Devin Townsend
Physicist

THE REVIEW

From my personal point of view, Devin Townsend represents the greatest artist that the music scene of recent years has had, capable of truly creating something innovative and definitively breaking the boundaries set by musical genres. Classifying his music is practically impossible; Devin has produced a myriad of albums from 1995 to today, each extremely different from the other, touching on every musical genre.

At a superficial listen, his music can be classified as extreme Metal when it comes to his main band, Strapping Young Lad, or as prog/rock for his solo projects. However, if one analyzes the structure of each song with all its nuances carefully, from any of Devin's projects, one can grasp the genius of this artist. Townsend is not an artist for chart-topping hits (and this is also why he has never managed to achieve the success he deserves); you could never categorize him from a piece heard by chance in a videoclip. It's not the song or hook that stays with you from his projects but rather the album in its entirety, and each album is a sort of journey through different atmospheres and sensations. The versatility of this artist is perfectly expressed by this "Physicist," one of his masterpieces and among the most beautiful and innovative albums of recent years, created by Townsend in 2000 after reuniting with the same musicians from "City" (the second work by Strapping Young Lad from 1997).

"Physicist" is a violent and aggressive album but at the same time melodic and reflective; it indeed represents the summation of everything Devin had achieved with his projects up to that moment. The album is, in a sense, the union between the urban atmospheres of "City" and the pop/rock melodies of his solo album "Ocean's Machine." When listening, you are catapulted into a spatial and dreamlike dimension made up of songs extremely different from one another (ranging from speed/thrash, psychedelia, extreme death to pop melodies) united by a sort of vortex that acts as a backdrop to the entire album, making it homogeneous. The opener "Namaste" is a real hammer to the temple, four minutes of Thrash metal played at the speed of light, among the best songs ever written by Devin. With the following "Victim," the atmosphere shifts to cyber-thrash, with tight rhythms and an incredibly angry vocal. In "Material" and "Kingdom," his more melodic side can be noticed, before culminating in "Death," which is an explosive concentration of the most deadly industrial/death/grind. Worth noting is the incredible and nearly inhuman drumming of Gene Hoglan, in my opinion, the best drummer on the face of the earth.

In short, an album I recommend to anyone who likes unique and well-crafted music, but not to those who listen to music with blinders on and follow trends.