Album Review: Devin Townsend - Empath

I'm going to say something that is rather unpopular; I don't like Devin Townsend. I have nothing against him, who seems to be a nice and down-to-earth guy, but I have never come across music he has made that has interested me in the slightest. Strapping Young Lad was noisy anger for the sake of being abrasive, while his later solo works largely churned out the same chugging riffs and boring melodies. And throw in Ziltoid, which was one of the dumbest concepts I've ever heard of, and you get someone who holds no appeal for me. I've tried to listen to several of his projects, and while "Ocean Machine" wasn't terrible, his view of music and mine just don't mesh. So why, then, am I here to talk about his latest album?

I could be a musical masochist, or perhaps I'm intrigued by the idea of this being a mixture of every side of Devin's musical mind. If ever I'm going to find something in him to appreciate, it should be with this record.

After an ambient introduction, "Genesis" kicks off the album with electronic flourishes, those one-note chugging riffs, and Devin throwing every vocal trick in the book at the composition. He sings, he screams, and a choir comes to back his vision of what creation must have been like. Of course, this is the big-bang version, where there is a large noise, and then something arises from nothing. I find the composition slipshod, as blast beats come in from nowhere, the song bounces from sound to sound at random, and Devin sticks to his usual single note melodies that I find so boring. He does try a bit of everything, so I'll give him that.

"Spirits Will Collide" is better, if only because it's more focused. The song has an identity, and sticks to its guns through its run-time. The use of choirs is more effective with the symphonic backdrop, although it does get a bit repetitive by the end. Devin decides to semi-growl his way through some of what is supposed to be a beautiful song, which is another decision I'm not sure I understand. I suppose that is the way his music is often able to call itself 'progressive', but I find it confusing more than boundary-pushing.

It doesn't take long for me to realize this album is not at all for me. Devin's heavy use of electronics, and refusal to commit to an idea for more than a minute at a time, is simply not the kind of music I enjoy listening to. Progressive music can come in long-form, and it can integrate a wide variety of sounds, but it needs to have a built-in logic so it feels natural to make those shifts within a song. Devin's music often skips out on the connective tissue, and leaves us with a scattershot of ideas that don't feel cohesive.

And after however many albums I have listened to from him, I continue to maintain Devin is a lackluster vocalist. I'm not saying he isn't talented. His voice is good, and he can do so many things with it, I can't say he is untalented. What he is, though, is not a writer who gives himself good material to sing. Over the course of these tracks, there isn't a single melody he sings I can remember. Whether singing or screaming, they are all flat and dull, relying on the scope of the production, and his lung power, rather than crafting a set of notes with any hook to them.

And by the time we get to the ten and twenty minute epic tracks, both of which are filled with several minutes of ambient noise, my patience is fried. When I describe music as being self-indulgent, this is a good example of what I mean. Devin is indulging every creative idea he's had in the last few years, and throwing them at us without much regard for how they will sound to us. I didn't enjoy any of my previous experiences with his music, but "Addicted!" and "Ki" made sense. This record doesn't. It sounds like a jigsaw puzzle that was forced together with a hammer.

I know a lot of people love Devin, but I'm sorry, I can't see why. I may lack empathy, but "Empath" is going to wind up as one of the most painful listening experiences of my year.