes from other songs. I can't think of any other specific examples right now but I catch them every now and then. I can definitely hear 'Monument' from SYL in this one.
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Aug 5, 2012 22:20
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henpod posted:Devin has such a huge catalogue of music, and I love hearing certain riffs and musical themes from other songs. I can't think of any other specific examples right now but I catch them every now and then. I can definitely hear 'Monument' from SYL in this one. The Devin Townsend Self Reference Chart Stick it in the OP!
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Aug 5, 2012 22:35
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Quantum of Phallus posted:The Devin Townsend Self Reference Chart  How does anyone keep all this poo poo straight? Devin fans scare me.
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Aug 5, 2012 23:31
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Im sure this is the wrong place to ask, but does any one else find Devins production style incredibly grating? I put on anything after his strapping young lad days and kind of sit there, try to listen, but eventually get annoyed with all the poo poo coming out of my speakers and turn it off. People keep calling him a genius for 'managing to fit it all in' but I think its quite the opposite. nothing fits in and it ends up like 500 sounds trying to get through 2 speakers at once. I gave it another chance in a live setting at a music festival earlier in the year and it just made me want to go home (it was like 8-9pm at night and he was the last thing I watched, so it was probably a pile of factors). Too much poo poo going on. I really enjoy his work with SYL and some of DTP but most of this new stuff just hurts my ears.
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Aug 6, 2012 03:09
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Laserface posted:Im sure this is the wrong place to ask, but does any one else find Devins production style incredibly grating? I put on anything after his strapping young lad days and kind of sit there, try to listen, but eventually get annoyed with all the poo poo coming out of my speakers and turn it off. For all the praise he gets for his production work, he's no Steven Wilson or Joe Chiccarelli. Vulture Culture fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Aug 6, 2012 |
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Aug 6, 2012 03:46
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Devin's production goes from great to bad for me. For example I thought Addicted! was pretty decent until I heard the demos, which had much better production. I feel like the best production work he ever did was Accelerated Evolution. It was the one time the balance between 'what the gently caress is going on' and 'oh my god so much noise' worked. That Soilwork album is totally loving horrible though. Oh god Devin what were you thinking. Also I updated the OP a bit! 
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Aug 6, 2012 04:38
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The first time I listened to Deconstruction, I turned it off after about two songs, it was just too overwhelming. It takes a bit to get used to.
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Aug 6, 2012 11:28
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I listened to Enya(willingly) as a child/young teen, so I'm not quite as unaccustomed to the whole "wall of sound" thing Dev strives for, but most people classify as overproduction. Haven't listened to anything from Soilwork, so I'm not sure how the production is on that. Schizotek fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Aug 6, 2012 |
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Aug 6, 2012 20:54
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I think I read somewhere (Devin's twitter?) that Deconstruction wasn't intended as a "funny" album despite all the fart noises/"wacky" lyrics/etc. I've yet to see anything properly explaining how it's all supposed to come together but pretty much everything he writes is personal in some way so I don't doubt him saying that.
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Aug 6, 2012 21:15
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He explained in an interview that the fart noises are him taking an existential poo poo--cleansing himself of super heavy music.
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Aug 6, 2012 21:23
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Make a video with Devin and listen to Lucky Animals from Epicloud 
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Aug 6, 2012 22:54
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