THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND: SYNCHESTRA

This by far is the trickiest album of Devin's by far to pigeonhole into a certain theme or story. It starts off with beautiful acoustic themes, with "Let It Roll" almost channeling a historic American folktune, while "Hypergeek" transitions from the acoustic to a child-like arpeggio that layers the guitars and drums and reverb to crescendo into "Triumph".

There's definitely a lot of references to childhood melodies, as evidenced by "Babysong" and "A Simple Lullaby", which are self-explanatory: long, reverb filled soundscapes with hypnotic, entrancing melodies that sway with waltz like motives. And frankly, it's very calming considering this album was recorded after making "Alien" with Strapping Young Lad", an album he prepared for by purposely not taking the medicine required to treat his bipolar disorder. So in a sense, this album is supposed to be the exact opposite of it, and it really feels it.

That's not to say this album is lacking in heat, though. The cheesy "Vampolka", despite being cheesy, is a fun minute and a half of surf guitar and polka, segueing into the much heavier counterpart "Vampira", grooving and chugging along like the theme to a bad "Twilight"spinoff series.

Although there are interludes like "Mental Tan" to bring you back down to earth, and "Gaia" which channels "Accelerated Evolution's penchant for catchy songs with reverb out the wazzoo and wonderfully heavy melodies, you can tell there's still a conflict with Devin's angrier half that just finished "Alien" with SYL, and that anger is very prevalent in "Vampira", the Middle-Eastern tinged "Pixillate" (my favorite off the album), and the end of "A Simple Lullaby". The whole album is a huge tug of war between Devin's bipolarity, the album in his entire discography where this conflict is most prevalent. "Judgement" is another bombastic piece, but the happy mood here, much like the rest of the album, is occasionally displace by outbursts of anger and hate, especially at the end of "A Simple Lullaby" (where the main theme is interrupted by Townsend's "Ready, Steady, Aim, Fire!" line).

Overall, though, it's a much happier album than most of Townsend's other records, while still maintaining some heavy outbursts, catchy reverb songs and plenty of proggy goodness. Definitely the first album I'd recommend to a non-Devin fan. This entire album is a summary of his multi-faceted musical style in a nutshell. An absolutely brilliant masterpiece of insanity, progressiveness and just good ol fashioned metal.

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