Born in British Columbia, Canada on May 5th, 1972, Devin 'Hevy Devy' Townsend had spent his musical career writing and producing a huge amount of varied music. Given a banjo at the age of 5, Townsend is today arguable one of the most technically skillful and inventive guitarists of his generation.
Townsend's Early Career : Steve Vai and Strapping Young Lad
In the early 90's, the young Townsend performed lead vocals on the Steve Vai album Sex and Religion. He then went on to tour with Vai's band.
Afterwards, Townsend began his prolific career, starting with the formation of his metal band Strapping Young Lad. The band's debut - Heavy as a really heavy thing, was released in 1995. Also written and released at around the same time was Townsend's solo album Ocean Machine: Biomech, a rockier sounding album compared to Strapping Young lad, demonstrating, among other things, his diverse singing range.
The album Infinity was released in 1998 after Townsend had been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. Physicist was released in 2000, and used the Strapping Young Lad members for the recording. Then, in 2001, Terria was released, a high point in Townsend's career at that time. The album presented a warm, multilayed sound with an Earth theme.
Townsend's Later Career
2003 saw the release of Accelerated Evolution, possibly one of Townsend's most 'normal' sounding albums. The album was recorded with the Devin Townsend Band. Strapping Young Lad also released a self-titled album in 2003, displaying the trademark heaviness and brutality that fans had come to expect.
Then, in 2005, Strapping Young Lad released Alien, an extremely heavy and chaotic album, which was followed by the band's final album The New Black in 2006. This last album by Townsend's metal band had a more commercial sound than previous releases, but still received good reviews by critics.
Townsend also released Synchestra in 2006, a varied and optimistic sounding record, followed by Ziltoid the Omniscient. Ziltoid, a concept album about an alien coming to Earth for coffee, was written, recorded and produced entirely by Townsend.
Also during this period, Townsend released two ambient albums through his website. Both albums, Devlab and The Hummer, were a radical departure from previous work, containing no guitar or drums. Instead, the albums are made up of low frequency sounds, sound clips, and some spoken word sections.
Townsend Today
Late 2007/early 2008 was an extremely quiet year for Townsend fans. Updates to his websites stopped, and all that was known was that he'd had his first child, was in the process of moving house, and had quit all his bands. In late 2008, details surfaced of new music written by Townsend. It was later confirmed that 4 new albums were in the works.
The first, called Ki, is said to be a "metal symphony". The second, Addicted, will be more "heavy, fun and dance-y". The third, Deconstruction of a Cheeseburger, will be a metal album appealing to Strapping Young Lad fans, and finally, the forth will be a new addition to Townsend's ambient album series.
Devin Towsend has released a vast array of music over the past two decades, and yet, he often seems to be an artist who is still full of new ideas. The future will no doubt be an interesting time for fans of Hevy Devy.
Further Reading
Robert Harrand - Rob Harrand lives in Yorkshire, England with his fiancée. He has a BSc Physics with Astrophysics, MSc Nanoscale Science & ...
