Devin Townsend - Terria (9 tracks) +Album Reviews

Mountainous recording from Devon Townsend

R. Gorham | 07/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THE BAND: Devin Townsend (vocals, guitars, keyboards & samples), Craig McFarland (fretless bass), Jamie Meyer (piano, keyboards), Gene Hogian (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (2001) 10 tracks (plus 1 untitled hidden track) clocking in at just under 72 minutes. All songs written and produced by Townsend. Included with the disc is an 18-page booklet contain song lyrics, some neat dreamy futuristic landscape type photos, one picture of Townsend, a listing of the musicians, and thank you's. A 2nd 'bonus" multimedia disc is included as well - containing 3 chapters for your PC - an album picture gallery; a "Listen to Devon" introspective - Devon himself telling the behind the scenses stuff, making of, people involved, artwork, etc; and video footage of Townsend in concert Tokyo 1999 (5 songs: "Seventh Wave", "Regulator", "Truth", "War", and "Hide Nowhere"). "Terria" recorded at various studios in Vancouver B.C. Canada. Label - InsideOut Music.

COMMENTS: A monumental album. An art rock/metal masterpiece. A journey by the man... the musician and the businessman. Life experiences put into music. One of my two personal favorites from Townsend; the other being the more mainstream "Acclerated Evolution" (2003). "Terria" is quite simply creative, aggresive, daring, emotional, soaring, original and consuming. "Terria" starts out with the short and mellow intrumental "Olives", some light guitar strokes, some mumbling, and birds chirping in the background... building up to the other band members joining in for a typical Townsend heavy metal ending. "Mountain" as you'll hear on disc two is about life and his dog "Happy" who had cancer. If you listen closely, you can hear him howling on this track. "Earth Day" is nine-and-a-half minute melodic rocker - one of my favorites here. The slower songs - "Deep Space" is a power ballad (if you will) and perhaps the softest song - along with "Down And Under", and "Nobody's Here"... some beautfiful moments on each (acoustic and electric guitars galore). The album closer is "Stagnant" - mid tempo rocker and catchy as all Hell. The untitle bonus track is a minute-and-a-half clowning around acoustic track followed by 4 minutes of wasted static and space. An incredible album filled with originality... like nothing else you own. Buy "Terria" and "Accelerated Evolution" together. They may not leave your CD player for weeks (5-stars)."

Raw Emotional Power.

Tom Chase | London | 02/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Devin Townsend was always great. He showed the world his talents with fine works such as "Ocean Machine" and "Infinity", but with "Terria" he took it up a few notches. The general feel and sound of the album is undeniably Townsend. For those new to his work, he is one of the few artists that can create a 'wall of sound' that is both powerful and melodic, and often emphasises the already prevailing emotions. Many bands attempt the wall of sound effect, and end up creating messy sludge. Devin is a genius though, so its all good.

"Terria" is essentially a sophisticated, emotional delve into Devin's personal life at the time. His lyrics are thought provoking, ranging from sincere anger and resentment 'take your seat/after all your just talking meat' to reflective, self-harming moods, 'to feel like there's nobody here/to feel like theres no more fear'. Poignant lyrics are only powerful if delivered properly, and well, Devin has one hell of a voice box in him. His range and diversity is superb, delivering the lyrics with a great deal of panache and sincere inner torment.

Musically "Terria" is a tour-de-force of Devin's own style of hard rock/metal fused with some progressive elements. "Earth Day" is a fine example of everything sumptuous about this album, overtly progressive in style and structure; the song weaves in and out of themes, each as compelling as the next and all complemented by an overwhelming vocal performance. Certainly one of the defining moments in the album. "Deep Peace" is another fine progressive styled song, starting softly and gradually building to a great climax, the guitar solo is jaw-droppingly good.

My other personal highlights include the fun rocking "Fluke" which has some wonderful bridge work and a powerful chorus where Devin shouts 'FREAK! / FLUKE!' Most 'rocking' song on the album. The two ballads that approach the end of the album, "Nobody's Here" and "Tiny Tears" are two superb songs. The former is a rock ballad epic, no messing around, nothing terribly experimental, just a few great hooks where Devin sings his heart out, spilling overboard with emotion, 'I feel like there's nobody here' he yearns. The latter is a more experimental take on a rock ballad, but once again has some powerful distressing lyrics and vocals. Stunning way to draw a close to the album.

If you're a fan of progressive music in any form, this a must have. If you want something innovative with actual sincere emotion, I recommend this very highly.

"

Good stuff

B. Campbell | California, USA | 01/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After my first listen I had a hard time getting past the "wall of noise" where the music seems to ebb and flow against a constant growling background. A few more spins revealed the extraordinary depth and quality within each of the songs. It keeps getting better the more I listen to it. It's really not a heavy metal or harsh album even though the music is often "loud". The layered vocals, solid grooves, superb melodies, unrestrained emotions, and consistent production quality make this a truly great album.

Olives - 5/5 - Interesting opening for the album. I like it.

Mountain - 4/5 - One of the heavier songs on the album. Good vocals.

Earth Day - 5/5 - Great chorus mixed in with NineInchNails/MarilynManson-like music.

Deap Peace - 5/5 - 1st half isn't particularly noteworthy but really picks up halfway through with waltz-like guitar work.

Canada - 5/5 - My favorite song on the album. An incredible groove with majestic vocals.

Down and Under - 5/5 - An instrumental with a nice gradual buildup.

The Fluke - 4/5 - One of the more aggressive songs. Definitely has its moments.

Nobody's Here - 4/5 - Slower song with a consistent, driving melody.

Tiny Tears - 5/5 - Excellent progressive ballad. I especially like the buildup at the end.

Stagnant - 3/5 - Not bad, but a bit too mainstream for my taste.

Highly recommended!"

A treasure chest of emotion and musical variety.

Ben Stubbs | Australia | 09/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, one things for sure. You never know quite what to expect with a Devin Townsend album. After 2000's very heavy and crushing "Physicist" album really surprised me with how lacking it was in Devin-like progressiveness, experimentation and craziness, I figured he'd maybe shelved that side of his music for a while. Along comes "Terria" and it's obvious that I was mistaken in that assumption. This album holds a plethora of treasures and defies both genres and description in general. For fans of his earlier albums, I'd describe this as containing characteristics from all of them. The experimental madness of "Infinity" is present although it doesn't contain the cabaret circus freak nature of that album. There are occasional sections of heaviness that remind me of "Physicist" yet it's nowhere near as constantly barraging as that release. Finally, Devin has also utilized his slightly industrialised rock sound that made "Ocean Machine" so awesome. So there's plenty to offer on "Terria" for any fan of Mr Townsend.

But that's not to say that this is a completely successful release. A few tracks here and there are really great. "Deep Peace" could in theory be labelled a ballad and yet the lead guitar is just beautiful, the track exuding so much feeling and emotion. "Down and Under" is a fantastic instrumental based on acoustic guitars and a full sweeping symphony of sound. Yet tracks such as "Nobody's Here" and "Stagnant" just don't do a lot for me. They are solid enough yet lack the uniqueness and entertainment value that is normally a requisite of Devin's work. I guess they're just a little too straight forward for my liking.

But these are minor qualms as "Terria" is generally a solid album filled with over an hour of music that will be of interest to anyone into pretty much any of Devin's prior releases. It's not my favourite Devin album, yet after reading a fair few reviews of his work it would appear that I'm part of a minority of his fans that enjoy "Ocean Machine" and "Physicist" far more than "Infinity" and "Terria". But I guess that's the beauty of opinion.

"

What an album

Mary M. Sullivan | 03/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have just recentely recieved "Terria" and "Synchestra" by Devin Townsend (although the latter flys under the moniker of "The Devin Townsend band). As my review suggests, this album has definetely captivated me:

Devin's vocals, as everyone knows never fail to impress. For those who know Strapping Young Lad, Devin has an incredible range for heavy vocals; his solo material still incorporates these harsh vocals, but in a much more "melodic" manner and his clean voice is among my top 5. The other members all have shining moments, especially Gene Hoghlan (Death, Dark Angel, etc.). He doesn't necessarily take a backseat on this album, but his drumming does not interefere with the delicacy of these compositions. The album still retains much heaviness though :). Craig McFarland's contribution will most likely be underrated, but his fretless bass adds to the "natural" atmosphere that pervades this album. As with every Townsend album, heaviness is key and no pun inteneded Jamie Meyer plays a key role with his keyboards. Many of Devin's heavy drop tuned guitar riffs are followed by Jamie's keyboard to bulk them up, adding a new dimension to the music, instead of just using a second guitar.

Lyricly, this is Devin's most mature and true albums. He even says so himself on the bonus cd. The lyrics are of a conceptual nature and are in fact about natural things that we experience everday: ex) track 5 - "Canada".

The only real drawback is not "Terria" itself, but the Bonus CD. It contains an interview conducted by Townsend himself which is quite useful and eye opening. The only problem lies within the live performances included. They have a default player that only fits a small portion of the screen and it is only CD-ROM friendly (you cannot play it on a DVD player). The footage is pretty nice and the band plays songs from previous album (Ocean Machine, Infinity, etc.) This is really dissmisable though unfortunately.

4 stars"

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	Devin Townsend Terria Genres: Pop, Rock, Metal Track Listings (9) - Disc #1 Olives Mountain Earth Day Deep Peace Canada Down Under the Fluke Nobody's Here Tiny Tears Stagnant
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