Devin Townsend at Progfreak.com

In a nutshell this is a less eclectic, less experimental and less progressive version of Terria. Devin's most accessible album to date, and I enjoy listening to it very much - great melodies on vocals and guitar, and his trademark wall of sound.

When I first heard Ayreon’s The Human Equation album, I was intrigued by a number of the voices that I heard on it, Devin Townsend’s being one of them. To be honest, I was a bit intimidated to delve into his discography because I thought his speed metal tendencies might not be to my taste. But after reading a couple of favorable reviews of this album with the silly name, I thought it might be time to give the Canadian hard rocker a try.

Surprised...Stunned...Amazed. This album left me speechless. Are all of those voices really Devin’s? This is a fabulous album in the prog metal genre.

Things start off with a searing speed-metal introduction to ... -> show full review

The track ratings pretty much say it all - I think that the album is a little bit better than Terria, although my opinion might change over time. But there's no doubt that this is a masterpiece.

This is Devin's masterpiece. The following album has more hooks and catchy tunes, but this one is truly majestic, epic and utterly wonderful. This is a complex work of art.

This albums is also so unique - it defies categorisation. Although this is metal, there is no other Prog Metal band that comes close to what he does. Earth Metal, Epic Progressive Metal ... that begins to describe it.

The most unique thing about the Devin Townsend albums is that he uses a very large number of tracks during recording, which are layered on top of one another to create a wall of sound. He does this for individual instruments as well as the whole tracks. This results in a incredible level of detail - with a good hifi system, you can hear lots of different instruments "below the surface".

This album doesn't have a story as such, but a topic: Nature - Canada in particular - and spirituality. The song titles and lyrics excerpts give you a good idea of what you can expect.

As Devin notes in the liner notes: This album was a tremendous effort, extremely difficult to make. In order to fully appreciate it, you have to listen to it on a good hifi system. Many tracks were used, and on this album Devin really begins with his massive layering of sounds - dozens of instruments playing the same, creating a wall of sound.

The tracks are all great, and the ONLY reason for not giving this 5 stars is that Terria is even better ... so consider this a 4 1/2 star review. The tracks are all very different, every track sets a different mood.