Listening Group Week 9: The Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra

[Grimario]

I mentioned in the Coheed & Cambria week from kdestiny that I was going to do a wanky concept album for my week. I still might if this keeps going and I end up with a second stab but the man whose ridiculous body of work put me onto that wanky concept album/artist deserves first run.

I could go with a wanky concept album but a tongue in cheek look at the wave of sell out punk turned pop bands isn’t close to his best work. Ziltoid is up there but a concept album about an alien invasion looking for the planet’s best cup of coffee? So… I guess where it all began for me is as good a place to start as any.



https://open.spotify.com/album/715de...TLm6Crxmj5uCbg
https://play.google.com/store/music/...5q2jw6vqtcmmem
https://music.apple.com/us/album/synchestra/1045644245

I had multiple friend’s trying to get me into Devy years before this album finally struck a chord with me and made me GET the appeal. I didn’t get the appeal of Strapping Young Lad and its brutality, I didn’t get the wall of sound that was some of his earlier solo work… but this album was far more accessible and boom, I was hooked. Devin Townsend is my favourite musician by a long margin and anyone who is a fan has been blessed with someone that I think will be looked upon as one of the greatest metal artists of his generation. Synchestra showcases some of that but it's almost pop metal in places with a bit of country thrown in on a track or two so seems a bit more fitting to exposing you lot to this rather than something on the more extreme ends of his spectrum.

It's serious in places (Jungian theory/life isn't valid till you've had a kid/look after the planet) and straight up stupidly fun - I mean the polka intro track before Vampira and then the straight up stupid dancing on the music video?



This album was my gateway into the weird and wonderful world of Devin and hopefully it might do that for a few of you.

Kind of related - Devy has been getting a bit more mainstream exposure on the back of various react videos, particularly Kingdom Live on EMGtv and Deadhead Live at Royal Albert Hall. I almost wanted to do Accelerated Evolution just so I could talk about how amazing Deadhead is... up there with his greatest ever tunes.

[Grimario]

And just realised that all the digital albums are missing the final hidden track that is on the album.

It's silly, fun, happy pop.

[Peter Griffin]

This was certainly...interesting. I likely wont add it to my playlist but it was a decent enough listen. I did enjoy Triumph and Vampolka mind.The 'hidden' track was also decent.

[Melly]

I found the band and other albums on Spotify...but not that one.

[Grimario]

I found the band and other albums on Spotify...but not that one.

This link doesn't work for you? Hmmm. Didn't think Spotify did regional listings so not sure what else to offer.

https://open.spotify.com/album/715de...TLm6Crxmj5uCbg

[The Rosk]

Works for me. This immediately feels like a cross between Tenacious D and The Darkness.

[Melly]

This link doesn't work for you? Hmmm. Didn't think Spotify did regional listings so not sure what else to offer.

https://open.spotify.com/album/715de...TLm6Crxmj5uCbg

Silly me didn't click on the link previously. Thanks!

[Pablo Diablo]

Melly were you able to get it to play? I was able to open the link and the tracks would show up but I wasn’t actually able to play them.

I’ve resorted to other means to obtain it for now but the quality isn’t great. And with how dense instrumentally some of the songs are that I’ve listened to so far I think I’ll need a higher quality listen. Might need to just listen on YouTube although that won’t allow me to easily tell when I’m on a different track.

[Melly]

Oh shoot, I didn't notice that. Also cannot click play!

Found on YT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YW9ZC5RoZE

[Melly]

@Pablo Diablo, you are right...hard to differ what tracks are what....but I like this so far.

[Melly]

Not the type of music I normally listen to. I overall liked what I heard. It felt very cinematic and dramatic. I feel like it makes decent background music. I couldn't tell which song was what due to Youtube, so I cannot do a track by track ranking. Overall 7.5 out of 10.

[Pablo Diablo]

So I gave this a couple listens. A part of me feels like I've heard a song or two before (Gaia in particular sounded familiar) maybe I've heard it on the radio when they were trying to play some Cancon or something. Anyways, it's definitely a unique album. Obviously one that you have to listen to in the correct order because of how one song flows into another. Listening to the album I got shades of Rush, Avenged Sevenfold and Trans Siberian Orchestra. As I had mentioned earlier I found the music pretty dense, which I don't know if it was just the quality of the music I had or what but I found it a bit hard to listen to.

Very unique album but don't think I'll be keeping any of the songs in heavy rotation because it's really best listening to as a whole album.

[BBF]

Been away for a bit so I'm a couple behind. Will catch up when I've caught up with work and post my thoughts.

[Grimario]

So I gave this a couple listens. A part of me feels like I've heard a song or two before (Gaia in particular sounded familiar) maybe I've heard it on the radio when they were trying to play some Cancon or something. Anyways, it's definitely a unique album. Obviously one that you have to listen to in the correct order because of how one song flows into another. Listening to the album I got shades of Rush, Avenged Sevenfold and Trans Siberian Orchestra. As I had mentioned earlier I found the music pretty dense, which I don't know if it was just the quality of the music I had or what but I found it a bit hard to listen to.

Very unique album but don't think I'll be keeping any of the songs in heavy rotation because it's really best listening to as a whole album.

Throw Deadhead or Kingdom on - they're much more single play friendly and both vastly superior individual songs. And for something way more mellow, his best "love song" ballady tune is Ih-Ah!

[The Beer Monster]

Not going to have time to do a review until next week as we are off on holiday.

[The Rosk]

I'll do a much more comprehensive review tomorrow on this. Need a few more reviews please, before we move on to the next week.

[MMH]

I have not forgot about this. Just been a bit busy, have listened to the first few songs and its certainly an intriguing one.

Shall post my full thoughts as soon as possible.

[Kdestiny]

Loved this album, very eccentric at the beginning and I love it.

Really easy to listen to other than the fact that spotify itself made this difficult to listen to for some reason. It would let me go through the album, I had to select each song.

Each song is really great stuff and the through line of the album is really good stuff so this is definitely something I will add to my most. Great pick. Such good variety in the album, but not too miiiiitch to where it felt out of place. The first half in particular is really really nice to listen to.

[Grimario]

His latest album, Empath, feels very much like a closing chapter on a huge part of his life. It's possibly more diverse but all still very Devin Townsend in sound.

Yes, there are elephants playing drums in the film clip. There is also a gorilla on bass and a massive choir.



I see him next Friday. Been way too long since he was here and am super pumped.

[The Rosk]

I've actually enjoyed this more than I expected to. The melodies are enjoyable, the production is insane, and despite it being arguably the most hard metal choice of any thus far, it seems a really positive record after a few weeks of quite sad stuff.

"Triumph" stays with me the most after listening, but a really cool album all in all and a solid pick - certainly one I'd never have gone for otherwise. Cheers Grim

[wardy]

I've listened to this several times now and really tried to like it but it's not my thing.

Vampolka was my favourite: quirky, not too heavy and no screaming. Then it segues into Vampira which has an ok guitar riff but awful screaming. I HATE screaming in songs, I just don't get it. It's ruined many otherwise decent tunes for me in the past. I could barely listen to Pixillate, Judgement and maybe another one or two because of it.

Hypergeek was alright actually, especially the first kind of medieval sounding part. I was digging that. The rest was just a bit meh to my ears.

In conclusion, it was probably better than Coheed and Cambria. Cheers Grimario.

[The Beer Monster]

I’d echo most of that, except for I didn’t like any of it. But Grimario seems like a nice guy so I will elaborate with some positives in a bit.

[Grimario]

I’d echo most of that, except for I didn’t like any of it. But Grimario seems like a nice guy so I will elaborate with some positives in a bit.

TBM Reviews is the only reason I joined up.


Glad you enjoyed it, Rosk. If you're looking for any more, Addicted! is probably more accessible. His other stuff is almost always heavier or more wall of sound but most albums have some slightly softer stuff mixed in.



And I am kind of with you on the screaming, wardy. Devy was the first screaming I could actually enjoy - it's almost musical screaming, not the completely distorted screaming from his earlier SYL days.

[The Beer Monster]

Balls.
Oomph.
Gravitas.
Devin Townsend.

One of these does not belong.
Does Devin Townsend keep a Sorcerer in a box as punishment for what he did to him as a kid? Does this explain the screaming?
I said I'd do positives didn't I? Some of these tracks do not contain screaming, which is nice.
Another one not for me.
Maybe I don't like music anymore.

[Morrison]

i'm halfway through 'triumph' right now and yo this album is nuts. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS HONKY TONK JANGLING RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS SONG.

i was not expecting this. i knew devin townsend as a metal dude, but i don't think i ever listened to anything he's done. maybe some strapping young lad, but i couldn't say for sure. so for this album to start off the way it did, i thought i had completely misdiagnosed the entire man's career. obviously that went away, though some of my surprise still lingers. the beginning of this album is wild, with such a crazy swing in sounds and genres. it's so melodic, broken up by these harder, deeper moments, which can be jolting, but very interesting. it's definitely commanding of your attention. then 'vampolka' comes in and now it sounds like a weird al album, what in the absolute fuck. once 'vampira' kicks in it stays in the metal wheelhouse the rest of the way and i kinda zoned out about halfway through the back half of the album because of that. nothing bad or anything, but it very much got into a familiar, comfortable cycle there, and is fairly relentless with a wall of sound. a lot of the songs end up in a drone, in that there are stretches, especially on the longer songs, of the same musical phrase or part just repeating itself for a bit, so it struggled to hold my strict attention as i putzed around on the internet while listening, which is where it differs from the first half. so really a tale of two albums, almost.

overall, i was very pleasantly surprised with this. quite a journey from start to finish.

[Grimario]

so really a tale of two albums, almost.

overall, i was very pleasantly surprised with this. quite a journey from start to finish.

That's kinda the consensus amongst fans as well. The opening trio is some of his best work, Babysong is a standout for a whole bunch of reasons that are now 13 years out of date and Vampolka/Vampira works as a kind of insight into Devy's base stupidity. Then the rest of the album seems a little more formulaic at times.

Glad you enjoyed it.


And yes TBM, I think you don't like music anymore.

[MMH]

Right lets get this done. I am sat here with a Dirty Mexican (The drink not a person) so can relax and listen to this album...

65 minutes? For fucks sake...

Starts off slowly with Let It Roll but I assume it is building to something? Oh there it is, Hypergeek starts off like background music to Golden Axe or something, I quite like it and then it gets very loud! I like loud as I am somewhat of a metal head, thus far its very diverse....

It feels like the album has been cut wrong or something as they seem to merge into one another like one long song but then randomly change tempo and general layout half way through the listed songs. It's different at least.

Triumph is kind of epic yet doesn't go anywhere at the same time.

More medieval RPG tunes with Babysong, I am not complaining either. Really enjoying he music, the guys voice is good yet it's washed out by the music. And again its just changed half way through the song! It's my favourite song so far though, could easily see myself driving along to this.

Vampolka is awesome. Love it, wish it was longer. WIll deffo go on my instrumental play list.

I guess technically Vampira continues where Vampolka left off but its not quite as fun. Not bad in an Iron Maiden piss take kind of way.

Mental Tan is just filler, the best thing it does is lead into Gaia. I quite like Gaia, goes fun about half way through it. I am thinking this is maybe a better headphone album though? I feel like I am missing bits.

Pixillate has a pretty nice bass line. I am a sucker for good bass in songs. Sadly the rest of the song doesn't match up to it and it goes on about 4 minutes too long.

This guy loves his marching riffs doesn't he? Judgement is full of them for 4 minutes, the final 2 minutes are nice, almost Marillion like in many ways.

I found A Simple Lullaby to be another filler track but 7 minutes worth of it. I think this is supposed to be one of the stand out tracks from the album? I think I missed it.

For Sunset see Vampolka only not quite as awesome. Still good though. Was a nice lift from the dirge like music (I mean that in a somewhat complimentary way) of the last couple of songs.

Notes from Africa is a somewhat disappointing ending, but now I am hearing three minutes of static...bonus track incoming?

Oh and there it is. Sunshine and Happiness. The best song an the album. Why hide it?? I get it doesn't fit in with the rest of the album concept wise but still... Then again its a bit Status Quo too...

All in all this wasn't a bad listen. I wouldn't say I loved it but I liked it enough for it not to annoy me. I thought the first song showed he has a good voice and then for the rest of the album I barely heard it as he was washed out under a cacophony of music. I do like the idea of concept albums, the only problem with them is if you are not totally on board with the concept from the beginning of the album then it becomes a struggle as the album goes on.

Not too bad though, Nice one Grim.

It will be the best album I listen to tonight probably anyway....