Devin Townsend has been in the public eye for the last 31 years, first emerging as the lead vocalist in Steve Vai’s ‘Vai’ band project, which lasted an album and a tour, and fizzled out shortly thereafter. Yet that introduction to the music world then propelled him into focusing his creativity on his very own music, and since then he’s had quite a healthy & productive career, which has even seen him sell out the Albert Hall under his own name. As a recording artist during the last 3 decades, he has issued albums as a solo artist, and also being the leading figure/song-writer in various band projects, ranging from Strapping Young Lad through to Casualties Of Cool, and also including a couple of self-titled bands in between (Devin Townsend Band, Devin Townsend Project). He’s also a music producer, has done all the production on his own albums too, as well as being a multi-instrumentalist, and sometimes providing all the music & vocals to his own work. Let’s just say, Devin likes to keep busy.
I have a massive admiration for this guy, and have been a fan of his since seeing him play with Vai at the Newcastle City Hall, and later seeing him perform with SYL (Strapping Young Lad) at Middlesbrough when promoting both their City album, and material from his own Ocean Machine album too. Even though I would consider myself a ‘fan’ of his, that doesn’t automatically mean that I love, or even particularly like all of his work. Because not all Devin’s music sounds the same. Just like a lot of progressive musicians, he has quite a varied and eclectic musical taste. The main difference here is that he makes complete albums (not just songs) of different styles to represent the varying moods that he was in while writing the material. As such, you can have one release follow another, and have little in common with each other musically, other than they came from the same hands and feature the same singer.
For the listeners, every new album released by Devin Townsend is a musical gamble of sorts. That’s purely down to the individual, and just how broad their own musical preferences stretch. Devin has produced some of the most brutal metal music under his own steam, and yet in complete contrast has also issued ambient albums of ethereal sound-scapes. As a general fan of his, yet still retaining my own musical genealogy, I’ve found it best to do some prior investigation before I made any purchase that comes from the Hevy Devy record label. Some fans will buy everything and love everything too, and for them that’s great. But for me personally, I tend to do some research first, or in recent years manage to listen to pre-release songs on YouTube and other such platforms. The first song released from this album in that manner was the title track PowerNerd. And on listening to that track, I knew that this album was going to be right up my street. That it would likely be an album that I could be proud of to have in my collection, and know that I will play it over & over again.
I think I can say with a certain degree of certainty, that this is his most ‘accessible’ rock album that he’s created so far in his career. I’m not sure the word commercial would be applicable here, as I’ve never ever viewed Devin as a commercial artiste in any way. Yet I find the music on PowerNerd to be more focused & centred than some of Devin’s other material, which in turn has created a good consistency across the majority of the 11 songs featured in this edition of the album. Also this is one of the shortest albums from Devin Townsend, with all of the songs being less than 4 and a half minutes long, and a total running time of around the 44 minutes mark. And here’s a little bonus fact, the entire album was written in just 11 days. There are no sprawling lengthy prog tunes on PowerNerd. It feels like there’s a vibe of discipline going on, as if a conscious effort was being made to just focus on making great pop-length rock songs that fit into a more traditional format. On this occasion, the emphasis being on shorter songs to make an immediate impact, as opposed to just letting loose of the reins and to go on some musical exploration.
The album opens with the title track PowerNerd. It kicks in with a fast pace not dissimilar to Ram It Down by Judas Priest. I know Devin has a strong love for classic Judas Priest, so I’m not sure if this was a seepage of their music into his sub-conscious, or perhaps him paying a little bit of homage. Regardless, it still feels like Devin Townsend through & through. It’s a really fun short song clocking in at around 3 and a half minutes long, that steam-roller’s itself along in an unrelenting manner. This is a perfect song for any gamers playing a driving game. It’s got that “clear out of the way, I’m coming through” vibe to it. I love it! This is followed by a much slower-paced number, Falling Apart. This song is definitely more in line with the epic prog-metal sound that you associate with Devin. It has the big choir vocals on the chorus sections, which are so meticulously put together with so many vocal layers, all performed by Devin himself. He is an absolute master of this, and as such, that huge choir sound has become one of his most recognisable trademarks.
Before you get a chance to catch your breath, you hear a few gaming console bleeps, and then we’re launched into the mighty Knuckledragger. This is another hefty rock tune with big guitar riffs and huge slabs of vocals in the choruses. “Gimme another, another beer man” are the first lyrics of the choruses, whereas later on he declares that “I’ve got balls, I’ve got big balls”, showing Devin’s never-ending ability to incorporate humour in his music. You even have a breakdown section in the song which allows for some bongo percussion, which keeps you on your toes to not get too complacent. Just because this album may be more traditional with its rock values, it still has enough self-awareness to throw you a few little curve-balls along the way.
Another change of pace, back to something slower, and this time it’s the fabulous Gratitude. This is one of the stand-out moments on the album for me. It’s a glorious song, with its magnificent choruses not too far away in style from Spirits Will Collide from his Empath album. Devin is a great song-writer, who every now & then writes tunes that have a far greater universal appeal, and have the potential to cross-over to a much larger audience. Gratitude is definitely one of those songs.
This is followed by the very brief Dreams Of Light, clocking in at less than a minute long. It sounds like an intro section to a song, yet has nothing to do with the next track. It’s just a really short stand-alone number, that has its own title, but sounds like a prelude to something else.
Then we have Ubelia, which is another of his big sounding tunes, with very light-weight verses, then huge choruses that come in with loads of sonic impact. It’s another fine song. but probably one of the more typical style of numbers we’ve come to expect from Devin Townsend. And as such, for me, it’s probably one of the weaker moments among this collection of songs. Not because it’s bad in any way, I just feel that there are stronger moments on here, and in particular the next track which is Jainism. This is my personal favourite song on PowerNerd. I love the structure of it. Big opening guitar riffs, then the chilled-out verses, that soon move into a beautiful pre-chorus section, which is then followed up with an absolute monster of a chorus. There are some other gorgeously written moments woven into this well-crafted tune too, that overall elevates Jainism onto my list of favourite Devin Townsend songs of all-time. This is Devin approaching near-perfection for creating epic short songs, that still drip with his unique sound, yet poke their heads up above the rest as being something a bit more special.
Younger Lover is the next track on this album, which seems to be following the formula of big rock number, then a slower-paced majestic song to follow it. Which in essence works well, as it gives the overall running order far better dynamics than just several up-tempo tracks in a row. This song is similar to Ubelia in its vibe, using the approach of soft verses, then the big rousing choruses, etc. And once again, not a bad song in any way, it’s just that I’ve heard similar before, and this one just doesn’t jump out at me as much as some of the other inclusions on this album. The next tune is Glacier, which is the slowest and most brooding song on PowerNerd. More typical Devin in its grandiose style, with lots of characteristics from some of his previous albums, like Epicloud or Transcendence, for instance. I like this one, even though it’s a slower song, because it has that classic Devin Townsend epic-ness to it that I really love.
The penultimate song on PowerNerd is titled Goodbye, and really is the fitting ending to this collection of songs. It’s an up-beat rock number with plenty of catchy hooks, mid-song guitar solo, and the trademark stamp of a big rousing chorus too. This song lasts around 4 minutes, whereas the track itself runs on for another couple of minutes with some cosmic ambience drifting around in the background. These same kind of sounds are also used to join up every song on this album, if only for a brief few seconds. It’s been a theme on several of Devin Townsend’s albums, to have this lingering ambient sound perpetuating on for some time, often decreasing in volume ever so slowly over several minutes to give a very lengthy fade-out. Another one of Devin’s tricks to tag on a secret track at the end of an album. Often a one that feels very different to the vibe of the rest of the songs.
Ruby Quaker is the very final song on the album, and after the couple of minutes of ambient music proceeding it, then it does kind of feel like another one of his hidden tracks. Although this one is properly listed, titled, and has its own track cue position. I’m not sure why this song is called Ruby Quaker, as the lyrical content is all about Devin’s absolute passion for coffee. He’s never made it a secret about his love of a good cup of coffee, and in fact wrote an entire album about a character called Ziltoid, and his search for the perfect cup of coffee. As you may have guessed, this is a fun song that starts off with acoustic guitar and bass guitar, very soft lead vocals, and done in country & western style. That soon picks up in dynamics to become a rock & roll song, then evolving into a rock track with some blistering drum work. The songs builds & builds, and finally closes with some insane drum fills to bring about the album finale.
And there you have it. 11 songs that do have a cohesive quality about them. They are relatively short in length, definitely have a more traditional rock approach to the song-writing, and certainly have plenty of melodic hooks amongst them all. I’ll stick with my opening thoughts on PowerNerd, that it probably is one of the most consistent collection of songs that he has ever put together. And as such, this makes PowerNerd an ideal album for anyone to check out, that isn’t familiar with any of Devin Townsend’s previous work. Because these songs are short and to the point, and they are being presented here in perfect consumable sizes. This is a smorgasbord of Devin’s rock music, and if this selection of great rock tunes didn’t whet your appetite, then likely Devin Townsend is simply not for you. However if you are already a fan of Devin, then I think that you’ll absolutely love this album. It’s not going to be a tough listen like The Puzzle is, even though I fully realise that album had plenty of admirers. PowerNerd is far more instant, and easier on the ear for those that don’t want their music overly experimental.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t feel obliged to have to like everything that comes from the Devin Townsend camp. I love his big anthemic song-writing, where his music is magnificently majestic, and he combines great melodies with huge skyscrapers of emotion. That for me is when Devin is at his best. PowerNerd contains many of those elements too, yet condensed down into smaller chunks of music, that will likely have far more appeal to an audience that may have overlooked him in the past. I’ve always been a fan of the short up-beat songs that Devin has produced over the years. Slow Me Down, Sunshine & Happiness, Vampira, Christeen, to name just a few. He does pop-rock really well, without making it sound corny. And this new album is in that similar vein too.
The expanded edition of PowerNerd contains an extra 3 bonus tracks on a 2nd CD disc. There is also the deluxe version, which comes in a 10 inch book style presentation complete with a 36 page booklet. This will include both CDs as well as disc 3 being the Dolby Atmos mix of PowerNerd. This is also being released on vinyl in 4 colours, being standard black, or white, or red, or opaque with blue & black marbling. I look forward to hearing the 3 extra songs, as even in what Devin describes as ‘demo’ form, the quality of these recordings is normally very good indeed. Also Devin sometimes misses out songs, simply because they didn’t feel part of that particular album, not because of the quality of song-writing. And as such he has put out some amazing songs on many of his ‘bonus’ albums that accompanied previous releases.
PowerNerd is a fine Devin Townsend album. I’ll be very happy to add it to my collection when it’s released. The digital version I was given to review only came in MP3 format, which any audiophile can tell you, is not the best way to listen to music when it has been that compressed. So I look forward to hearing this album in its full glory, as Devin is a fabulous producer, and his music truly deserves listening to in a higher quality format.
TRACK LISTING
01. PowerNerd (3:28)
02. Falling Apart (4:23)
03. Knuckledragger (4:31)
04. Gratitude (3:30)
05. Dreams of Light (0:55)
06. Ubelia (3:58)
07. Jainism (4:17)
08. Younger Lover (4:10)
09. Glacier (4:22)
10. Goodbye (5:58)
11. Ruby Quaker (4:32)
Total Time – ??:??
MUSICIANS
Devin Townsend – Vocals, Guitars, Synths, Bass, Computer
Darby Todd – Drums
Diego Tejeida – Keyboards, Synths
Mike Keneally – Additional Keyboards
Jean Savoie – Additional Bass
Aman Khosla – Additional Vocals
Tanya Ghosh – Additional Vocals
Jamie Jasta – Additional Vocals
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: InsideOut Music
Country of Origin: U.S.A.
Date of Release: 25th October 2024
LINKS
Devin Townsend – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram