In 1998, Devin Townsend released Infinity : his first album under his own name. The record refined his immense yet melodic prog and became one of his most celebrated releases. It also pulled the polymath back from a crisis of ego that had put him in hospital. Three decades on, to coincide with the groundbreaking record’s 25th-anniversary reissue, Townsend looks back on its troubled creation and admits, “I couldn’t have done any better.”

Words: Matt Mills New Portraits: Tom Hawkins

Devin Townsend is revealing all.

“I ended up going down this avenue of thinking that I knew it all, and that it was my responsibility to tell everybody in my life what they were doing wrong.”

There’s a rare moment of pause from Devin Townsend.

“Please try not to make this sensationalistic,” the progressive metal maverick asks, looking right down the lens of his video camera. “What I’m trying to do with expressing this is to help people who are going through something similar. If this comes across as, ‘I did this many drugs, I was a fucking crazy person and they put me in a mental institution,’ that’s really going to do a disservice to this.”

You can understand Townsend’s apprehension. He and Prog are on a video-call today to talk about his 1998 solo album Infinity, which has been remastered and re-released for its 25th anniversary. And, as the singer/multi-instrumentalist just summarised, the story behind the record is a sensitive one.

Knowing Devin Townsend’s work is almost a prerequisite for being a progressive metal fan in the 21st century. The Canadian polymath entered the public consciousness in 1993, singing for Steve Vai on the virtuoso’s Sex & Religion album. For most artists, that venture (at which point Townsend was barely in his 20s) would surely have been an unassailable career highlight. However, Townsend’s influence and myriad projects since have turned it into more of a footnote.