The Devin Townsend Project – Deconstruction

Review# 355

Deconstruction is a concept album about a man trying to find the true nature of reality. Through out the album you follow him to all sorts of random places (even bumping into our old friend Ziltoid The Omniscient who now appears to be running a carnival of freaks) and ultimately he ends up in hell where the devil presents a cheeseburger and explains that it contains all of the universes secrets between the buns. Unfortunately this man is a vegetarian so cannot eat the cheeseburger and so leaves without ever finding out.
The album is crazy and hectic and took a lot of listening to get anything out of it. Now I personally find that the record revolves primarily around a handful of tracks; Julaar, Deconstruction, The Mighty Mastubator and Planet Of The Apes... The rest don't really do a huge amount for me personally. The guest vocalists do a great job, I especially love Ihsahn's subtle yet awesome addition to Julaar.

Julaar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-DKs0qfdEk
Deconstruction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv0RIwdVrRg&feature=related
The Mighty Mastubator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58mv4sP-4TU
Planet Of The Apes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjR71VwiP6s

The Devin Townsend Project – Addicted

Review# 354

The second album in the Devin Townsend Project, Addicted, is a pop rock fuelled, sing along piece of fun where all of the song titles have exclamation marks. The album features Anneke van Giersbergen, ex The Gathering, taking on a chunk of vocals.
While there are still a lot of serious themes involved it has been approached in a new and refreshing theme. Again, another album that I am surprised by the amount of play time I have given it with almost exclusive plays for the first month after I got it. There is also a great cover/re-work of Hyperdrive off the Ziltoid album... Not really sure if it's a cover if it's one of his own songs but hey.

Bend It Like Bender!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xr83DFlzjU&ob=av3n
Universe In A Ball!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1IZpNm2Qyw
Hyperdrive!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBP8-ootc40
Supercrush!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VgFnOMprpA

The Devin Townsend Project – Ki

Review# 353

The first Devin Townsend Project album is Ki (pronounced “key”), it is a rather progressive album (and you could probably guess what my thoughts were when I heard that in the rumour mill for the first time!) but it is so down to earth and is in no way pretentious or irritating. Devin uses a rather diverse range of vocal styles that are well balanced with the music and never feel just randomly thrown in. The music is well textured and supports the vocals perfectly, there is also quite a range of musical diversity in sounds throughout the album. I surprised my self with how much it got played during the 6 months or so after I brought it, these days I only really pull it out when I have time to really listen to it and feel like some relaxing music.

Disruptr: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG7Tvxf-3cU
Trainfire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M06vB9YeIjw
Heaven Send: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJkSr92bQDw
Ki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gmLplFmUns

Candlemass – King Of The Grey Islands

Review# 352

Amazing doomy album from Candlemass. Great pace and texture to the album.

Emperor Of The Void: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tQuq6oqB0Y
Of Stars And Smoke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIG9fraiBU8

The Sisters Of Mercy – Floodland

Review# 351

Floodland is a brilliant album, its all skinky gothic 80's rock and the best of the three albums released by The Sisters Of Mercy. All of the elements come together perfectly with a great balance between vocals and music. Also, amazing Bass.

This Corrosion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obzPPeHgHRQ
Lucretia My Reflection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuezNswtRfo

Fear Factory – Mechanize

Review# 350

A brilliant return to the scene from Fear Factory. A blistering and cohesive album that was one of my favs from last year. Brilliant.

Fear Campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpyrLTn1EaU
Powershifter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flzimbVxOHI

Paradise Lost – Draconian Times

Review# 349

Draconian Times is an amazing musical work from one of the leaders of the Gothic scene, Paradise Lost. The album has all of the right elements; passion, energy, sound and an ability to conjure up associated imagery.

Hallowed Land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsdncbj7_DI
Enchantment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPVdLWFwKa0