Devin Townsend is a Canadian musician who at 30 years old,
has a long and colourful history. Chosen by guitar virtuoso
Steve Vai, a 19 year old Devin performed vocals and guitar
opposite Vai on his album Sex & Religion and accompanying
world tour. This exposure led to offers from prominent musicians
world-wide. Stints with Jason Newsted of Metallica, industrial
band Front Line Assembly, the Wildhearts in England and appearances
on several tribute records gave Devin the confidence in 1995
to release his first album himself under the name Strapping
Young Lad.
The first Strapping Young Lad CD gained attention for having
a distinctive sound and brought metal to a new level of heaviness.
Devin produced, sang and played most of the instruments on
the first album, Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing. Two albums
followed: the highly acclaimed City which added veteran metal
drummer Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death) and band members
Jed Simon and Byron Stroud, then No Sleep Till Bedtime recorded
live in Australia (Century Media Records).
Following the desire to experiment musically and frustrated
by the limitations of being signed to a label, in 1997 Devin
decided to begin his own label called HevyDevy Records. His
first solo release, Ocean Machine, won rave reviews for its
epic, lush, prog-hard-rock-ambient compositions and began
to establish Devin as a strong creative force on the metal
scene. Infinity followed in 1998 with a collection of songs
inspired by Broadway musicals and exhibited Devin’s
talent for composition as well as voice and musicianship.
The year 2000 came with the release of Physicist which has
been described as “speed-metal pop songs” and
reflected the confusion and anticipation of the millennium.
His sixth album, Terria, a highly characterized blend of
ambient and progressive metal - self-introspection at its
most honest. Now hard at work on a new album, with a new
group of musicians, the ‘Devin Townsend Band’ is
a collection of futuristic pop metal that is not afraid to
be sensitive – emphasis on heavy.
While very different in style, each album follows a theme
inspired by life and documents his emotional state at that
phase in his life, like a musical diary that gives you an
insight into the many facets of one man’s personality.
With his unique approach and creativity, Devin stands poised
to establish himself as one of the most prolific, innovative,
and extraordinary musicians in the metal genre.
As well as his own projects, Devin is making himself known
as a world class Producer/ Engineer by producing all of the
fore mentioned albums, as well as records by Soilwork (Natural
Born Chaos - Nuclear Blast Records), December, (The Lament
Configuration - Earache Records), Lamb Of God (Metal Blade
Records), Stuck Mojo, (Pigwalk - Century Media Records) as
well as many unsigned up and coming acts.
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