INFINITY

This is a fantastic ride. Crazed Canadian master guitar smith Devin Townsend has a creative reserve that most of us would exchange a body part for.

With Infinity, Devin serves up a gorgeous, powerful opener, followed by the mostly straightforward and very rockin' "Christeen". So far so good, and the album seems promising to the first time listener - then things start to get really interesting.

"Bad Devil" sounds like no other Devin song. The horn section seemed really out of place to me at first, but subsequent listens have me driving home from work and singing along at the top of my lungs. What a rush.

Next up is a pop song you could really march to, as if heading off to war. A bit longer than the others, "War" leads to poor Devin begging for quiet before switching gears into a short ballad that serves as in into to "Soul Driven". For me, this is the weakest point of the album, though it's still quite good. Dev's down-tempo power rock is still miles above so much else.

I love "Ants". It's an insane circus-gone-mad; someone dropped an ant farm and the critters are running wild, singing as they terrorize the clowns and ringmaster. Or whatever. It's two minutes well spent though - experimental and begging for heavy sedatives.

With "Colonial Boy", we get another great sing-along chorus, this time in a waltz with singing cats. I'd normally run from something with that description, but it really does work.

The beautiful, longing beginning of "Dynamics" gives way to explosive and powerful screaming and power chords; exhilarating and nearly overwhelming. "Unity" picks up the pieces; a pleasant start gives way to growing levels of euphoria, while promising that "it's all right, now we're home".

"Noisy Pinkbubbles" sounds like a cast-off at first, but changes into a nice groove and becomes a solid closer.

Overall, highly recommended and deserving multiple listens. Another great effort from a very talented musician.