Devin Townsend's "Terria"...

[Pryde7]

Hey hey,

I just bought his Terria album a couple of days ago, and have one word for it: HUGE. It sounds MASSIVE. His wall-of-sound approach and sudden shift between extremes leaves me breathless. This man is so talented, it leaves me in shock.

Anyone else into Devin's work? Any recommendations?

K

[Petie]

Yeah, the man's a genius. If you wanna hear some incredible post-Vai shredding, check out "Ants" from Infinity. And his next album, Accellerated Evolution, will contain a five-minute guitar solo, and be more like Ocean Machine and the last few songs of Terria.

[rfb]

The best advice is just to buy everything you can find. The Strapping Young Lad stuff is rather different, and you may not like it as much (I do, personally). Infinity, Physicist and Ocean Machine: Biotech are just staggering records, though. Brilliant.

- rfb, who's going to see Devin live two weeks on Thursday

[pawel]

I just picked up Terria, and I'm liking it a lot ("Earth Day" is amazing) Although I'm still in the "getting into it stage", I can now see where all the rave opinions are coming from. I gotta get back to my third listen now....

[jemaholic]

Devon Townsend=Accelerated Evolution=DEADHEAD!!!!

[guitarkatana]

I have Accelerated Evolution, and I love it. Devin Townsend has a great ear for what sounds good.

[SeRcH]

I got Ocean Machine about half a year ago, and I can't get enough of it, after countless listens, it's still on heavy rotation on my car
I have 2 SYL cd's and they are great too, I think I'll buy Terria and Acellerated Evolution.

[Drew]

Devin Townsend is absolutely brilliant. HUGE fan of his work, probably enjoy his stuff more than even Vai's. I'm going largely by Terria and what I coul;d get off his mp3.com site, but he's an absoltuely phenoninal musician/producer. Hugely inspiring.

My only nitpick about "Terria?" While it's massively layered, and it sounds like it was recorded by a small army, not three or four guys, the stereo spectrum is pretty boring. I'd like to have heard some more movement...

I really need to grab "ocean machine," to say nothing of "Sex and Religion." I've been told numerous times that it's probably Va's weirdest, so i've given it a wide berth, but Vai playing with Townsend... how bad could it be?

"Canada" might be my favorite cut off that disc, although I'm also big on "the Moutnian," "Nobody herE" (i think that's what it's called, and "Stagnant."

-D

[Break Zero]

Major Devin Townsend fan here. Most of Strapping Young Lad (my favorite band to see live) and in particular 'City' (the soundtrack to the worse day of your life ). But Ocean Machine: Biomech is a must-have. Beautiful, beautiful album, especially 'Funeral'.
Agreed about Terria, sounds like a wall of surreal sounds coming right at you.
Accelerrated Evolution is quite amazing too. I just adore 'Suicide', and 'Depth Charge' and 'Deadhead' are killer cuts too.

[Drew]

Went out looking for "Ocean MAchine" last night after work, and not suprisingly, even in Downtown Crossing, Boston, didn't find a copy. So i grabbed "Sex and Religion" instead.

I can kidna see why DT left. I love Vai, and if anything, i love Townsend's work more... But it's a bit sophomoric and excessive... Vai's not exactly the world's createst lyricist, to start with, and even moments that could have been salvageable ("In My Dreams With You" is a wonderfully warped song), Townsend is WAY too excessive and exaggerated. Sure, it could have been the fact that he was just a kid at the time (19, right?) but i have a feeling Vai was also kinda looking for a completely over the top vocal performance; Devin certianly doesn't overdo his phrasing that much in his own music, and in the rare moments he does, it at least serves the music, not parodies it.

Oh well, its still an interesting disc. I just wish it wasn't so comical.

-D