By: Eitan Prouser
Only 3 times have I encountered an album that truly changed the way I viewed music. My favorite of these 3 is Devin Townsend’s album Infinity. It is an opus of songwriting, performance, and production. From the beautiful to the bizarre, this album shows a true spectrum of sounds and emotions. While many modern Prog bands may claim to be able to achieve this, no can do it quite the way Devin can.
The best way to really make sense of Infinity is to look at the history leading up to this album. In the years just prior to Infinity two other albums were released by Townsend. One under his industrial project Strapping Young Lad and one under his own name. The SYL album was called City. This album perfectly reflects the chaos that is within Townsend. This album, hailed by some as the greatest metal album of all time, is a demonstration of pure unadulterated chaos. Every track is just crushingly brutal, fast and maniacal. It truly is the soundtrack for a madman. The album released under Devin’s name is Ocean Machine:Biomech. While this album has some very heavy songs, e.g. “Seventh Wave” and “Regulator,” this album is much calmer and has more of an ambient rock feel at times. Both these albums have that very definitive Devin sound, but in reality are polar opposites. Both of these came out within a year of each other. These albums perfectly epitomize Townsend’s mental state at the time. Needless to say he received professional help.
Following this time came Infinity which truly gave closure to this whole phase of his life. Infinity is the perfect mix of the brutal and punishing feeling you get from City, and the beautiful and almost ambient feeling you get off of the Ocean Machine:Biomech record. Most of the album has a strange way of the tracks melding into one another without feeling like its one long song. I personally always thought of it as more of an experience than an album. To best really analyze the incredible piece of work that is this album is you have to look at almost every track individually.
From the very beginning you are instantly hooked into this classic. The first track “Truth” is basically an overture for the whole album. It is an instrumental track though it has some background vocals and some nonsense words. The album starts with an simple beautiful lead guitar riff in layers upon layers of synth. Before any time has past at all it becomes a heavy, very full sounding riff. When i say full, I truly mean layers upon layers upon layers of sound. It can prove to be almost too much and over bearing at times. the song ends on a climactic, monumental, grandiose chord that you can almost get lost listening to. If you listen carefully to this first song you can hear themes from almost every song on the album. I love that trait of it because every time I listen to it I can feel every song coming up soon. It is the perfect way to start an album.
The second song is called “Christeen,” and it is a complete change of pace. It has a very poppy feeling to it which is kind of an interesting break from the first track. It’s comprised of primarily clean vocals with some screaming mixed in. Regardless of what style vocals he is doing he is showing an . It is a very melodic and really just a well rounded track. It has a very catchy chorus and the drums are subtle but Gene Hoglan proves why he is one of the best drummers in the metal world.
As “Christeen” ends an equally you are suddenly transported from this heavenly place where the first two tracks have put you and are suddenly sent to somewhere much darker. There are several just evil almost demonic sounds followed by an organ. Clearly “Bad Devil” is meant to sound like hell. As the track begins it starts to almost sound like big band music mixed with metal. The vocals are incredibly deep and genuinely sounds demonic. During the chorus the voice once again gets clean but words cannot do justice to the amazing effect these vocals accomplish. I cant think of anyone who has been able to pull off a sound like this. The closest I can think of would be the Swedish avante garde metal band The Diablo Swing Orchestra almost 10 years later. This song takes so many turns and really is a great listen but shows nothing about the madness in the mind of Devin like “War.”
“War” is one of the most maddening tracks on this album. It builds slowly but every step leads to something bigger and better. There is no way to truly capture all the turns this song takes. The only part I will mention is the monumental buildup. It starts small but quickly becomes bigger and bigger and bigger. By the end of the buildup it is almost unbearable and overpowering. When it reaches this point a voice cries out “can you just stop the noise for once?! PLEASE?!” Then the sound just crashes and a beautiful and serene voice comes through and sings through the end of the track. It would never make sense unless Devin did it.
The next track is a real kickback to “Truth.” “Soul Driven Cadillac” is just gratuitous amounts of epic layered on top of each other. Its main riff once it hits off is a much slower version of one of the riffs from truth. It is another one of those maddening tracks. It is huge and its majestic. Towards the end of the track there’s some random sounds created in post production. When you are listening to the whole album in succession this really makes you uneasy. This being said, if that makes you uneasy you may not be able to handle the next track.
Ants is very similar to a lot of the material from City. It’s very chaotic and difficult to follow. It almost seems nonsensical and triggers an intense fear of clowns sensation. There is no other way to explain the feeling given by this song. The playing itself is extremely technical. It is chock full of timing signatures, sweeping, shredding, and just pure insanity. Even tho the tracks sounds kind of like a joke there is something strangely fascinating about this song and as soon as I turn it on I can stop listening to it.
The following song shows the amazing capabilities of Townsend vocally. “Wild Colonial Boy” is a step a way from everything else on the album thus, though you could say every song on the album is radically different from every other. His voice is very grandiose and almost operatic at times. This song always reminded me of Phantom of the Opera or Trans Siberian Orchestras rock opera Beethoven’s Last Night. Very powerful and very dark this song has such an allure to it on this album and sticks out from every other song on the album. It also has a brief moment where it goes into an almost Polka seeming breakdown. If it had not been Devin this may have not worked but he makes it so heavy and so exciting. Heavy Devy strikes again.
The next song has a feeling very similar to that of “Soul Driven Cadillac.” The dynamics of “Life” begin with a very ambient kind of feeling but develop into something huge over time. This one is not one that stands out to me too much in particular, however it truly continues to show the epic that Townsend brings out. This is yet another song which the only word to explain the power in the layers of sound is crushing. It can become overbearing but every moment is worth it. It may not be my favorite song but it is still a force to be reckoned with.
The final two songs I will couple together. “Unity” and “Noisy Pink Bubbles” are both very random compared to the rest of the album but both remain 2 of my favorite songs on the album. Unity is an instrumental and not really the same Heavy Devy feeling you would come to expect from this album. It has a more electronic feel and is very…well…happy. It is very dreamy feeling and is easy to get lost in. “Noisy Pink Bubbles” is very much the same way. The only differences are that “Noisy Pink Bubbles” uses actual instruments and has vocals. It has the same happy and dreamy feeling as unity but has more elements of the rest of the album. By the end of this song, realizing where you have come from the rest of the album, you don’t even know what hit you.
This album is unlike any other album I have ever heard. It is also probably one of the most thickest sounding. Once I listened to Infinity, no other album apart from Devin’s have ever been able to keep up and satisfy the same. I always am waiting for the album that will put this one to the side even just a little bit but at this point this song remains an unbelievable display of an incredible mind. I implore everyone to listen to this album as soon as possible. It is a listen you will not regret. I do not know anyone who cant get something out of at least one song on thsi album, it may be the only album i know with that record.
happy birthday eitan!!!!!!
a cave full of bats 