Devin Townsend is, as you may remember from one of my other reviews, the lead singer and guitarist of extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad, where he's a complete maniac, constantly screaming about his anger and hatred among other things. A little man full of so much anger that it sounds like he's inches away from killing people. This album is far, far different than City, which was recorded around the same time he made this. This album is much more calm, mellow, and at times, even beautiful.Devin's here on vocals, guitar, and keyboard. He's joined by JR Harder on bass, and Marty Chapman on drums, but as always, Devin's the brains behind the album.
This album will leave people who've only listened to Strapping Young Lad thinking "Is this really Devin?" because of the completely different style. This has a bit of heavy metal influence, yes, but a lot of it incorporates soft rock, ambient, classic rock, and other things, making it an easy listen.
Devin also goes into other subjects than anger on here, where he realizes there's so much more to life than being angry, and has to go on with his life, no matter how depressed he is.
Don't get me wrong, I love Devin, but I've never especially gotten into this album. Maybe I haven't heard it enough for it to really click with me, in which case my opinion might radically change and I'll edit this post later to include my new thoughts on it, but some songs just don't have a terrible lot going on for it to keep my attention. Don't get me wrong, I love some songs on here, like 'Life' and 'Night', but I'm not a crazy fan of the longer songs on here. Although I was like that with his later releases until I got more adjusted to them, which is why I'm hoping this will click with me soon.
Is this a bad album? Certainly not. If you like the style, you might even love it. It just didn't really click with me, and I'm really hoping it does. The review at the end is my own personal score at this time.
There's not really much more I can say. You'll either love this album, or you'll be bored with it. I'm kind of in the middle of that.
"I'll see you on the other side!"
6/10
Recommended Track(s): Life
