Devin Townsend – Metal Express Radio

DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT / SHINING / PERIPHERY (Live)

March 20, 2015 Kristian Singh-Nergård

All photos by Kristian Singh-Nergård Everything was set for the proggiest night of the year at the sold-out Rockefeller venue in the heart of the Norwegian capital. The European tour headlined by Devin Townsend Project with special guests Shining and Periphery had finally come to Norway. PERIPHERY The Progressive Metal/Djent band from Maryland, USA, are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. They celebrate this by releasing a double album. It’s been three years since their last album release but it’s definitely been worth the wait. The double album, consisting of Juggernaut: Alpha and Juggernaut: Omega is a great release. Out of the eight songs played in the set, six were from the new double album. Periphery’s front man and vocalist Spencer Sotelo does a great job communicating with the crowd and getting everyone participating. He even demanded a circle pit, which the crowd happily obliged. His vocals were flawless and there wasn’t a single mistake to be detected. Of course, you can’t talk about Djent without mentioning the guitarists, which there were three of. Band founder Misha Mansoor and Jake Bowen plays some wicked leads while Mark Holcomb holds the ground with bass player Adam Getgood. There’s no doubt as to why Periphery are considered one of the pioneers of the Djent movement. And of course they’ve got the machine Matt Halpern on drums. Someone should write a book about his drumming skills because this guy is talented. Even though a lot of the stuff he plays is technically challenging it looks as if he’s just having a good time and plays with such ease. Periphery is definitely a band to check out. There are many layers to their music and a lot to explore. Setlist: Icarus Lives! / Make Total Destroy / The Scourge / Psychosphere / 22 Faces …READ MORE

DEVIN TOWNSEND – Devin Townsend Presents: Ziltoid The Omniscient

May 21, 2007 Frode Leirvik

In pursuit of fuel (coffee) for his travels in the fourth dimension (time), Ziltoid The Omniscient (alien) comes to Earth. In five minutes he has to be made the ultimate cup of coffee (black) or all will face the consequences (attack). The Music Luckily, this highly bizarre creature is nothing but another piece of the increasingly intriguing mind of Devin Townsend. Devin Townsend Presents: Ziltoid The Omniscient, originally a puppet show, represents Devin Townsend’s true effort as a solo artist. He has created the character, the plot, and the music, plus played all instruments, sang all vocals, and produced the whole thing in his apartment… all of this during a self-declared hiatus. What did you do during your last vacation, by the way? Style-wise, this album is quite diversified, but perhaps best described as intensive, Atmospheric Metal with a Theatrical Progressive twist, if that makes any sense to you… Townsend uses his unique wall-of-sound concept, creating music with simply immense impact. Adding a dash of humor and a tint of darkness, he ends up with something that is either going to make you grin or grumble. And, at the same time, he conjures up moments with a sort of hypnotizing serenity, like in “Solar Winds” (where Captain Spectacular actually sets out to fight Ziltoid). The Band Handling it all on his own, Devin Townsend proves himself a worthy multi-instrumentalist (as if he needed to), sans the drums, which are programmed. It must feel good being in total control of your product, and at the same time to fulfil the desire to manage everything by yourself. His performance is as intense and flawless as usual, and that’s really all you can say about it. The Verdict Devin Townsend Presents: Ziltoid The Omniscient is entertaining, but perhaps not for everybody. For those …READ MORE

STRAPPING YOUNG LAD – The New Black

July 11, 2006 Torgeir P. Krokfjord

Devin Townsend and his virtuoso compatriots are on the run again, and just to make it clear – those who are already fans of the band shouldn’t really bother reading this review, you should just run out and purchase The New Black straight away. This is another gem by this incredibly talented outfit, bending and breaking the boundaries of what is usually labelled “Heavy Metal.” The band Strapping Young Lad (SYL) was founded by Canadian multi-talent Devin Townsend after having completed the vocals to Steve Vai’s Sex & Religion album. He recorded all the instruments (except drums) to what became the band’s debut album, Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing. Townsend is still the band’s center of attention, handling guitar, bass, and vocal duties, but SYL officially became a band –- and not a solo project -– with the release of the second effort City. Today, the lineup showcases the talents of guitarist Jed Simon, bassist Byron Stroud, and drum legend Gene Hoglan. In a world of copycats and rip-off bands, SYL presents something truly unique, and describing their style can be compared to getting in J-Lo’s pants; it’s hard to do with just words … Anyway, ranging from blastbeats and discordant riffs to almost Power Metal-ish melodies, all topped off with virtuoso guitar lines and a broad range of vocal styles, the musical content offered is highly entertaining, and Townsend has once again penned some very good songs where he displays his musical wizardry. “Wrong Side,” “You Suck,” “The New Black,” and “Decimator” are all great tunes, but the coolest of them all may very well be “Antiproduct” — the opening ‘Core-ish riff isn’t all that impressive, but when the song suddenly kicks into a Jazz Metal Henry Mancini/John Barry-meets-Chuck Schuldiner (sick) style, every hair stands to attention and …READ MORE

PROVINSSIROCK 2006

June 19, 2006 Metal-Katie

Time has brought many changes to one of the oldest festivals still going in Finland. It used to be that Provinssirock marked the start of summer festivals. These days the whole festival has been moved further into the summer, and thus has lost its place as the first major festival of the summer to Sauna Open Air. Another change, which many may not look upon with such warmness, is the fact that most of the live music being offered at the festivals these days is heavily leaning towards Harder Rock. Friday If you were there on Friday the 16th, you had a chance to witness the reincarnation of Alice In Chains (AIC). One of the intriguing points (to visiting foreigners at least) was the fact that AIC played well after midnight and it was still fairly light outside. This being an excellent chance to see why they call Finland the Land of the Midnight Sun. This year, the festival was plagued with unfortunate cancellations. First, Sunday’s headliner, Korn, cancelled and then the hot media darlings Coheed and Cambria did the same. Speculations on the net about possible replacements gave added excitement to this year’s festival. Saturday On Saturday, Deftones were the first of many Metal-oriented bands to appear. Chino and co. were in fine form and played a mixed set of older and new material. The newer material sounded moody and a bit too introverted for a festival crowd. Most cheers were given to the songs where old school Nu-Metal influences showed, and Chino screamed so intensely that he turned red. Next up for the Metal crowd were Strapping Young Lad (SYD), whose singer Devin entertained the crowd with his insightful, yet funny, remarks about the audience. The guy wearing a green bunny suit seemed to interest Devin a lot, …READ MORE

THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND – Synchestra

January 30, 2006 Frode Leirvik

When not making music, Devin Townsend is supposedly sleeping. This self-proclaimed “average shmoe” out of Vancouver, Canada, has been a significant contributor to the (true) Progressive music scene, ever since his 1995 debut with Strapping Young Lad’s Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing. Numerous releases later, under numerous names he decided in 2002 to form The Devin Townsend Band. The ambition was to create a more defined forum for his music, allowing and ensuring more stability and commitment. The outcome was Accelerated Evolution, released the following year. This year’s Synchestra is therefore the band’s second effort … and what an effort! The Music With the risk of jumping to conclusions: Synchestra is likely to move anyone coming in its way! The album offers such musical diversity, it’s hard to grasp. At the same time, the musical expression is made up of all familiar elements and most importantly: joy! The album kind of sneaks up on you, in a good way, as opener “Let It Roll” breaks the silence with its open-tuned guitar strumming and Townsend’s most soothing voice. The song resembles some of the Flower Power-era’s most poetic moments and it never tries to push itself onto you. It just sets an inevitable mood of peace. However, when a wall of distorted guitars breaks in, you’ll know they have got more up their sleeves than Flower Power. The following track, “Hypergeek,” takes a brutal turn after a while and dives into the darkest abyss of Metal, still with a smile on its face. “Triumph” sustains the Metal, only with a more Ambient touch to it. And, after a most surprising intermezzo, it opens up for a simply wonderful solo by Townsend’s mentor Steve Vai. The next 3 songs offer a range from a Naïve Waltz in “Babysong” via breathtaking, authentic …READ MORE

PROGPOWER 3.0 – Earthlink Live

November 17, 2002 Frode Johnsrud

Executive producer and general in command, Glenn Harveston, arranged in mid-November the third ProgPower festival in USA. I Am sure most of the American attenders already cover the man in gold, as most bands that performed at Earthlink Live never played the States before, meaning there was a German invasion, in a positive way actually. Earthlink is not the biggest place to hold 10 bands for 2 days, but it is indeed a place for music fans – and note that progressive music fans are always more than a bit picky – to be entertained with great sound and a well built stage and light system. Now the picky ones; they came from all over the North American continent, as well as Japan – and a few of us from the European outskirts known as Norway. It all starts a little unofficially on Thursday at a pre-party where a few young bands full of hope and progressive power inspiration show off. I’ll admit it, I don’t pay too much attention to these bands after something like 15 hours of travel from Amsterdam, so I am not going to slay anyone here. At least I remember the party, while I am sure the Evergrey guys, who had taken the long trip from Sweden just to… PARTY, never did. At least we all have fun, and lots of fans get the chance to mingle with long time heroes as Angra, Edguy, Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth, DC Cooper, Rob Rock, hell; even Kai Hansen himself is there. Zero Hour The next day, Friday, is day 1 at ProgPower – and it’s time to get serious. Zero Hour, the most technical band this year, opens the event, and though the band still have a monitor check when doors open, things run pretty smoothly …READ MORE