Devin Townsend is one of those artists who never stays still, who’s always got something on one of several burners, and with no fewer than twenty-three albums to his credit under various guises, it’s often hard to keep up. Moreover, with so much stylistic diversity on display on those albums, it’s not always easy to place the man or his music.
The ‘Devolution Series’ is yet another sideline / side project, something of a potboiler / stopgap while he works on his mainline works (because clearly, fans grow frustrated by his idleness and lack of output)., but also because lockdown has had a profound effect on most musicians. Townsend pitches it best himself:
“So we bring to you the ‘Devolution Series’: a grouping of oddities and interesting material
that I would like people to hear, but don’t necessarily want to present as a ‘major release’.
The series will include all the quarantine songs and concerts, as well as various live shows
from the past few years. I’m am currently deep in the writing of my new projects and am very excited to be doing so. Thanks for facilitating my ability to do that, and I hope you enjoy the ‘Devolution Series’.”
There’s a lot to enjoy on this 15-track catalogue-spanning extravaganza, culled from online concert #4, which blasts off with the opening salvoes from Strapping Young Lad’s megalithic noise that is ‘City’, in the form of ‘Velvet Kevorkian’ followed by ‘All Hail the New Flesh’. Wow. This is a bit different from the online gigs I’ve seen streamed during the pandemic, where bands have performed with just one or two members playing acoustically in their living rooms and bedrooms. Because it’s Devin Townsend, it spans throbbing industrial metal, post-metal, prog… however heavy it gets, there’s never a melody or a moment of aching beauty far away.
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This is full-on, full band, full-volume sound, and it’s no wonder they’ve garnered attention and become quite a thing, and as fundraisers for various hospitals and the like, there’s a whole other human dimension here. And the sound quality is astounding.
Obviously it’s one for the fans first and foremost, but it’s also a very neat port of entry.
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