After being interested in checking out some Devin Townsend stuff, I went and picked up a bunch of his albums. I got most of his solo albums and a few Strapping Young Lad.
Since I am relatively new to Devin Townsend, I figured I'd have a start with his debut and go chronologically from there. So I popped in Ocean Machine and surfed on the net to read some reviews about it. So I came across all these weird comments. First thing that really confused me was the term Ocean Machine band. So is OM his former band or his first solo offering? Secondly are DT solo and DTB different entities or just the same line-up? Thirdly I have many a time read that Devin's work is known to be indescribably heavy, yet when I popped in Ocean Machine and gave it a few spins, it didn't strike me necessarily as being heavy. It's just very avant garde. I know that Devin has a killer voice, very powerfull with quite some range. But on the album he seems to experiment with his vocals but melodically and technically. He uses these processed vocal type that sounds like his voice is going thru some sort of filter before it hits your ears? Same goes for the instruments, particularly the guitars. The music shifts from genre to genre refusing to compromise and making it impossible for you to categorise it. The tone is weird. The production is amazing, but the guitar tones are also very unusual. Also, there's no real solo on the album, only fiery rhythm lines. Some songs have this "pop" feel to them, not necessarily radio pop, but you know what I mean.
So my question is, did I make a fine start by picking OM? What can I expect from the other Devin solo offerings and what is really going to hit me on SYL albums? Do most Townsend fans consider those records death metal, or industrial? What exactly is it that makes some people use the term industrial when describing Devin's music?
Also, has he ever taken part in more proggy rooted albums where we can also expect some degree of technical prowess in the instrumentation department?
Thanks!
Since I am relatively new to Devin Townsend, I figured I'd have a start with his debut and go chronologically from there. So I popped in Ocean Machine and surfed on the net to read some reviews about it. So I came across all these weird comments. First thing that really confused me was the term Ocean Machine band. So is OM his former band or his first solo offering? Secondly are DT solo and DTB different entities or just the same line-up? Thirdly I have many a time read that Devin's work is known to be indescribably heavy, yet when I popped in Ocean Machine and gave it a few spins, it didn't strike me necessarily as being heavy. It's just very avant garde. I know that Devin has a killer voice, very powerfull with quite some range. But on the album he seems to experiment with his vocals but melodically and technically. He uses these processed vocal type that sounds like his voice is going thru some sort of filter before it hits your ears? Same goes for the instruments, particularly the guitars. The music shifts from genre to genre refusing to compromise and making it impossible for you to categorise it. The tone is weird. The production is amazing, but the guitar tones are also very unusual. Also, there's no real solo on the album, only fiery rhythm lines. Some songs have this "pop" feel to them, not necessarily radio pop, but you know what I mean.
So my question is, did I make a fine start by picking OM? What can I expect from the other Devin solo offerings and what is really going to hit me on SYL albums? Do most Townsend fans consider those records death metal, or industrial? What exactly is it that makes some people use the term industrial when describing Devin's music?
Also, has he ever taken part in more proggy rooted albums where we can also expect some degree of technical prowess in the instrumentation department?
Thanks!
