Review Summary: After three years of waiting and a couple of experimental albums in between, Devin Townsend returns with a new album called "Lightwork"! Sadly, it was not the comeback that we expected.
On this occasion, Devin Townsend collaborated with an external producer when recording this album, named Garth Richardson, famous for having worked with artists such as Danko Jones, Alice Cooper and Rise Against. In any case, the sound doesn't differ too much from what was found on previous Devin Townsend albums, and the truth is that Richardson's work, in my opinion, doesn't let itself be noticed so much.
Stylistically, what we have in “Lightwork” is a sort of comeback to the most commercial passages of albums like "Addicted!" and "Epicloud", with new age touches in the style of "Ghost", resulting in a somewhat monotonous and uninspired album, whose baroque aforementioned production is not able to hide.
That monotony is broken by the more progressive Heartbreaker, which reminds me of the more elaborate passages of the much superior "Transcendence", and a kind of homage to his most industrial phase in the interesting Dimensions, which includes a good solo by the always willing to collaborate Steve Vai.
Therefore, the fact that "Empath" didn't quite live up to expectations and that this "Lightwork" is a downright average album, makes me think that the golden boy of prog metal is slowly losing his magic touch.
But hey... We'll always have his great albums from the past!
Best Tracks: Moonpeople (good chorus and great guitar riffs), Heartbreaker (wonderful guitar work and a central part that brings back some of the chaos and genius that made Devin great in the past) and the aforementioned Dimensions (these growls!!!)
