Review Summary: The Evolution of Devin Towsend.
You know what? I'm going to skip the introduction that typically accompanies a sputnik review. You know the one: After a copy and pasted artist bio, it summarizes the author's opinion of the album, only to have those opinions expanded and reworded for five more painfully boring paragraphs. Because chances are, if you've clicked on this review, you are more than familiar with Townsend's past works and are also well versed on the background of Ki. You've seen the youtube leaks before the official release, and you were just as baffled as I was with the results.
Now, having spent extensive time with all of his "Devin Townsend" discography among other various release monikers, it is impossible for me to review "Ki" without mentioning the stark contrast to ALL of his other albums. You can randomly pick any track on the album for a first listen (excluding the title track) and immedietley notice Townsend has disbanned his usual production techqniques that created what was commonly reffered to as a "wall of sound."
To be completely honest, when I first heard a few of the tracks before purchasing the whole album on Amazon, I was ...well...disappointed. Where were the soaring vocals of Terria? The screaming harmonies I had grown to love from Strapping Young Lad? And most of importantly, where was ***ing Gene Hoglan? With none of these elements present, I was left with something that felt unfamiliar, so much so that this review could have easily been a negative one just 12 days ago.
But one element that did remain from Townsend's past works was the rewards reaped from repeated listens. And listen I did. Once. Again. And Again. And Again. And Again. And about the sixth time through, I was in the second chorus of Gato when it hit me. I was listening to much more than another Devin Townsend album. This was a complete reinvention of his sound. And lets be honest really, Townsends bread and butter has always been the whole "wall of sound" thing but it really got stale on Synchestra for me...and Ziltoid for others. ( I liked Ziltoid God Damn it!!) Regardless, it was getting to the point where it seemed Townsend had no new territory to cover, no profound ideas that weren't rehashings of previous material. Enter "Ki"
What Townsend has accomplished on this album, beyone completely reinventing himself, is create a sound that, for the first time in his career, he can reproduce live. When you put that into perspective coming from a man who has relied so heavily on protools to create his music, Ki is nothing short of spectacular. The best way I can describe the album is an excercise in restrained aggression. Songs like Gato and Heaven Send take the chorus light at first and make it heavier with each repetition. Townsend succesfully takes you to the edge of that SYL insanity without ever exploding into the complete chaos of say, Alien.
Most of the album is quite relaxing, and lacks the progressive element of previous Townsend works. This is by no means a bad thing...just different as is primely displayed in "Coast." It contains a meandering little bass line and some very soothing falsetto from Townsend but oddly enough has a pop-oriented, verse/chorus formula. (as does alot of the album) "Winter" on the other hand shows how beautiful repitition can be with a simple guitar riff that turns into a lush environment once the unexpected vocal melody kicks in. Something also needs to be said about Duris Maxwell on the drums because I feel that his apporoach will alienate the harecore Hoglan fans from this album. I assure you, Maxwell's restrained, jazz oriented style suites the music well.
I want to avoid suggesting any tracks over the other, for good reason too. Hypothethically, I suggest "Heaven Send" as the best track of the album. Then everyone reading this review downloads that song with the mindset of it being the best representation of the album "Ki." And every asshole who didn't like it will tell their friends "Ki" sux worse than Ziltoid and ultimately deprive themselves of some great material. Lets just say 1-13 are all worth a spin.
