You may have seen a previous review, where we told you that Mr Townsend had announced earlier this year that he had been using the Covid downtime to work on new material for upcoming albums, and for a current lack of touring possibilities and encounters with fans on the road he had decided to do a series of live albums, quarantine albums, and generally interesting projects that keep people entertained while he’s busy on his next larger release? Keeping himself and others busy, in other words.

The series is called the “Devolution Series”. Devin’s comments can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzVj0t9qSvc and summarised here: “the ‘Devolution Series’: a grouping of oddities and interesting material that I would like people to hear, but don’t necessarily want to present as a ‘major release’. The series will include all the quarantine songs and concerts, as well as various live shows from the past few years……. I’m currently deep in the writing of my new projects and am very excited to be doing so. Thanks for facilitating my ability to do that, and I hope you enjoy the ‘Devolution Series’.”

So here we have the second release under the “Devolution Series” moniker, recorded in 2020 in various places around the world as a replacement show for the COVID affected “Empath Vol 2 European Tour” and cancelled Summer festivals. It originally aired on September 5th 2020 on StageIt.com.

What a top bloke. Always trying something new, always trying something different, always trying to keep himself challenged, and always trying to keep his audience entertained. A streamed gig with Devin Townsend in Vancouver, Samus Paulicelli in Winnipeg, Wes Hauch in Atlanta, Liam Wilson in Philadelphia! First observation on first listen – I wish this was a DVD! I’d even excuse the potty mouth……

Confession: I am not an out and out metalhead per se. However, I recognise talent when I see it, and Devin Townsend oozes it. In fact he is it. He takes metal, twists it at will, bends it nonchalantly, plunges it into fire, melts it effortlessly, moulds it remorselessly and reshapes it exactly how he wants, adding from time to time that little bit of insouciantly humourous twist or deadly serious point-making diatribe.

Astonishingly heavy, astonishingly clear and well produced and mixed, the band take off at 110 miles an hour with the shred that is All hail the new flesh. And on it goes. The storming epic By your command, pardon the repetition, commands your attention; Almost again is a driven reminder how Townsend has a remarkable ear for a hook, Juular is almost cleverly cinematic, or certainly online game-ish……..

I could go on. And on. Each track is astonishingly good, amazingly intense and downright exhausting to listen to – but in a good way. So I hope to have given you a reasonable taster of what to expect. And remember how I said I wished it was on DVD? Well, a little bit of it is available to see – and it is as astonishing as the music alone: https://youtu.be/4rOhiHLPT9Q . So you can make up your own mind in the Aftermath….

In a word I’ve used a few times – astonishing.

Band:
Devin Townsend – vocals, guitars
Samus Paulicelli III – drums
Wes Hauch – guitars
Samus Paulicelli III – drums
Liam Wilson – bass
(I also read somewhere that Diego Tejeida was on keys)

Tracklisting

1. Velvet Kevorkian (Virtually Live 2020) (02:28)
2. All Hail The New Flesh (Virtually Live 2020) (05:32)
3. By Your Command (Virtually Live 2020) (08:18)
4. Almost Again (Virtually Live 2020) (03:42)
5. Juular (Virtually Live 2020) (03:50)
6. March Of The Poozers (Virtually Live 2020) (05:25)
7. Supercrush! (Virtually Live 2020) (05:15)
8. Hyperdrive (Virtually Live 2020) (03:42)
9. Stormbending (Virtually Live 2020) (05:21)
10. Deadhead (Virtually Live 2020) (07:55)
11. Aftermath (Virtually Live 2020) (06:51,)
12. Love? (Virtually Live 2020) (05:21)
13. Spirits Will Collide (Virtually Live 2020) (04:35)
14. Kingdom (Virtually Live 2020) (05:05)
15. Detox (Virtually Live 2020) (06:20)

DEVIN TOWNSEND online:
http://www.hevydevy.com
http://www.facebook.com/dvntownsend
http://www.omerch.comhttps://twitter.com/dvntownsend
https://www.instagram.com/dvntownsend/
https://www.youtube.com/user/poopynuggeteer/featured
http://twitch.tv/devin_townsend
https://www.cameo.com/devintownsend