DEVIN TOWNSEND
Devin Townsend: ready to give you a heavy metal hug
“ONE SECTION SOUNDS LIKE
CRASH BANDICOOT WITH A GUITAR”
Lightwork
INSIDEOUT MUSIC
Canada’s prog-metal mastermind swaps the manic for the oceanic
MUCH LIKE ENYA, Devin Townsend yearns to sail away. The Canadian multi-instrumentalist has been poised with his floaties since 2016, when he prematurely bade farewell to his main hustle, The Devin Townsend Project. This was communicated via liner notes for the DTP’s Transcendence album, in which he posed with a coconut cocktail, next to a dolphin. An extremely clear, normal way to tell people you’re done with a band. Three years later, he paddled into uncharted territory with Empath – his most accomplished, overblown record to date, replete with beachthemed merch and seagull noises. Lightwork offers more nautical nuggets, albeit less frantically.
Empath was do-a-backflip-whilebreathing-fire-and-winning-thelottery-and-wanking music. This is not. It’s Devin’s first time properly working with a producer, resulting in his shortest studio effort for a decade. It’s still 56 minutes long, mind, but each second is stuffed to the girdle with prog rock merriment, as Devin’s wall-of-sound is moulded by Garth Richardson – aman who’s produced arena regulars like Biffy Clyro and Nickelback.