Coming from the schizophrenic and experimental sounds of "Infinity", "Physicist" is a much more straight forward and consistent release. The basis of many of the tracks is relatively hard edged thrash metal influenced drumming and guitar riffs and Townsend's vocals are predominantly raw and screaming. When that is said "Physicist" also features the trademark layers of keyboards/synths and a few more melodic moments with clean vocals (tracks like "Material" and "Jupiter"). It's a highly energetic release and often relatively fast-paced.

Devin is definitely building a reputation for being one of the most uncompromising of artists, releasing music that is raw yet over-produced, simple but complex, easy to listen to but also bloody hard work! There is a bit more light on this album than on 'Physicist', but not much. Devin is still trying to change production as we know it, pushing Phil Spector into new avenues. The times when he allows the music to shine through and his vocals to be unfettered is so unusual as to cause an interesting effect, obviously why he chooses to do so. This is much more than just music; it is how the songs can be treated so that they sound very different to anything else around. Remember, this is a man who first found fame with Steve Vai, then moved onto Front Line Assembly and The Wildhearts before forming his own band Strapping Young Lad. He is well used to volume, and how to use aggression but here it is behind a gossamer wall that only lets slip when he wills it.

Devin Townsend, possibly more widely known as the frontman for the extreme metal act Strapping Young Lad, began creating solo albums in 1997. Sometimes referred to as the 'Mad Scientist of Metal', Townsend produces a wide variety of music. This ranges from soft ambience designed, as he has stated, to put the listener to sleep, to high levels of thrash and extreme metal reminiscent of SYL. His works often feature a 'wall of sound', built by adding many layers of guitars and keyboards that are playing in unison or harmony. The end result is a number of carefully produced and mixed albums that favor high-end sound systems. Devin Townsend Project is another venture of Devin Townsend, considered separate from the material released as Devin Townsend. The project was originally conceived to comprise four albums of differing musical styles, each with a different set of guest/session musicians backing Townsend, but ended up continuing beyond that.

25 years since Devin released the first solo album under his own name dubbed: “Infinity”. That calls for a celebratory release so we proudly present the “Infinity 25th Anniversary Edition”! The album is set for release on the 24th of November 2023. This newly remastered version of the album comes as a Limited 2CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g 2LP + LP-booklet & as Digital album, and includes all the bonus tracks from this era, as well as newly shot artwork & liner notes from Devin.

‘Empath Live In America’ is the third release in the “Devolution” series. Recorded live on the Empath North American tour in 2020, it sees Devin & band taking a more fluid and improvisational approach to the setlist.

Devolution Series #2 - Galactic Quarantine was recorded between July and September 2020 in various places around the world. Originally streamed on September 5th, 2020 on StageIt as a replacement show for the COVID affected "Empath Vol 2 European Tour" and various cancelled Summer festivals. The show features Devin on vocals and guitars, Samus Paulicelli III on drums, Wes Hauch on guitars and Diego Tejeida on keys.
Galactic Quarantine is certainly one of his most ambitious lockdown releases and also serves as a great example of why we all love the man and his music. From Strapping Young Lad to The Devin Townsend Project to Devin Townsend… a lot of his projects and bands are covered on this 15-track release…

After an exceptionally long year of personal change and near-manic creative activity, Canadian musician Devin Townsend releases the follow-up to his highly acclaimed album "Empath" in 2019. Compiled from a flood of material written during the pandemic, 'Lightwork' represents a new level and has become one of the most accessible, yet ambitious releases of his storied career. A project Devin has had in mind since his teenage years (and has flirted with throughout his career), it's a more melodic and direct album with a great producer backing him up. That's where Garth Richardson comes in: a Vancouver-based producer with a long CV and a long-time friend of Devin's. And the goal? To create something beautiful, cathartic, powerful and clear. A sense of optimism and strength in a time that can commonly be described as "depressing". It's about strength, love, acceptance, fear and overcoming together.

Townsend: "So what is The Puzzle?.. well, its not technically my new record, it's more a collaborative, multimedia art project that acts as a stopgap between Empath and the next record, Lightwork (due out in March of next year on Inside Out Records). The Puzzle includes two 'soundtracks' of sorts (the highly orchestrated 'Puzzle' and the very chill 'Snuggles') along with a film, graphic novel, novel, and a huge amount of multimedia. It includes many artists (upwards of 50) that participated via Zoom during the pandemic and the experience gave me a chance to purge and be completely creatively free. As such, it is a stream of conscious, and very abstract collection of music that includes a narrative (in the form of a film) and is meant to be a documentation of what the pandemic felt like to me.

Townsend: "So what is The Puzzle?.. well, its not technically my new record, it's more a collaborative, multimedia art project that acts as a stopgap between Empath and the next record, Lightwork (due out in March of next year on Inside Out Records). The Puzzle includes two 'soundtracks' of sorts (the highly orchestrated 'Puzzle' and the very chill 'Snuggles') along with a film, graphic novel, novel, and a huge amount of multimedia. It includes many artists (upwards of 50) that participated via Zoom during the pandemic and the experience gave me a chance to purge and be completely creatively free. As such, it is a stream of conscious, and very abstract collection of music that includes a narrative (in the form of a film) and is meant to be a documentation of what the pandemic felt like to me."

"The other record, Snuggles, is meant to be something you listen to in order to feel better. Puzzle is chaos, Snuggles is calm. The whole project is meant to express that I think there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we've been through. Keeping ourselves and our loved ones together during it all became the whole point."

Devolution Series #2 - Galactic Quarantine was recorded between July and September 2020 in various places around the world. Originally streamed on September 5th, 2020 on StageIt.com as a replacement show for the COVID affected “Empath Vol 2 European Tour” and various cancelled Summer festivals. The show features Devin on vocals and guitars, Samus Paulicelli III on drums, Wes Hauch on guitars and Diego Tejeida on keys.

All credit to DEVIN TOWNSEND – the general disarray of the pandemic has done nothing to hamper his high levels of productivity, both releasing new material online and hosting a number of livestreams throughout the last year. As the second official release in his Devolution Series (itself a catalogue of both quarantine activities and material from the vaults), Galactic Quarantine documents one of those aforementioned livestream concerts. Making up for the understandable cancellation of the Empath Vol. 2 tour – one intended to focus on the heavier side of Townsend material – Galactic Quarantine sees ‘Hevy Devy‘ accompanied by a fierce trio of metal musicians to deliver a semi-live performance of metal that skirts mostly between prog and extreme…

Devolution Series #2 - Galactic Quarantine was recorded between July and September 2020 in various places around the world. Originally streamed on September 5th, 2020 on StageIt.com as a replacement show for the COVID affected “Empath Vol 2 European Tour” and various cancelled Summer festivals. The show features Devin on vocals and guitars, Samus Paulicelli III on drums, Wes Hauch on guitars and Diego Tejeida on keys.

Devin Townsend brings to you the Devolution Series: a grouping of oddities and interesting material that he would like people to hear, but that aren’t necessarily a ‘major release’. The series will include all the quarantine songs and concerts, as well as various live shows from the past few years. The first release, “Devolution Series #1 - Acoustically Inclined, Live in Leeds”, is a remixed and remastered version of the ‘Live in Leeds’ show that was originally included on the Empath Ultimate Edition as video asset. A cool acoustic show that deserves to be heard, now availble as audio version.