Devin townsend band synchestra download

I agree, he's at his best when he's happy. Goddamn this album is amazing. I'm not sure which I'd pick between this and Accelerated Evolution, though. Then I downloaded Synchestra. And holy crap. I am baffled every time I listen to it. The best thing is that so far, every time I listen to the album, I discover something new, whether it be another layer of sampling, or something else.

Devin really brought another dimension to this album. It was so copiously mixed and mastered that while the music itself amazes me, the effort put into placing the music together perpetuates my feeling of awe towards Townsend.

Great album. It's definately not dark or anything like that, aside from maybe a few places, but to me "happy" is a bad word to describe it. It's more uplifting and epic than anything else, with a lot ethereal aspects as well. It's not like it has really strange dissonant sections or anything like that. The majority of the music on Synchestra is extremely pleasing to the ear, highly original and innovative, well-structured, varied, technically impressive, and really devastatingly emotional.

Not to mention that it's produced exceptionally well. Personally, I loved this album from the first time I listened to it. I strongly suggest you listen again, because if you don't appreciate this album you're missing out on something amazing. That goes for all naysayers, not to pick on you, Shadows. I must say, I haven't heard the album.

In fact, I only know a few of Devin's songs, mainly from SYL, however, after reading this, I am definitely going to check out some more of his stuff, simply because your review was so persuasive and influencing. I truly commend you on an incredible review.

I would say this is one of the best reviews I've read on Sputnik so far. Cheers, and happy listening The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra 4. A household name? Oh, if only. The Townsend in question today one Devin Townsend should deserve to have his name well known.

He certainly deserves it, with all the effort he"s put in. Whereas SYL has basically one gear hyperspeed Townsend"s solo project opens up the ability to create some of the most "what the f u ck" inducing music ever.

And he does it with the utmost flair. Townsend creates some of the most phenomenal music ever, and ranks up there with the greatest composers of our generation. His music is completely original, forging deep into uncharted territories of sonic bliss and mayhem , and it will leave you dazed for days.

Unfortunately, most people don"t like it, simply based on the fact that it"s too weird. However, hopefully, this review will change that. Granted, they were all written by him, but for some reason he chose to release them under different projects. Hooray for pointless information. Anyway, Synchestra is the latest in the epic saga of Townsend albums. Those who have listened to it christen it the greatest release of , and put it up there with what many consider his greatest release yet, Terria.

Are they right? At any rate, Synchestra is certainly as original as Terria. The album has so many levels it"s nigh impossible to begin to describe it. Townsend mixes metal, psychedelic, synth based parts, and a bit of almost everything else into his music to create this masterpiece. It"s absolutely stunning to listen to Whether that"s true or not, it certainly seems like it Those of you familiar with Strapping Young Lad, there"s a few moments on here like that most notably Vampira Townsend, happy?

It doesn"t seem right However, it works, and works perfectly. The album has that uplifting quality to it that will give you an instant feeling of gratification, almost, and make you run around your front yard skipping and throwing flowers at people. In its own sort of ways, 'Alien' and 'Accelerated Evolution' aren't really different - in that, both seep with sonic deliverance and devastation.

That atmosphere seeped deep into the cores of that record, and aided it towards becoming an overall exemplary release as time would go on. On the other side of the spectrum, however, 'Alien' fed into a deep, dark toxicity and anger, that of which gave it, in turn, that kind of relativistic atmosphere as well. In tandem, however, such toxicity fed into Devin himself in a So, what became of these ideals as they would form 'Synchestra'? In truth, it's a well-established conglomeration.

Indeed, 'Synchestra' is able to take these elements of both its predecessors and play off of them rather well. Sonically, it is devastating in its deliverance of its sound - certainly, a synthetic orchestra - exemplified in songs like "Hypergeek" and "A Simple Lullaby".

All the while, however - it plays off of 'Alien' in a rather flipped manner, as its core toxicities are stripped for a cathartic happiness. While this may, in part, be the responsibility of Devin having written 'Synchestra' as a tandem response to 'Alien', it's a pleasant experience to be had. On the topic of writing itself, as well - what a return to form! Devin, once more, has been able to give both thought-provoking lyrics and some memorable riffs along the way.

All that said, however I do feel as though this record has problems that keep it from being truly perfect. Most of that is the result of how it is paced - which, while well on track with other records before it, has gaps where it Although, I suppose that isn't as excessive a surprise when you have an album with tracks depending on the version you are listening to with two de facto intro tracks and two instrumentals four, if you count "Hypergeek" and "Mental Tan" Needless to say Irregardless of what you might think of it, however - 'Synchestra' rests as a rather solid record, albeit not quite holding up in the same ways its predecessors did.

If anything, this record achieves its own levels of catharsis, though. At the end of the day, it's really just a fun-loving experience for a bulk of its runtime. For me, personally, amid a sea of music that fuels a ton of different emotions, that is a very welcome sight to have. Truly so. If anything can be missed about this, however - it will be that the Devin Townsend Band ended off with this record.

Because, of all the things left to this record, that alone might be the truest tragedy of all. There has not been another album in the progressive metal world that I think comes closer to the realm of world music than Devin Townsend's Synchestra.

There is a great feeling of unity on this record, as if all the denizens of the world have come together to hold hands and bask under the warmth of the sun. It sounds strange, but only a simile or abstract metaphor could even begin to describe the warm power that Devin Townsend's music has. Maybe it's the pure originality, maybe it's even the unique way in which the music is produced.

The fact remains however, that 'Synchestra' is one of his best works, second only to 'Terria' in terms of brilliance. This is really what Devin Townsend's music should sound like. The production is perfect, and theres a fair balance of childishness and seriousness in order to make a piece of art that is enjoyable and fun yet credible and intelligent at the same time.

This is not the sort of prog music you would ever see Dream Theater making. There are different layers that make this music progressive. While Devin Townsend may very well be one of the most talented rock guitarists out there on the music scene today, unlike your typical Petrucci or Yngwie, he doesn't flaunt his powers.

Instead, the majority of his work is pretty laid back in terms of technicality, except for the occasional solo, where he'll go all out and truly make a statement about his virtuosic talent as a musician, and put his contemporaries to shame! The two cornerstones of this album are 'Triumph' and 'Notes From Africa. The heavy overdubbing typical of Townsend's work really comes into play here, and gives a feeling of global cohesion. It's a feeling I have yet to find on any other record.

The only possible shortcoming this album has is it's bonus track 'Sunshine And Happiness' but it's become increasingly clear that the bonus track is meant as nothing more than a light hearted joke. Therefore, taken as it is, there is nothing wrong with this album at all. This is album that has the uncanny ability to lift your mood no matter what. It has a really warm, positive feeling to it. A true testament to the body of talent that is Devin Townsend. Ocean Machine: Biomech is just as brilliant if not moreso as the day I bought that enigmatic album, so it was with some considerable excitement that I received this package in the mail a few months ago.

Babysong's got this hella lush intro that I dig, that sweetass solo in Triumph would've taken ages to get right. The best bit of proof that surprisingly, Townsend does still have the knack would be Vampira, which is basically the only song that works all the way through; where Townsend's habit of "krazy whackiness" actually compliments the simple and catchy semi-thrash riffs.

The rest? Well, I'd probably like it more if Townsend called it a production showcase and was down with it. Or you could try 'A Simple Lullaby' which tries and fails to make up for it's boring as hell downtuned, happy-doom guitar work by virtue of its' massive production.

So on and so forth. Just no focus, no point to the whole thing. It's weird that these songs sound so utterly unfocused, so scatterbrained, so completely pointless yet the production is amazing although his guitar tone has never made my dick hard and here's no exception. I get the feeling that the time spent on producing this compared to the time spent writing it is easily Unfortunately, the pristine tones and millions of layers can't hide the fact that hardly anything here goes anywhere.

Yeah so this basically sucks a great deal and I can't see even the biggest Devin fan digging on this. That's because it's shit. So, yeah, I think we can cut the guy some slack here. Still, none of that other music, admirable though it may be, quite touches the holistic brilliance of this album.

I will not, therefore, try to be objective in discussing this album, though I will try to convince you of its merits with more than just relentless cussing and exhortations. The opening trio of songs is a perfect suite, flowing smoothly from one musical theme to the next. Throughout the album, it is apparent that Devin has thrown essentially every trick he can muster at these songs; the thing is, the songs are so goddamn unbelievably strong that this instrumental excess never even comes close to overwhelming them.

About midway through it, though, the song changes up its rhythm and just starts swinging furiously. Rather than proving tiresome, however, this fluidity of movement between songs is indicative of the unified nature of this album as a composition.

Its lyrics reference Carl Jung, in regards to which the simple but insanely powerful chorus reveals a deeper meaning to the song itself.

The idea was that, simply by virtue of our shared humanity, every individual had access to a set of precognitive ideas, archetypes, and so forth. Our species, thus, was not only one body, but also, in some respect, one mind.

Or, in philosophical terms, the synthesis is the outcome of the operation of the dialectic: one begins with the thesis, against which is opposed the antithesis; the confrontation and negotiation between a thought and its opposite thus results in a third way, the syn-thesis. And yet at the same time, this album also features a combination of many of the elements on all previous DT albums.

That is understandable, given that he disbanded Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band the following year and began a long, musical exile that led to a period of recovery and self-redemption which is starting to be revealed to the general public. In other words, after this album, Devy changed his outlook and work as a musician. Time will tell if that is for better or for worse, but I can definitely say for sure that the first era of his solo output is of excellent quality.

And Synchestra is the culmination of all that hard work. For newcomers, this is honestly the best place to start. It gives you a little taste of everything Devy has done up to this point without overburdening you with humongous walls of sound and heaviness on every song although it pop up from time to time. I have no problem giving this excellent release 4 stars. Parts of the second half tend to make my mind wander, but it doesn't hurt the high quality of Synchestra all that much for me.

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'. Synchestra and Accelerated Evolution, in retrospect, have the poor fortune of being placed between Devin Townsend's career defining works, Terria and Ziltoid. Both are extremely solid, fully developed examples of Devy's wall of sound mash of extreme metal, pop, new age, and zaniness. Where AE was heavy both in sound and emotional content, Synchestra is a little more mature and eclectic.

AE has higher highs and lower lows. As I owned AE first, Synchestra gets lumped in my mind with its predecessor. But as I listen for this review, there are so many grand moments that I believe I'll do a track by track. Let it Roll - Gently beginning with a strummed guitar and simple melody, Devin eases us in for what's going to be quite a ride. It feels like we're in for another masterpiece.

Hypergeek - And it comes. Croaking frogs accompany and proggy, on-top-of the beat intro that is pure glee. At almost exactly we get a blast beat crash that then integrates in the previously introduced themes. This is going to be good. Triumph - This song contains almost all of Devy's career in a single song, the first full composition on the album. It starts with a throbbing fuzz guitar and a naked vocal that follows a signature melody.

The song builds perfectally, with a banjo!! Break, multiple themes, and climaxing in a solo by none other than Steve Vai, the guitar god that launched Devy's career. Interestingly, he is extremely restrained here, going for texture rather than flash.

In fact, it's one of my favorite solos of Vai's career, and I've followed him long before I knew of Devy. Babysong - a sing-song silly lullaby that serves its purpose as a relief in the intensity of the epic preceeding it.

It features some nice Devy mega-tracking and melody. The second reprises some ideas from "Terria" and builds to an intense conclusion. A perfect album song.

Vampolka - A short humorous intro to the single that follows. Quirky but it works. Vampira - Of all of Devy's hamming it up, this song is one of the few that's right on the edge of not working for me. The songwriting is very solid, the performance perfect, but the theme of the song is actually too straight to justify the mugging that Devin does. The video's ultra-camp shows just how cheesy it was intended to be.

Solid fun, but not too memorable. It's here that I'm losing the ecstatic glow that had built during the first three songs. Mental Tan - Another short transition piece, this time airy and atmospheric.

The ending is almost orchestral. Gaia - This is the poppy single from the album, following in the tradition of "Life" from Ocean Machine and "Christeen" from Infinity. It's a solid, pleasant listen and Devy's still playing it live now in Great bridge section, nice effects in the multi-track wash.

Pixillate - This is probably the highlight of the entire album. Opening with a raw bass riff and Devin moaning in a middle eastern tonality, the song slowly develops into an exotic grinder that is unique in the Devy catalog. Along with the Vai solo, this is the only place on Synchestra which I get the tingles I've come to expect from Devin Townsend albums.

As hard as putting together a DT's greatest hits album would be, this would be on it. Judgment - This song features some strong vocal performances, and the typical Devy intensity, but the song itself isn't that memorable. There's nothing wrong with it, but we've heard Devy do this many times before. A Simple Lullaby - Unfortunately, more of the same.

No lyrics, though vocals do act as one of the instruments. There are a few nice pieces of composition, dramatic stops, a few composed lines but the track is way overlong.

Hate to use the word filler, but this is soundtrack music. Sunset - This is another instrumental, much shorter, whose title fits it perfectly. A nice musical sketch that says what it needs to and moves on. Notes from Africa - Starts with the best riff of the album, some snappy bass, and immediately my head starts bopping where I'd been nodding before. The song has a little melodic skip up and a background vocal riff that distinguish the song from all the others.

There are odd time breaks, anthemic chants, a great send off. My overall feeling is that this album needed a little fat trimming. Simply cutting tracks 10 and 11 would have left the album still at 50 minutes and a much tighter piece of work. I think that album would have been a masterpiece that would have left me salivating for more. As it is, I'm exhausted by the end, and lost attention a few times.

This album, like Accelerated Evolution before it, starts brilliantly and loses steam. But there are some brilliant moments and it never truly disappoints. Drums after 2 minutes as the sound becomes fuller. I should mention that a lot of these tracks blend into one another. Birds too. It all stops then it kicks in hard. Some guest guitar from Steve Vai. It's polka time!

A great vocal performance too. Spacey vocals here too. A killer intro really of bass and vocal expressions then it kicks in at a minute. It settles in after 4 minutes. Cool tune. Love the drum work and vocal melodies. All in good fun. A very good album in my opinion but so far "Ocean Machine" and "Terria" stand alone for me as his best. Now a month has passed and I have seven albums with five more on order.

I have really been enjoying becoming acquainted with Devin's music, but this album here was an easy one to love because it is exactly what I have been listening to lately: progressive metal.

Not all of Devin's albums lean so far to the progressive side as this one. But he has done a spectacular job here with the Devin Townsend Band. The opening track is such a simple beautiful acoustic tune with Devin's clean and sweet vocal sound. It switches to a slow but progressive metal sound, gearing us up for what is to come. It suddenly breaks into full on blasting metal and then breaks into a very melodic and heavy prog metal piece before rapidly dissolving into "Triumph".

This is a fabulous piece of music with several changes one part suddenly drops into a country bumpkin hill billy ho- down.

At times I am reminded of more melodic Dream Theater or Symphony X and surprisingly even SUM 41 a bit when they were doing a Metallica rip off with added commercial melodies many years ago.

Keyboards and even piano add some wonderful melodies here. The song's final stretch features a Steve Vai solo. Why don't you have a child? The middle of the song is the most interesting for its instrumental melodies. How sweet that would have been had it received a more prominent role. It's dark and moody and heavy. After that "Judgement" and "A Simple Lullaby" feature more slow progressive metal, great heavy melodies, and some special moments.

But perhaps because I am already on overload up to here with good music, I feel these songs are the weaker part of the album. My mind wanders during these two tracks except for when some change in the music brings me back temporarily. There's more of that sweet piano again. It really shows how Devin can write beautiful music with a rock band but it is short though, and soon we are into the last track on the album, "Notes from Africa" which is actually only a five-minute song with a few minutes of jungle sounds after which I highly suspect were recorded in the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver.

As I have come to learn, Devin often self-references. An unlisted track on the CD sneaks in at end. It's a fun tune but really different from the tone set by the rest of the album. So far, this album really stands out in my Devin Townsend collection, along with "Ki" which is also very different. So many sides to Devin's music and vocal style are captured here. Do check it out! This by far is the trickiest album of Devin's by far to pigeonhole into a certain theme or story.

It starts off with beautiful acoustic themes, with "Let It Roll" almost channeling a historic American folktune, while "Hypergeek" transitions from the acoustic to a child-like arpeggio that layers the guitars and drums and reverb to crescendo into "Triumph". There's definitely a lot of references to childhood melodies, as evidenced by "Babysong" and "A Simple Lullaby", which are self-explanatory: long, reverb filled soundscapes with hypnotic, entrancing melodies that sway with waltz like motives.

And frankly, it's very calming considering this album was recorded after making "Alien" with Strapping Young Lad", an album he prepared for by purposely not taking the medicine required to treat his bipolar disorder. So in a sense, this album is supposed to be the exact opposite of it, and it really feels it. That's not to say this album is lacking in heat, though. The cheesy "Vampolka", despite being cheesy, is a fun minute and a half of surf guitar and polka, segueing into the much heavier counterpart "Vampira", grooving and chugging along like the theme to a bad "Twilight"spinoff series.

Although there are interludes like "Mental Tan" to bring you back down to earth, and "Gaia" which channels "Accelerated Evolution's penchant for catchy songs with reverb out the wazzoo and wonderfully heavy melodies, you can tell there's still a conflict with Devin's angrier half that just finished "Alien" with SYL, and that anger is very prevalent in "Vampira", the Middle-Eastern tinged "Pixillate" my favorite off the album , and the end of "A Simple Lullaby".

The whole album is a huge tug of war between Devin's bipolarity, the album in his entire discography where this conflict is most prevalent. Overall, though, it's a much happier album than most of Townsend's other records, while still maintaining some heavy outbursts, catchy reverb songs and plenty of proggy goodness. Definitely the first album I'd recommend to a non-Devin fan. This entire album is a summary of his multi-faceted musical style in a nutshell.

An absolutely brilliant masterpiece of insanity, progressiveness and just good ol fashioned metal. The other DTB project, 'Accelerated Evolution' was more listener friendly than the usual DT solo albums that had come before, and, even though it was still a great album, it didn't have as much of a progressive edge as the previous albums and wasn't quite as heavy. This album, at least in the beginning, seems to be following that same path as it starts with the very mellow 'Let it Roll' with an acoustic guitar and lovely melody sung by Devin.

As it continues, an threatening drone comes up from underneath the acoustics, and for a short time, the band kicks in so as to not totally shock you for 'Hypergeek'. Once again, you get another short track, with more acoustic guitars and an almost pastoral feel. Some nice vocal effects come in, but the track suddenly goes on a complete left turn at the minute mark as the wall of sound, Devin's emotional yelling, heavy guitar and synths take over. But don't despair, as is usual with DT's music, it's heavy and thick, but you can hear everything.

Of course, things get emotional and strong as the passion in his vocals and music increase. His vocals are mostly clean, but he still has bursts of anger that come through. The song isn't all thick and heavy however, as it has many lighter sections and the instrumentation features a lot of keyboard and synth to help lighten things up.

And it is very progressive, so there are all kinds of surprises, fun and excellent music here. With all of these changes in tone, meter and sound, everything just flows together so well. You hear so many other bands try this and things just end up sounding choppy, but with Devon, it is so smooth, almost like an orchestra. To top it all off, you get a guitar solo from Steve Vai on this one too.

As it continues, it gets more complex and heavier.