DEVIN TOWNSEND — Synchestra (review)

Album · 2006 · Progressive Metal

4/5 · 2010-11-22
AtomicCrimsonRush

Synchestra is Devin Townsend's 7th studio album and it is no surprise that once again Heavy Devy is branching out into some unreserved new territory as he does on all his albums. This is no Ziltoid, which is a couple of albums away, and it certainly aint no Terria. In fact it is a rock opera with a vampiric theme underpinning it. My overall reaction was that Synchestra has the catchy tunes of Terria though nowhere near as technical, and has hints of the dark humour of Ziltoid in places. There are some outstanding songs on this that really stay in the cranium well after the CD has ended, Vampira, and there are throwaway tracks, Babysong, that are as forgettable as some of the material on Accelerated Evolution. However, the really great moments are mind-blowingly brilliant which tends to make up for some of the solemn melancholy moments that are like smoke in the air and disappear.

The whole album seems to flow lucidly from track to track and indeed the album as a whole is masterfully produced and realised, at least on a conceptual level. Musically, it is as flawless as Devvy gets and that has become an unexpected factor on his albums. The Hammond sounds great and the lead guitar breaks are killer, and there are some incredible wall of sound moments where the crescendo rises and Devvy really goes into full flight on vocals, belting out massive growls and literally shouting his voice raw. These moments are juxtaposed by subtle gentle vocals and a minimalist acoustic arrangement such as the opening track. Devin tries to get spiritual with nature on Gaia, but this is a mismatch for me, not cohesively linking to the overall concept.

The highlight for me begins at the polka, which is as quirky as anything I have heard, almost sounding like the polkas on Weird Al Yankovic's albums. The satirical nature of Vampolka is enhanced by the speed of the melody that simply rips past in minutes, and this prepares us for the real deal, which is the showstopper of the album, the brilliant Vampira. I had heard this on a live clip of a Vampire Rock show starring some great rock stars, and of course it is a melodic standout and perhaps one of Devin's best compositions. The guitars on this are crunching and the heavy power riffing is accompanied by caustic gravel vocals that are dark and menacing throughout, reminding me of the style Devin does with Ziltoid, ala Planet Smasher. The moments where Devin sings in his clear vocal to heavy metal riffs are also wonderful, and this is where he tends to shine. The standout track Notes From Africa is well structured and memorable to close the album before a weird ghost track. I have to mention Triumph too with a lead break from the mindbending Steve Vai as a track you should hear for certain. Devin has a great band to back him up as usual, the other lead guitarist is so good I had to research him to see what else he had done. Well I was delighted to discover Brian Waddell was also on the Devlab album, as part of the Devin Townsend band of course, and he appears on Accelerated Evolution and the latest Addicted album, playing bass and doing gang vocals if you don't mind.

Devin decided to go solo with Hummer after Synchestra. A pity really as the band sounds so good here. The best thing about this split is that Devin was really able to branch out into some incredible experimental territory and he produced Ziltoid The Omniscient, the masterpiece of dark metal humour. Synchestra is sandwiched between two of Devin's worst albums so it really looks like a standout in his repertoire, although having heard most of his albums it is fair to say that it isn't up to the masterpeice standard of some of his other works. In any case Synchestra is a great album and worth listening to whether you are into metal or not. It is entertaining and one of Devin's great achievements as the unsurpassed 'Mad Scientist of Metal'.