Review: Devin Townsend - Deconstruction

I've got a thread on another forum I'm a part of where I review metal albums as a hobby of mine. Since I listen to a lot of it and friends suggest me to some pretty good bands, I figured I might as well do something like that to entertain myself and others.

So I guess I could copy my most recent review up here

---


Band: The Devin Townsend Project
Album: Deconstruction
Genre: Progressive Metal; Extreme Metal
Year: 2011
Label(s): InsideOut Music [Germany]; HevyDevy

Line-up:
Devin Townsend – vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, programming
Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums on tracks 1, 2, 4, 6 and 10
Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Scarve) – drums on tracks 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9
Paul Kuhr (Novembers Doom) – vocals on "Praise the Lowered"
Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth, ex-Bloodbath) – vocals on "Stand"
Ihsahn (Emperor) – vocals on "Juular"
Tommy Giles Rogers (Between the Buried and Me) – vocals on "Planet of the Apes"
Joe Duplantier (Gojira) – vocals on "Sumeria"
Paul Masvidal (ex-Death, Cynic) – vocals on "Sumeria"
Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan) – vocals on "The Mighty Masturbator"
Floor Jansen (ex-After Forever, ReVamp, Nightwish) – soprano vocals on "Pandemic"
Oderus Urungus (Gwar) – vocals on "Deconstruction"
Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) – solo on "Deconstruction"
Florian Magnus Maier (Morean) (The Hungry Gods, Dark Fortress, Noneuclid) – undertones on "Stand" and "The Mighty Masturbator"
Prague Philharmonic Orchestra – orchestra

(Yes, I copied this from Wikipedia because I certainly did NOT feel like writing all that shit down.)

Track listing
1) Praise the Lowered
2) Stand
3) Juular
4) Planet of the Apes
5) Sumeria
6) The Mighty Masturbator
7) Pandemic
8) Deconstruction
9) Poltergeist

(Can't post links yet, so I can't give any links redirecting you to purchase it, so I'll just say go to Amazon, Gemini, eBay, or the band/artist's websites other such places to get it.)


This is the third album in a series of albums that were planned by Devin Townsend after he quit Strapping Young Lad, the first being Ki and the following being Addicted, the fourth one released after this (and in the same year) being Ghost. Out of the four released, this one is the most reminiscent of his former extreme metal project.

The Album: While it is heaviest outing in his four album offering, it is also one of his more inconsistent offerings. The background behind the album was that before the recording even began, much of his very vocal fanbase were complaining about the musical direction that Townsend was heading in with Ki and Addicted because it wasn't as heavy as his earlier stuff. Bunch of whiny twats, they were; so what does Devin do? Bends to their whims to make a super heavy album, but stressed it wasn't going to be relentlessly negative, but positive. Once again, stealing from Wikipedia because reliability:

Quote :

According to an interview with Townsend, the album is a concept album focused around a man who is obsessed with finding the true nature of reality. In the process of this journey, he goes to Hell and meets the devil. The devil shows him the secrets of the universe, presenting a cheeseburger to him. However, being a vegetarian, the man cannot eat the cheeseburger, rendering his attempts at working out the true nature of reality pointless.

Quote :

Townsend also stated in this interview that Deconstruction is a musical representation of facing your fears and overcoming them.[1] Townsend explained that he wanted the album to have a positive message, despite its highly chaotic nature.

The Songs: So what we have in our possession are nine songs (ten if you purchased the album off iTunes) that were more or less individually constructed at one point, put away for convenience purposes, then brought back out later and finished to later admire. I think that Devin was definitely pressured by his very large fanbase to push himself to an extreme that he just didn't want to go to. Certainly, this album proves the man still has the energy to create such sonic soundscapes of absolute chaos, able to craft deranged pools of madness by just the lift of a finger, but he's already accepted that he's tired of doing that now. A lot of hate was purged from him with Strapping Young Lad that he kept in when he was younger. Some bands/musicians have fans. Some have fanboys. Devin clearly has fanboys. His response to their hefty criticism of his work was definitely something.

As much as I love this album and while I cannot deny its technical complexity and overwhelming heaviness that packs about as much wallop as a freight train zooming across the continent at full speed--I've listened to this thing more times than I can count--I cannot praise it like I do other Townsend albums. While this album is a sonic minefield in every respect, it is inconsistent at times. However, let's talk about what makes it good. The soft space the album begins with fills your brain in "Praise the Lowered" before crushing it in to a flabby pulp by the midsection. By that end, it slowly drains away and creepy ambiance resonates, symbolizing the descent into the next track, "Stand" (my favorite track off the album). It is a wonderfully powerful song with very strong lyrics that cause one to think about where they are in this existence now. Are you settled or are you weak inside? Can you even stand?

"I've come face to face with myself, man
Sanctify the early light
Just like the old man can, boy
Change the world?
You'd better change yourself
Man, boy, man
Challenge the mind to be more like the rolling ocean, man"

"Some find Jesus,
Some may never even STAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!!!"

Those are some REALLY good lyrics. Devin's outdone himself this time. And the number of guests on this record are outrageous. We've gone some from the likes of Mikael Åkerfeldt, f*cking Ihsahn, Joe Duplanter, Tommy Giles Rogers, Floor Jansen, Oderus Urungus, and a whole host of others. It's people that know a thing or two about metal. It's a much better list of guest musicians than Annihilator had on their 2007 effort. Of course, the music on that album is far less amazing than this. I love also the orchestra and how well it was put together. Yes, Pro Tools was used for all the orchestrated parts, but it seemed that Devin knew how to manipulate it properly so it sounded organic and natural. It sounds so fresh here. The horns, violins, drums, keyboards, and everything all sound like he got the actual Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in there to perform with him.

In fact, they do play in the studio with him.

The little thing at the end of "The Mighty Masturbator" shows he certainly wasn't being serious with this one in some parts.

One last positive would be the closer track, "Poltergeist." Need I say more? This track symbolizes everything that Devin was trying to get across with this album. The song speaks for itself. With its incredibly powerful chorus (as short as it is), great lyrics, and powerful instrumentation that reaches as deep as space itself, you've got one of the most awesome closers in any Devin Townsend album ever made. However it still will never beat "The Death of Music" or "Planet Rain."

Now if there was one thing I'd take away from this album is how closely it wanders into Strapping Young Lad territory. It's chaotic nature sometimes feels so randomly maddening, like Devin had some pent-up anger deep down inside of him that he just couldn't find. When he finally was able to get it all sorted, he realized some of it was still discombobulated into this big blob of something only his mind could comprehend. That would be this album's Achilles' heel: it's sheer heaviness. Some of it feels randomly thrown together for no other reason than to sound heavy. For example, the sheer bombastic nonsensical insanity that is "Pandemic" is so out of place on this record. It feels like it should have belonged on the cutting room floor. It's a song that's too heavy for its own good and Devin has proven that even his own heaviness has limits. Not to say that Alien didn't almost kill him, either, but he was still not in full control of his bipolar disorder at the time (he forcibly stopped taking his medication for that album).

"The Mighty Masturbator," while it is a very funny song, feels very hit-or-miss. Some parts on the album are a home run, but some feel strange and kinda off-putting. I'm mostly referring to the long end jam session with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Ziltoid. I say it's Ziltoid because half the song sounds like it belongs in space and the end sounds like it is taking place in what looks to be a space carnival/freak show. Certainly, he was thinking of Z2 when making this album. Ziltoid's true purpose in life was finally discovered! Anyway, the first have is very progressive and amazing. The second half takes progressive and throws some industrial elements on there to make it sound very spacey. Not bad and all, but certainly different. For those that don't have patience for long songs, this song is 16 minutes long and it does drag during the middle. Not a bad song at all, but definitely could have been better if it was shorter.

The Production: The "Wall of Sound" returns here once more, being far more encompassing than before. It seemed each of the four albums had a certain way the production was handled. Each album had a theme. Ki was soft, yet powerful, a wonderful acceptance of self and the power within; Addicted was modernized and clear; Ghost had a very quiet style, making it feel like a bit of a lullaby in some places; Deconstruction feels like an overwhelming behemoth who's strapped down with chains, clawing and scratching at the metal barks that contain it as it fights relentlessly to escape what binds it and with each roar, the ground quakes violently. I think that about sums up the production on this monster.

Overall, this album is a beast. It's definitely Devin Townsend's heaviest and most complex album in quite a while. It shows what he was going through with fan pressure to create something so unabashedly heavy. And in the end, the results do not disappoint. There's some bad moments here and there, but there's nothing that will really turn you off of the album major. It is a fantastic addition to Devin's library of albums. Buy it!

Final Score: 9 demon horns out of 10

Recommendations: All of the songs, except for "Pandemic." Not a bad song, like I said, just not as good as the others by a long shot.

Nice write-up. I have to confess, I wanted to like this one, but Addicted! felt much more "whole" to me - probably because that's the music he's been making since, with varying degrees of "lush" added to it.

I'll have to give Deconstruction another deep listen soon. That and Ghost. The four album cycle started really strong with Ki (which I think may be one of the best pieces of work he's ever done) and Addicted! (ditto), but puttered out in the second half for me.

I very much enjoyed Deconstruction, and I think your write-up basically reflects how I saw it throughout my first few listens. As I've listened to it even more, especially in the context of the rest of the albums, it makes more sense to me now than it did in the beginning. With the calmness of Ghost following it, and with the build up from Ki to Addicted to Deconstruction, it all really just works very well together, and I think it is a quintessential part to Devin's best musical idea to date. The entire Devin Townsend Project really sums up his career so well, I personally don't even think any other work can compare to it. But, back to the point, great review! I'll keep reading your reviews as long as you keep posting 'em!