Last week we took a look at Queensrÿche’s inaugural Prog Metal output, Rage for Order. It was a great launching point for many metal bands that went for a walk on the Prog side, and those that stayed alongside these bands found great success. Time moved on, and while Progressive Metal might have been lowered down the totem poll, fans & bands still stayed devoted to the ways of Prog. Looks like it’s time to examine Devin Townsend once again.
Ah, Devin Townsend. I’m shocked that I haven’t covered this man in so long, with the last time during Kids Month back in 2015, covering the EP for his 1998 album Infinity. However, that was just the tip of one of the biggest prog icebergs out there in the metal ocean. There’s a literal treasure trove of music this man has crafted, and diving through to look for a specific record can be a challenge. However, I hinted in my last review that I’d be taking a look at his most recent release, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. So light some incense, open your mind, and enjoy my look at Transcendence. Let the review begin!
Background
Taken from Devin Townsend’s website:
“Seems funny in hindsight that in order to write an album about ‘getting over myself’ I felt the need to write yet another album about myself. Rarely has a covert (and often blatant) narcissism not played into my creative process, but hey… I’m hoping there’s at least a few points for self awareness awarded? Yay?
I guess an overriding theme lately has been that if you look hard enough into opposing sides of almost every argument and you see an element of truth. Nothing seems cut and dried, in religion, atheism, war on drugs, gun control etc there’s too many people with different bias and it’s all gone so far that there is no clear answers for anything. The result is a sort of stalemate and a lot of anger. I think that sort of played in the gestation of this album for me, trying to get through the paralysis and make some personal decisions that were right for me.
I had a dream recently about the discovery of two ‘ultimate particles’ …in this dream, they were linked, two variations of a similar thing (Coke and Pepsi, apples and oranges, dogs and cats etc…) yet through the discovery of these two particles, it was determined that anything was possible, time travel, space and dimensions folded, world tensions, everything… It was so simple and elegant and was there all along. It was like a paradigm shift that occurred on an event horizon of technology and spirit. It’s just a dream, but I liked that fantasy… Like turning two magnets set to the same polarity that for eons have been held together with force, the opposite way, so that not only was it obvious, but also complete as one. I like that thought in regards to any sort of argument with two sides, there’s elements of truth in each.
Transcendence was a project that started with a conscious intention on my part to step out of my comfort zone in order to progress. The music on this album (of which only a portion of what was written has shown up) was the best DTP style music I could do at this stage, and I think between my intention and the work of everyone involved in bringing it to life, it stands as a kind of archetype of what the DTP sound has been striving for IMO. Heavy, melodic, relatively simple, optimistic and modern sounding. Even if this style came to an end for me after this album, I think it would be a solid way to go out.”
Basic Description
Epicloud gone spiritual.
I’ll eventually talk about that album later on in the year, but let me give you the basics: loud, touching, sweeping, and operatic. As I listened to this album, I was immediately reminded of that album, and it almost felt like discovering Epicloud all over again (Also almost felt like discovering Devin Townsend again as well). Transcendence is like Epicloud, but at the same time it’s not: like he said above, Devin wanted to create a record that was nice & heavy, but he also wanted something that would charge the soul of the listener. He wanted Transcendence to be an album that would put out good vibes, bring people together, and try to make things better. I don’t think a single album has the power to change the world, but this one is simultaneously heavy & touching, and really tries to be uplifting. The word “uplifting” really isn’t associated with Heavy Metal very often, but when talking about Devin Townsend, it’s a situation where it’s allowed.
Best Track
I’ll be doing things a little different than before: there are essentially 3 different editions of this album, and as such, great tracks across each of them. Because of this, I’ll be going over each of them. Even giving the albums a “X out of 10” will be a little different, as I’ll give them all their own rating. Anyways, onto the tracks!
Picking something off of the basic was a challenge, but not an impossible one. For me the second starting track, Stormbending, is not only the best song of the album, but it also happens to be my favorite. An absolutely awe-inspiring track, Stormbending came from an interesting & humble memory of Devin Townsend, despite how grandiose it can be. As he states:
“One of my favorite songs on the album, this song is an ode to Vancouver and the rain there in some ways. I believe the name makes sense in that I think we always hold the power to choose how we view situations. To “bend the storm” to your will seems to take a type of strengths that can be mirrored in anything that pushes you past your breaking point. Perhaps its only when you’be gone that far do we realize what our true potential can be. I truly think it becomes very easy to lie to ourselves, to convince ourselves that anything our subconscious may quietly desire is really what we need. The whole exercise of digging past it all, deeper and deeper, as layers of subconscious motivations reveal themselves like an onion or a fractal, seems to hold a fair amount of creative juice. I think at the core of it all, it’s all beauty. A ‘void’ of pure potential, perhaps beyond the duality of dark and light, it’s simply energy
The end of this song is a sample from the Old Lady Divers song ‘Last Look’, from the fabulous album ‘Formula’.”
Stormbending
If one happens to come across the Deluxe Edition, you’re given an second cd of mind-altering music. Named “Holding Patters”, the disk is filled with demo tracks that weren’t appropriate or ready for the main album. The whole bonus cd is great, but Into The Sun caught my ear. A while back (2013 to be specific) Devin put a selection of sound bites on his Youtube page, and a snippit of Into The Sun was on it. I was immediately hooked, but was disappointed that I didn’t hear it on Z2 the following year. Then, upon discovering it on Transcendence, I was floored. Devin actually had some interesting things to say about it:
“Written the same week as Support The Cause but on a different system, this song kind of devolved over the years and in the beginning it was better than it ended up here. I think I just messed around with it too much past it’s expiration date and kind of lost touch with it. I like some of the lyrics though. We tried it in rehearsal but couldn’t find the right tempo and by massaging it, it just got a bit ‘proggy’ for my tastes, so I just present you with a kind of early version of it here.”
Into The Sun
If you happen to live in the land of the rising sun, Transcendence has something of a different form. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if Japan has it’s own version of the Deluxe Edition, I won’t be talking about that, but instead I’ll speak about the 3 bonus tracks. While the first two aren’t anything special (More on this in a moment), it’s the 3rd bonus track, Wolves, that immediately hooked. While it’s not really over the top in terms of instrumentation & vocal works, it’s the atmosphere that really makes this song shine. You feel like you in deep woods as you listen to Wolves, wandering around old ruins from a bygone fantasy age. During one portion, I swear that I thought I heard a little bit of Skyrim-inspired sound. Maybe Devin’s a Skyrim fan?
Wolves
Worst Track
These’s so little to complain about Transcendence. Devin Townsend & company have crafted such an incredible album, it’s almost a crime! That being said, there are faults to be had, but they are minor ones. The first one is a return of the opening track Truth, which itself originally came from 1998s Infinity. Gone are the manic vibes that the original had, and instead HevyDevy & Co opted for a more operatic & atmospheric vision. I commend the craftsmanship that they put in, but in the end it changed the vibe so much it somewhat feels like a completely different song.
Truth (Transcendence Version)
This next part only applies to the Japanese edition of Transcendence, so those who don’t have this version need not read further unless you want to. The first 2 of the 3 bonus songs really don’t cut the mustard: Sophie’s Boobies is just over a minute of audio nonsense, and honestly comes across as a lost little audio blurb from his prior release, Z2. Young Gods, on the other hand, is a little more interesting. It’s barely a song, as it’s really nothing more than a spoken word piece with instrumentation, but the instrumentation provided creates for some interesting atmosphere. Take out the spoken word parts, and you actually have a nice instrumental track.
Sophie’s Boobies
Young Gods
Overall Impression & Rating
Transcendence is simply divine. Heavy Metal has always been full of surprised, and Devin Townsend may be the biggest surprise of all. He always managed to defy expectation, sometimes subtly, and other times it’s more obvious. Transcendence seems to hit that middle spot nicely, balancing heaviness & heart with incredible skill. Heavy instrumentation, flexible vocal work, and themes you wouldn’t expect to find in the world of metal. I can’t talk about this further, so go out, buy Transcendence, and enjoy!
Transcendence (Basic Edition) gets a 10 out of 10.
Transcendence (Deluxe Edition) gets a 15 out of 10. Don’t judge.....it’s that damn good!
Transcendence (Japanese Edition) gets a 9 out of 10.
So that was Transcendence. An ear widening & mind opening album, it’s solid proof that Prog is here to stay in 2016. I’ll see you all next week, when I’ll look at an anime that’s perfect for Proguary. Keep progging along everybody!
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