New Details on Devin Townsend's "Empath"

2019-01-16 by Toondude | 48 Comments
Canadian multi-instrumentalist Devin Townsend has officially released new details on his upcoming album, Empath. This is a direct quote from his recent Facebook post:

" Over the past few years, the success that Devin has slowly worked for has fortunately come with the power to control his own creative destiny. The recent successes with the DVD from a sold-out Royal Albert hall, or his 2012 ‘Retinal Circus’, or last year’s ‘Ocean Machine’ live DVD with the Orchestra and Choir of State Opera Plovdiv has put him in a position where with the new album ‘EMPATH’, he will once and for all define himself as a musical force outside of any particular genre classification.

On this album Devin has decided to see what would happen if all the styles that make up his current interests were finally represented in one place. To finally shake the fear of expectation, and just do what it is he was meant to do creatively, EMPATH, true to the name, is about allowing the audience a feeling for a variety of musical emotions. The musical dynamics represented on this single album are broad, challenging, and immense. To approach this sort of work with a long history of what makes heavy music ‘heavy’, allows this to be done with a type of power rarely heard.

Joining Devin on this album is Frank Zappa alumni Mike Keneally as music director, as well as Morgan Ågren (Mats And Morgan, Frank Zappa, Fredrik Thordendal), Anup Sastry (Monuments, Periphery), Samus Paulicelli (Decrepit Birth, Abigail Williams), Nathan Navarro, Elliot Desagnes, Steve Vai, Chad Kroeger, Anneke Van Giersbergen, Ché Aimee Dorval, Ryan Dhale and the Elektra Women’s Choir.

A bold statement with massive production values and dynamic, uncompromised musicality. This is a statement about not only pursuing creative freedom in a conservative scene, but also trying to show that heavy music is truly a valid musical tool.
"

There still is no current release date set, though the album is expected to be released sometime during the second quarter of the year. The deluxe edition of the album will also contain a second disc featuring bonus material.

Tracklist
1. Castaway
2. Genesis
3. Spirits Will Collide
4. Evermore
5. Sprite
6. Hear Me
7. Why
8. Borderlands
9. Requiem
10. Singularity Part 1 – Adrift
11. Singularity Part 2 – I Am I
12. Singularity Part 3 – There Be Monsters
13. Singularity Part 4 – Curious Gods
14. Singularity Part 5 – Silicon Scientists
15. Singularity Part 6 – Here Comes The Sun


Source: http://www.facebook.com/dvntownsend/posts/2620001958025110?__tn__=K-R

Tagged: Devin Townsend

Comments:Add a Comment 
Gmork89
January 16th 2019
8639 Comments


Beyond hyped.

oltnabrick
January 16th 2019
40654 Comments


his what

InFlamesWeThrash666
January 16th 2019
10558 Comments


Chad Kroeger m/

GhandhiLion
January 16th 2019
17643 Comments


"he will once and for all define himself as a musical force outside of any particular genre classification" I'd love to see it

Napes
January 16th 2019
26 Comments


I keep watching his EMGtv live videos on youtube and they're pretty much all excellent but for some reason the studio recorded stuff doesn't click with me as much.

Nonetheless, this should be pretty cool.

GhandhiLion
January 16th 2019
17643 Comments


^ye the Kingdom vid is legendary

Gmork89
January 16th 2019
8639 Comments


What have you tried so far Napes?

botb
January 16th 2019
17857 Comments


Chad fuckin kroeger tho

Monstar1790
January 16th 2019
207 Comments


Hevy Devy season is approaching...

zaruyache
January 16th 2019
27404 Comments


Che's back and that's all that matters to me.

WatchItExplode
January 16th 2019
10455 Comments


laying it on a tad thick methinks...still worked through. HYPED.

Mongi123
January 17th 2019
22035 Comments


Why Chad? Whhhhyyyyy just WHY Devy??

Rowan5215
Staff Reviewer
January 17th 2019
47615 Comments


"There still is no current release date set,"

yeah there is, 29 March https://www.emp-online.com/p/empath/396334.html

Dewinged
Staff Reviewer
January 17th 2019
32033 Comments


Can't wait.

PatientlyDead
January 17th 2019
145 Comments


so tired of hearing this guy's name being thrown around like it's significant.

heck
January 17th 2019
7095 Comments


he's more significant than half the bands you have 5'd

TheFantasticDangler
January 17th 2019
2059 Comments


^ Why intentionally embarrass yourself? Sounds like your brain is PartiallyDead. You 5'ed Emperor of Sand and This is Exile but don't understand the significance of Devin Townsend? Go soak your head.

Think the last album I got into him by was Casualties of Cool. He seemed to get stuck in a rut with the whole grandiose, orchestral, metal sound. So I am super pumped for him to just release an album that has every sound hes done (prog, thrash, ambient, blues, experimental, etc.)



Meridiu5
January 17th 2019
4166 Comments


I'm interested but hesitant

Source
January 17th 2019
19917 Comments


"Chad Kroeger"


Haha what

XingKing
January 17th 2019
16152 Comments


I'm looking forward to this album but that little press release or whatever is... cringe

BigPleb
January 17th 2019
65784 Comments


I'm sure it's supposed to be tongue-in-cheek knowing Devy...

So hyped, Kroeger feature is hilarious.

BenThatsMyJamin
January 17th 2019
4012 Comments


Low key Dev is hyping this so much

BenThatsMyJamin
January 17th 2019
4012 Comments


Hell yeah Pleb, thing is Chad is actually a great singer, as long as he doesn't touch any of the songwriting I'm fine with it lol

Alucard125
January 17th 2019
669 Comments


So glad he decided to take his time with this one. As much as I enjoyed Transcendence and other recent stuff, the creativity definitely took a hit with such a short time between releases.

Scheumke
January 17th 2019
2632 Comments


Beyond hyped [2]

iambandersnatch
January 17th 2019
1935 Comments


a MUSICAL FORCE

lol

Anyway, this should be sick. When he takes his time w/ songs the result is always incredible.

BenThatsMyJamin
January 17th 2019
4012 Comments


"So glad he decided to take his time with this one. As much as I enjoyed Transcendence and other recent stuff, the creativity definitely took a hit with such a short time between releases."

This is the guy who released Ocean Machine, City, Infinity, Physicist and Terria all within a 4 year window. I'd say the biggest restriction on his creativity was definitely operating within a band format and becoming beholden to industry standards with the success DTP generated. Hence freeing himself from that

Hawks
January 17th 2019
87629 Comments


Devin Townsmend

bgillesp
January 17th 2019
8867 Comments


There is a release date though. March 29th

bgillesp
January 17th 2019
8867 Comments


And he also posted CD packaging that mistakenly went on amazon to his twitter

BenThatsMyJamin
January 17th 2019
4012 Comments


The packaging is stunning if a bit too hippy

Itwasthatwas
January 17th 2019
3177 Comments


Devin had a few good albums but most of his best work was done in the late 90s/early 00s. Not really a fan of the DTP stuff.

He did a lot of great work as a producer though.

Hopefully this is better.

Itwasthatwas
January 17th 2019
3177 Comments


As an amendment to the above, I should probably clarify that his production work was more just personally appealing and influential to me rather than objectively better than his other work. The Misery Signals, LOG, Soilwork, Darkest Hour albums he did had a big impact on my early tastes and playing as a teenager, and those kinds of connections with albums never leave you.

Madbutcher3
January 17th 2019
3144 Comments


i usually find that devin's production is quite lackluster but I liked some of his recent stuff (Intronaut, Transcendence was mostly good too)
anyway sounds good that he's drafted Samus and other somewhat more extreme metal people, should hopefully get some pretty chunky stuff, still waiting for him to return to the riffs but the recent material is good enough anyway

TheFantasticDangler
January 18th 2019
2059 Comments


People in here forgetting about SYL and City.

bgillesp
January 18th 2019
8867 Comments


IM so upset. The vinyl went on preorder this morning but I didn’t see it and they all sold out

heck
January 18th 2019
7095 Comments


those first four DTP albums are rad. it's when he started dragging the project out past its original intended purpose (a four album series showcasing four sides of his songwriting) and releasing three albums of the same cheesy pop metal in a row that it became stale.

zaruyache
January 18th 2019
27404 Comments


he was also hyping on Instagram the vinyl mix, which he essentially said they took extra time to make sound better. He seems really happy about this album and that makes me really hopeful.

bgillesp
January 18th 2019
8867 Comments


Also why I’m upset about missing the vinyl

bgillesp
January 18th 2019
8867 Comments


Why would you make a studio album so limited?

Alucard125
January 18th 2019
669 Comments


@BenThatsMyJamin - I take your point, but he spent years writing and fine tuning Ocean Machine prior to release. It was also the beginning of his career, where undoubtedly he had stacks of new ideas and directions to explore. After releasing material for 20 years any artist would need a breather to find new inspiration, and I hope that's what has happened for Empath.

bgillesp
January 18th 2019
8867 Comments


More opened up for sale on another website. Color not as cool but I’m happy now

Veldin
January 19th 2019
5261 Comments


really excited for this release

StonedManatee
January 19th 2019
547 Comments


Its annoying to hear Nickelback comparsions when even Devin Townsend's worst material is still better than Nickelback's Silver Side Up. Hopefully he delivers something good.

withateethuh
January 19th 2019
388 Comments


oh god a six part song good lord

Spec
January 19th 2019
39449 Comments


Can not wait.

Thibs
January 20th 2019
2987 Comments


http://www.insideoutmusic.com/newsdetailed.aspx?IdNews=22588&IdCompany=8

gordodustin
January 21st 2019
525 Comments


The album artwork for the CD is gorgeous!



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