August 27, 2001 - Devin Townsend and Terria

Two weeks after my last release a new artist briefly joins my library when Devin Townsend released his fifth album "Terria" on August 27, 2001. But who is Devin Townsend? He is a singer, guitarist and producer from New Westminster, British Columbia and he is joined on this album by guitarist Chris Valagao Mina, bassist Craig McFarland, keyboardist Jamie Meyer and drummer Gene Hoglan. I'm not a huge Devin Townsend fan, this is my only album by him in my library, but this album has some good progressive rock/metal that is heavy and atmospheric and epic. Let's check it out!

The album kicks off with "Olives" and we hear some very distorted and strange vocals as the music very slowly ramps up. Eventually it builds into a loud and fairly heavy riff and this takes us to the end of this intro song and leads right into the next one, titled "Mountain". They kick right into a heavy and cool main riff that hits jice and hard and is led by some solid guitar by Townsend. We hear Devin's singing for the first time and he has a decent voice that isn't bad by any means, bit I also don't think he's anything special (unless that is him doing the few really low growls, in which case, gimme more of that!) After a couple minutes McFarland takes things in a new direction with a cool bass riff and Devin sings a soft verse overtop that matches the new mood nicely. They eventually nicely return to the heavy main riff and Townsend sounds pretty good yelling "just another mountain!" The song seems to be ending, but the slow fade continues for way too long and there's not enough happening in this ending to justify not cutting it off where it sounded like ending earlier. Track 3 is the longest song on the album, the near ten minute "Earth Day" and Townsend leads the way with a slow but epic guitar riff and he holds lots of long notes while singing in a pretty high voice and I especially like how epic he sounds singing "recyclllllle. Recyclllllllle".This slow riff turns out to be the chorus riff and Devin and the guys do a nice job of building off of it for a faster and pretty catchy main riff led by some cool guitar. It's hard not to headbang or toe tap along to this pretty cool verse and Townsend sounds pretty epic on vocals on this song. The chorus is super catchy and epic and Townsend does some awesome fast screams that sound pretty fucking metal! This is hands down the best song on the album in my opinion, the whole nine and a half minutes is jam packed with all kinds of cool and epic stuff. Words couldn't do justice to all of it, pretty cool tune! The next track is "Deep Peace" and it's got a slow and smooth main riff with some acoustic guitar by Townsend and some decent singing overtop. There's a hunch of background noises that sounds like a crowded area and for the next verse the volume is increased, the guitar gets heavier, and Devin sings in a louder more metal voice, all to nice effect. Townsend then takes things in a new direction with a cool new guitar riff and he plays a bunch of epic stuff in this basically minutes-long solo! The rhythm section behind him sounds epic as well and it's a pretty cool instrumental part before they return to the main riff to slowly and heavily jam things out. Slow but steady and solid! Track 5 is "Canada" and Townsend kicks things off with a slow and epic guitar riff, Hoglan adds some slow catchy drums and then everyone else falls in to complete another slow but decently heavy main riff with Townsend holding lots of long notes. McFarland's bass sounds pretty good and things sound like very smooth and silky progressive hard rock. It's a tad repetitive, but still pretty solid and the louder and more epic they get, the better things sound. Townsend does a bit if soloing towards the end as they jam things out in a nice finish and we even hear a woman speaking French which leads right into the next track "Down And Under". Townsend leads the way with a pretty catchy guitar riff.and after a couple of minutes of instrumental stuff things get much louder as they make the same riff heavier and pretty cool and Townsend adds a bunch of vocal tracks. The heavy second half of this song was pretty good and this seems like an interlude because being under 4 minutes is short on this album. Track 7 is another 7 minute one called "The Fluke" and they dive right into a great heavy main riff with some guitar that sounds great! Townsend sings a good verse overtop and things only get better from there with a really heavy and wicked chorus which leads into a great instrumental part with Townsend playing a ton of great guitar. They continue to heavily and uniquely ham things out and things all sound pretty sweet! Heavy Devy is unleashed with a bunch of awesome guitar and some nice heavy yelling as well! Eventually they return for another nice heavy chorus and then when the song appears to be over some trippy keyboards continue on and it now sounds like we're covering Pink Floyd briefly. It reaches an almost quiet but there's still some sounds you can hear and it just becomes static. It's a pretty wasted couple minutes that ruins an otherwise pretty sweet song. The next track is "Nobody's Here" and it's got a very slow and quiet main riff with Devin singing a soft verse overtop some light guitar. The chorus gets louder but still pretty slow and tame and this is easily the calmest and least hard rock song on the album. Devin does yell a tad as they move into extended solo time and he plays a long and epic guitar solo that matches the mood perfectly. They jam out the chorus to wrap things up and while this was really slow, it's Townsend's version of a single and it was still decent. Track 9 is the nine-plus minute "Tiny Tears" and Devin plays some slow but epic guitar to lead the way and he eventually sings a slow, soft verse overtop while the rest of the band provides a slow and epic backdrop that turns into a nice loud main riff. The chorus is similarly slow yet epic as Townsend sings in a solid louder voice overtop some slow and epic guitar. After another slow round it's time for a long guitar solo that starts off slow, but Townsend ramps up and is shredding it pretty good on this one! It sounds great overtop the slow, dreamy music and after a lengthy and cool solo they just jam out the chorus riff for a bit, which is solid but not too memorable honestly and a too long to not have anything that stands out. The very end has a cool heavy riff, but once again it goes on for too long and takes us to the end of the song. The final song I have is "Stagnant" and they dive right into the first verse as Townsend sings a catchy verse overtop a lighter main guitar riff. They nicely shift into a heavier version of this same riff as the whole band joins in and there's some solid keyboards and also a couple good yells by Townsend. The chorus is pretty catchy as well and Townsend's vocals sound pretty epic and solid. This is a pretty cool way to finish off the album, a solid song the whole way through.

That is the end of "Terria" and I thought it was a pretty cool album. Devin Townsend certainly writes and plays some cool hard rock/metal and he's a pretty good singer at times and solid screamer even when he dabbles! There are some slower parts as well but overall it was a solid album and definitely a worthy addition, especially "Earth Day"! That's all for Devin Townsend in my library as an artist, but his producing will show up in the future!