THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT’S ADDICTED: THE REVIEW
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 9:30am by Dick Gozinya
Devin Townsend has been crawling up the hill to public acceptance in a desperate and obvious manner since his dubious introduction to public conciousness on the awkward and critically ill recieved Sex And Religion by Steve Vai.
The level of insecurity laid bare by the incessant regurgitation of prior ideas and themes, increasingly more dilluted, has resulted in a four record “project” called the “dtp” (not to be confused with one of the many other rapidly cycling identities bestowed on the public with equal faux grandeur and self important themes.) The implication that we should all care now crests in the judgmental and self righteous Addicted, which seems to imply that his “newfound sobriety” is the answer to all the world’s ills, and that we should all follow suit, set to a antiquated, late 90’s “White Zombie-esque” dance metal vibe.
While, yes, the record has very cautiously and meticulously derived its formula from elements of current musical trends in hopes (one would assume) of “finally tapping into the mainstream,” the results are dubious to say the least.
I, for one, hope that the third self-proclaimed “heaviest album of his career” succeeds in at least re-inventing whatever passion lays dormant from his single moment in the sun, Strapping Young Lad, which, in hindsight, gets actually less vital as the years move on.
In other news, I hate my dad and I can’t win a fight with my fat wife.
-Dick Gozinya
Guest Editor
HAHAHA! Right On the money Dick! May I also humbly point out that the female vocals sound quite convincingly like a fart.
Hmmm this could have been funnier…. And currently making sweet love with Addicted!
At first I was all “wut” but then I lol’d.
Good show.
same, haha.
nice job Devin
Haha.
My take on it: it’s a great album. Poppy in places, but heavy enough to not be pop music. And damn catchy, too.
My only question, then, is this… is the album cover supposed to symbolize an addiction to eating crayons? I personally haven’t done that in years.
Okay, it was last week. It said non-toxic, so I had to verify.
hehe :)
See, most people think all crayons taste the same regardless of color. That just goes to show how ignorant and taste-less most people are, which is true of mass pop culture in general. But people with refined taste in all things, like DT, know that blue crayons are the best and the green ones taste like ass.
And the orange ones actually taste like oranges. It’s a little-known fact.
Obviously purple is the most enjoyable – the whole thing is gone.
Devin explained this on his forum:
RED symbolizes SYL; BLUE, DTB and GREEN the DTP.
You can see the struggle between SYL and DTB as the purple stain in the floor.
You should hold a Q and A in the comments, dev…. Because i want some info on that grey (Peavey?) 7 string v.. when it will be available to the public, if it ever will be.
i lioved sex and religion, i still get a hair up my ass for that one
Yeah, no kidding. You listen to Dev’s demos before that album and then listen to him ON that album and on every album after… that was the point where he found his voice. From the first second I heard him on that album I knew he was special and he hasn’t disappointed since.
Addicted is, in my opinion, not your best work. It’s good but not Ziltiod good. Make Ziltiod part two and I’ll love you forever. <metal3
i lol’d
holy shit, i just heard “supercrush!” and good god damn is that song fucking epic.
also, you forgot to give it 5/5 horns, devin.
And then you can use blurbs from the review on your MySpace.
“Devin Townsend has been…obvious…since his…public…awkward…critically ill….”
-Metalsucks.com
Hey Dev, tell us a awesome tour story! :D!
It seems to be the conventional wisdom that Devin Townsend is a “genius”. I hear that all the time. It’s the most frequently uttered word by fans of his when referring to him and all his projects. I for one, just don’t get it. He’s ok. but he ain’t reinventing the wheel.
I totally agree. No offense whatsoever to Devin, but I don’t quite understand why seemingly everyone in the metal community gushes like a school girl when his name is mentioned. This is actually the first time I’ve ever seen everyone having pretty much the same opinion about something on MetalSucks. I own a few SYL records and I think they’re pretty damn good; I’ve heard all of his solo material, including the ever-popular Ziltoid, and I have mixed feelings towards a lot of it – I don’t think any of it is downright bad, though I also don’t see any of it as something which transcends conventions or changes the face of metal; I suppose it doesn’t necessarily have to for people to love it, either.
My preference is towards SYL over the solo material, but I do own Ki and I think it’s absolutely fantastic. I downloaded “Addicted” and am not overly impressed, so I don’t think I’ll be purchasing that one, I’ll wait for “Deconstructed” and “Ghost” (if in fact the fourth goes by that name).
In honesty, it’s sometimes a bit of a distraction.
To be clear, I don’t consider myself a genius…not even close actually. I’m stoked to be doing what I do. My filter is a direct result of my experience and teachers. Like someone said today, ‘There’s an ass for every seat’ …there’s so many awesome musicians out there, I’m just stoked to be involved.
When that word (or crazy) gets thrown around, it’s difficult for some folks to take it seriously.
My music is my contribution to a world of music, I totally get it if people aren’t into it. I don’t think it’s really an artists place to defend their work. If you like it, great! If not, great!
To be clear on my end, I never assumed you consider yourself a genius; usually, I’ve found that the most intelligent, most creative, or most clever people are also very humble when it comes to their abilities (not always, but most of the time from my experience).
Your contribution to the world of music is much appreciated by yours truly and even if I don’t enjoy all of your work, there is a great deal of it which I hold in immensely high regard. Music aside, from articles and interviews I’ve read (not to mention your contributions to MetalSucks today), you are an incredibly interesting individual who I have much respect for and I wish you all the success in the world, particularly in your continued exploration of yourself as a human being in a seemingly infinite universe, as you once put it. I also look forward to hearing future projects and seeing your live performance.
Thanks dude! But you know, I think it’s more than reasonable to like only certain things (if anything)
I understand the ’superfan’ mentality (I was pretty obsessive about Janes Addiction and Grotus when I was 17…actually, I was a TOTAL obsessive fan) and it’s totally flattering, but I know how I feel about people that you constantly have shoved down your throat. Eventually, I get sick of their face just because it’s almost implied that I should care. I think I found my identity through my fascination with others.
I remember thinking the lyrics and fx on Perry Farrells voice made his some ‘otherworldly siren’ and the interviews he did definitely reinforced that. So when he got busted doing speedballs off of a dudes ass or something in vegas, I remember seeing him for who he was all of a sudden. A normal, confused artist. And frankly, it bummed me out. I think I needed that illusion on some level.
I think extreme in any direction is a little difficult for me nowadays, but ultimately, I’m an entertainer and a total cheeseball in that way, so it’s great to have an audience…I do what I can to entertain. Times are rough and you can download everything I’ve ever done on torrent in under 15 minutes, so someone shelling out dough for a piece of plastic is more a sign of respect that deserves it in return.
When I hang out with my bros though, I’m just happy that good and funny people aren’t so fucking sick of my neurosis that I don’t get invited to the parties. I’ve always been pretty socially awkward, so the juxtaposition between being put on a pedestal yet kind of annoying my closest friends is pretty hilarious…
I think it’s good to question things.
I always liked the way Zappa put it. Er…. not sure about the exact words, but the gist was “I make music that I like. If someone else likes it, that’s just a bonus.”
*Devin is God
*The album will be ill received among the the metal community, even with his name on it…
*the album, like Ki is a breath of fresh air and almost a break from the normal heavy tracks in my daily rotation.
*because Devin put his stamp on it, I have no problem calling it metal.
*NOTE*Anneke does great, but Devin singing hyperdrive is much better…
Personal Note: Devin, thank you, and keep them coming!
Don’t you hate pants!?!
new album is great. hopefuly i can find it today
The real question is, are they “crayons” or “crowns?”
If you’re a boorish hillbilly, they’re “crowns”. Otherwise they’re “crayons”.
Nope, they’re “crans”.
I wanna drawr with some crowns, though…
Good answer.
Good show, sir, good show.
I’m listening to addicted now, and it’s fucking awesome. Supercrush is the shit….The song is fucking epic and the other songs are amazing too. Devin is a genius for being able to bridge gaps that most people just don’t see. I mean when do you hear singing, screaming, and true killer sweep arpeggios not in one album, but one song that isn’t in a genre with “core” attached to the end of it?. Ki was my favorite album in a few years, and addicted kicks ass. I greatly await the next two…Never Stop Devin we love you here in Philly playboy.
Not to take anything away from Devin and his abilities, but to answer your question of “I mean when do you hear singing, screaming, and true killer sweep arpeggios not in one album, but one song that isn’t in a genre with “core” attached to the end of it?”
OPETH.
Yeah, I gotta say, there are a lot of bands that do that.
The fact that the man can create poppy music one second and heavy as hell music in another is a testament to him being a great songwriter. Any music that can create a happy, melodic, symphonic, yet metal sound is something that many people have dared to try and have failed at. This record is a success. He went out there, didn’t give a shit, and created something that people will love, yet most likely call mainstream/re-hashed girlie music… because he knew he could do it and do it well.
And the dude that wrote this review sounds like he’s angry about something else and was forced to write this in a day. If he had an actual deep-seated opinion, this probably would have a bit more detailed.
Also, as a die-hard SYL fan, my first listen of this record was a bit shaky, but over time I began to love it. I’m a self-admitted, hardcore fan of progressive trance and happy hardcore… STINKINGLY happy, fast-paced, symphonic music. There was no way the record couldn’t grow on me.
Devin fans will get it, SYL fans will learn to love it, and people that don’t get his genius will complain about people calling him a genius. Whatever. It’s awesome, get fucked.
I think people (see: fanboys/fangirls) of Devin appreciate his music and consider him a genius in much the same way that fanboys/fangirls of Tool do that band. I tend to lean just outside of the former group and well within the latter, so I can certainly relate to people saying someone (or a band) is a genius as well as sympathize with those who become annoyed at the very same title being granted by the diehards.
I always smile when I see someone use the argument, “Well, you obviously just don’t ‘get it’” when it comes to music. The case isn’t usually that the person doesn’t “get it”, but rather they measure genius according to different standards of creativity and expression. Such is the beauty of art.
Ah, I can agree with that. Touché.
Some religious folk smugly told me that ‘Obviously, I don’t get Christianity’ and it made my blood boil.
I think different ideas work for different minds…
There’s some day I dislike everything I’ve ever done…but you know, thats the time when I focus on someone elses music.
When I come back to me…there I’ll be. We play the cards we’re dealt, and I’m a musician named Devin, so I do what I do.
Nothing wrong with “not getting” something.
I love this quote: “Just because you don’t think it’s funny doesn’t mean it isn’t funny. It means you’re stupid.”
This review is golden. It’s funny how it summarizes some of the opinions of the most critical Dev listeners.
Lucid Review. Dick would write for Metalsucks more often.
Easily more commercial than previous solo projects and is beautifully heavy. It’s very easy to get in to and will likely go down as one of Townsend’s most approachable albums.
Aw, hang in there, Dick.
That was hilarious!!
If Devin didn’t play this and it was by someone else, would everyone still like it?
…An interesting point.
Who else could it be by? It has the Dev sound all over it!
Sure I’d like it if it was by some other band I’d be interested in enough to listen to the CD. In the end, the music IS good and that’s all that matters.
I preordered the album and am awaiting for it too arrive on my doorstrp as we speak!
Haha, dick gozina.
gozinya*
Devin’s dynamics and juxtaposition of elation/anger is what draws me to his music. Not many other metal musicians take this route, but if they did, fuck yeah I’d be into it. Just listen to “Awake!” The vicious, almost hilariously-metal moment when he says “I want to be set free…WE’RE FAR TO OLD TO WHINE ABOUT IT” jumps SEAMLESSLY into the second verse, with the most beautiful, starry-eyed keyboards I’ve ever heard in my life. That transition alone makes me want to cry out of happiness. Thanks, Dev.
“finally tapping into the mainstream,” who the fuck are you quoting?