Review Summary: Townsend retains the intensity of Ocean Machine while getting weird
Though Infinity contains some of Devin Townsend's best known songs, including Christeen and Bad Devil, the album is somewhat overshadowed by Terria, Ocean Machine, and Townsend's work with Strapping Young Lad. I consider it to be one of Devin's best outings, especially in the sense that it's well rounded. You get the quirky, cabaret sensibilities that manifested in Deconstruction. The melodic, pop sensibilities that manifested in Addicted. The atmospheric, New Age sensibilities that manifested in Ghost. And finally, the heavy sensibilities that manifested in Strapping Young Lad. It truly is the blueprint or "mother project" for Devin's other works as he often states.
The finest cuts of the album are, in my opinion, the heavy yet catchy Christeen, the intense, poignant Dynamics, and the improbably strange Noisy Pinkbubbles, with its haunting, hypnotic outro. The longer, denser tracks like War, Soul Driven, and Unity seem tedious at first, but reveal a multitude of audible delights upon subsequent listens. Soul Driven in particular showcases how many ideas Devin can cram into one song without it sounding contrived or unnatural. Really the only dud for me is Wild Colonial Boy, though it's far from a bad song; just lesser in the scope than the other tracks.
The structure of Infinity is rather turbulent, swinging from happiness to despair often in the space of one song. "Life Is All Dynamics" could very well be the album's motto. But an equally defining characteristic is the sheer multitracked intensity of the production. The towering vocal harmonies of Truth, War, and Soul Driven. The viciously layered guitars of Christeen and Bad Devil. The chaotic fury of Ants. Devin apparently suffered a nervous breakdown around the making of this album and it really shows. "Noisy Pinkbubbles" refers to the fact that he viewed humans as little more than talking, water-based pieces of meat at this point. Devin's recent album Deconstruction tried to convey a similar theme- the catharsis of a man at his breaking point. Ironically, Infinity did a better job of that over ten years ago.
