DEVIN TOWNSEND — Epicloud (review)

Album · 2012 · Progressive Metal

3.5/5 · 2013-03-10
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Seemingly not content with releasing two albums the previous year, Canadian musician Devin Townsend quickly followed up the 2011 duo of Deconstruction and Ghost by his Devin Townsend Project with 2012’s Epicloud, the fifth album under the Devin Townsend Project moniker. Epicloud is the first album however released on its own. Previously DTP always put out two albums in the same year starting with 2009’s Ki and Addicted then with the aforementioned Deconstruction and Ghost, the latter pair of which were simultaneous releases. Epicloud is however available in a special edition which contains the bonus disc Epiclouder, a collection of demo takes. Epicloud is also near enough a reunion of the line-up of Addicted, including female vocals performed by Anneke van Giersbergen.

For better or worse, you can never predict Devin Townsend and what direction/mood his music is going to take. His nature is eclectic, and there’s an understandable amount of excitement that comes when he has a new album due, regardless of the particular name he puts on it. He’s primarily made albums that fall under the progressive metal genre (with some, like Deconstruction, arguably even being avant-garde), industrial metal influenced stuff, alternative stuff, and even ambient stuff. The still recent Ghost was more or less a new age album. The Devin Townsend Project in particular has been known to stretch Devin’s boundaries hell of a lot, but on Epicloud the music is decidedly metal, at least as a base element. The end result is something that in typical Devin style pushes the boundaries of the genre, and anything goes.

And I really mean anything. Epicloud features a gospel choir, has bits of music that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Ghost, heavy underlying riffs, but with an overall feeling of commercial intent. The songs typically have an air of anthemic pop/rock. I have difficulty identifying the sound of Epicloud as progressive metal though, despite the amount of influences going into the sound. The songs feel less complex than on Devin’s other heavy works I’ve heard, with shorter running times making the songs mostly ‘to the point’ style compositions. It somehow manages to have an epic quality that I wouldn’t have anticipated if I was reading the description I have just written, but to call this a progressive metal album would be a complete misuse of the term. An adventurous and brave album maybe, but not progressive. In fact there are many times throughout where I’d even question its overall status as a metal album, as many of the riffs sound more hard rock orientated to my ears, although honestly I’m not sure why I bother trying to put a genre tag on Devin’s music any more. He is Devin Townsend. Genre has become irrelevant in regard to him these days. I think I’m just going to call this album Devinism and be done with it before any more of this review is given over to trying to work out what it is opposed to whether it’s any good or not.

Well as to that I think objectively Epicloud is a good album. Possibly one of Devin’s more love/hate kind of releases for metal fans because of the sheer about of pop elements to be found within the music, but it does still have some of that quirky side that I’ve come to associate with Devin’s work ever since I first heard Ziltoid the Omniscient (2007). Some elements of the album work really well, others not so much. I can’t say I’m fond of the gospel influences for one, as I’ve never felt gospel merged with rock/metal music at all. But it is mostly decent although rarely showcases the genius of Devin’s best work.

Personally I don’t see this as an album I’d come back in a hurry (if at all), but out of Devin’s recent releases I would take Epicloud over Ghost in particular as I found that one quite the meandering release that didn’t really go anywhere, but I’d say Deconstruction is superior, although I never heard the masterpiece in that one that most people seemed to. For Epicloud though, a good album tier rating is deserved.

70/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/devin-townsend-project-epicloud-t2808.html))