The Super Amazing Orgasm Tour has kicked off, which means that Mr. Devin Fucking Townsend is now tearing up stages for the first time in more than three years. The show doesn’t pass through NYC ’til the end of the month, but Blabbermouth posted some bootleg footage of Heavy Devy and his band performing, so I get to live vicariously through someone’s cellphone.

I was wondering how Mr. Townsend was going to handle the live absence of Anneke van Giersbergen, whose vocals are such a vital part of why Addicted kicks so much ass, and apparently the answer is play some of them via tape, sing some of them himself, and spend part of the time being the goofy front-dude we all know and love. Works for me.

Here’s “Supercrush,” which is my favorite song on Addicted. It sounds so good it makes me wanna engage in heavy kissing. But not just, like, regular kissing – sex kissing.

Get a list of remaining dates to see Devin with Between the Buried and Me, Cynic, and Scale the Summit after the jump. And Blabbermouth has some more live footage for ya, too.

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Rejoice! After that sample medley he released last week, Devin Townsend has now unveiled a complete new song to the world! The title track from The Devin Townsend Project’s forthcoming Addicted is streaming right this second on Noiscreep. And, no real shock here, it’s a killer.

Like the rest of the album, the song features vocals by Anneke van Giersbergen, formerly of The Gathering. Her presence helps give Addicted a slightly poppier feeling that some listeners might have been hoping for; as Devin himself puts in an interview that accompanies the stream, some fans will probably hear the music and “be like, ‘The gay-o-meter is in the red, bro.’” It’s very political of Devin not to add, “Those fans are morons.” But, really, those fans are morons.

Stream the track here, then come back and let us know what you think. Addicted comes out November 17 on InsideOut Music.

-AR

Blame it on the rigors of moving home cities yet again, or changing drummers as frequently as Spinal Tap, or trying to best their universally hailed first album Metridium Field: Giant Squid sound exhausted on The Ichthyologist. More depressed than angry. Not so overtly metal. Lethargic in their rhythms, loose in their playing. Maybe it’s all intentional, given the stark emotional terrain of the source material – based on band leader Aaron Gregory’s graphic novel of the same name, The Ichthyologist records the thoughts of a numbed narrator as he turns to the sea to escape the pain of personal tragedy and loss. Gregory’s lyrics dwell in dank, lightless places. If on Metridium Field Giant Squid were skimming the sea’s surface in search of their namesake seabeast, this one finds them sinking, pulled down into the fathomless depths.

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