Devin Garret Townsend must be one of Canada’s most active persons within the Extreme Metal scene. As teenager, he played in a couple of bands, and one of those, called Noisescapes, drew attention of Steve Vai, who asked him to help him out with his upcoming album. Of course he’s known for his self-called solo-project (under the moniker Devin Townsend, he recorded and released nine albums in mean time, amongst which a couple of live albums), that exists for more than fifteen years, or acts like The Devin Townsend Band or Strapping Young Lad (which split up in 2007; but there are rumours there will be a resurrection in a near future???). You certainly remember his co-operation in IR8 or with Stuck Mojo, and needful to mention is his huge curriculum vitae as guest / session / live musician and producer for notorious bands like, let’s say, Gwar, Darkest Hour, Zimmers Hole, Ihsahn, Paradise Lost, Soilwork, Lamb Of God and many, many more. And last but not least, he recently formed a new project, called Revolution Harmony, but I have no idea what this will be all about. I only know that guys like Ihsahn (think: Emperor, Thou Shalt Suffer, Star Of Ash, Zyklon-B and many more) and Serj Tankian are involved with this new band / project, which was started up by author / journalist Ray Holroyd as charity-project for South African children. The net will provide you more info about it, and the video clip for We Are can be viewed on the web too (joetjoep etc.).
Different from Devin Townsend, The Devin Townsend Band or Strapping Young Lad is Devin Townsend Project, which he started five years ago. Originally, it was his intention to do a handful of albums that would be different from everything he did in the past, and this in collaboration with experienced guest musicians from all over the globe. A couple of examples (the actual list is way too long): ex-The Gathering / Ague de Annique’s Anneke van Giersbergen, Fredrik Thordendal (of Meshuggah-fame), Ihsahn, Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeld, or one of the most appreciated Metal drummers from our putrid globe, Dirk Verbeuren, whom Devin worked with before in the Grind-act Bent Sea. Via his own HevyDevy Records-label (damn yeah, he also runs a record label), Devin released several studio albums as from 2009 on (Ki and Addicted in 2009, and Ghost and Deconstruction in 2011; colleague Tim did review both of them; see the update within the Archives-section, done on July 24th 2011), and via current label InsideOut Music there was the 2012-album Epicloud. Earlier this year, that very same label released some kind of teaser for the upcoming full length, which featured the track Kingdom, which is part of the new album.
Brings me to the new full length, The Retinal Circus, a double-live-album that appears in different CD- and DVD-editions, blu-ray disc, boxed set, and digital download. This new, somewhat megalomaniac recording is meant to be some kind of multi-headed sum of what Devin did the past twenty years. The concept ‘was to piece together a presentation that was musical, visual and startling’ (phrase taken from the biography). Devin worked on it for more than eight months (in mean time, he was still active with his other projects, and as both guest musician and producer for other bands) (does this guy ever sleep anyway?), and this time he got helped out by Anneke van Giersbergen again, as well as three colleagues that were part of The Devin Townsend Band before: Brian Waddell (b), Ryan van Poederooyen (d), and Dave Young (k, g). Also Jed Simon, formerly of defunct Strapping Young Lad (one might know him as well from his activities with, for example, Zimmers Hole, Front Line Assembly or Tenet) It’s the registration of the actual live show Devin and his crew did at London’s The Roundhouse on October 27th 2012 (which brings me to the question: why did it actually take so long before the whole concert got released on vinyl or CD?).
The Retinal Circus brings more than two hours of experimental yet rather heavy Metal Music, courtesy of Mr. Townsend evidently. And in almost every track, and certainly seen the whole circus, his characteristics are profoundly present. It starts with a short introduction spoken by ‘host’ Steve Vai, followed by a Musical / Gospel-alike choir. But as soon as Anneke and the instrumentalists join, the audience gets what they were probably waiting for. The whole performance is a mélange of operatic, progressive, experimental, groovy and sometimes catchy Extreme Metal, injected with unusual non-Metal elements from Neo-Classical, Musical, Doo-Wop, Opera and Operetta. There is a huge variety, going, for example, for the balance emotive melodies versus harsher up-tempo pieces, or the contradiction integrity - bombast. The performance is almost faultless, showing the professional skills of each single contributor, and the sound is beyond imagination. Because the audience interacts, you know this deals with a live registration, but the production is as clear as a studio record.
Without any doubt, this unique album is a necessity, a must, for everyone who appreciates Devin Townsend and any of his projects / bands!