Transcendence
Over the course of Devin Townsend’s storied career, a single constant has persevered: change. As far back as Steve Vai’s ‘Sex & Religion,’ which Townsend fronted, to 2001’s landmark full-length ‘Terria’ to the multi-instrumentalist’s country rock outfit Casualties of Cool, to his stunning new album ‘Transcendence,’ the Canadian isn’t too interested in keeping an even musical keel. To stay the proverbial course is, well, anathema. For certain, he’s far too impatient to write the same Strapping Young Lad song over and over — which is why he folded the band in 2007 — and it’s likely there will never be a fourth or fifth Ziltoid album (a third if we’re lucky) because by that point he’ll be in a totally different frame of mind for galactic puppets gone awry. To understand why Townsend, consciously and subconsciously, favors change is to know the man and his music today.
Recorded, produced, engineered and mixed at The Armoury Studios in Vancouver, Canada with Townsend and Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood (Periphery, Animals as Leaders), ‘Transcendence’ sounds absolutely massive. From the moment “Truth” — a re-work from the ‘Infinity’ album — monstrously blends into the soul-stirring “Stormbending” to the undulating cool of mid-point jam “Secret Sciences” and Ween cover “Transdermal Celebration (feat. Anneke van Giersbergen Che and Aimee Dorval),” Townsend and crew have engineered a modern-day classic.
The sheer scale of tracks like “Failure,” “Higher,” and the majestic title track is at once daunting and inviting. ‘Transcendence’ pulls the listener in like a movie score. It has the emotional heft of Rosenman’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and the mega-riff power of Black-era Metallica.
With over 60 songs in the bag for ‘Transcendence,’ (not all, he is quick to point out, of the same quality) Townsend obviously had to pare down. The songs that made it, however, are breathtaking in their scope, beautiful in their presentation, and heavy – noticeably – enough to out-bombast the sum of The Devin Townsend Project’s previous full-lengths. Certainly, Townsend knows how he feels about the songs on ‘Transcendence’ (and its accompanying second disc). Each song, from “Truth” and “Secret Sciences” to “Stars” and “Offer Your Heart,” provoked a reaction from the man.
