Review Summary: A prog metal masterpiece which is still breathtakingly beautiful after all these years.
Terria is a superb album but not
quite an all time classic I feel. The one album Devin Townsend already made that I can say for sure is a stone cold classic is
City by Strapping Young Lad which is no small feat. So while Terria isn't the same milestone it just barely escapes the highest possible rating. Why? Well, I feel like it's missing a little something. But it is definitely one the best (if not the best) solo albums he's done to date.
The album starts with songs
Olives and
Mountain which feels like a prologue to the real deal. I remember when I first listened to this I was pretty confused by these two tracks, thinking later that they don't really give an accurate impression of what is yet to come. I thought the rest of the album will be the same kinda proggy ambient stuff. Which is not to say they are bad tracks, especially Mountain has a sweet melody.
Ok, so after prologue the real deal begins... with a bang!
Earth Day is one hell of a song. It features one the most insane guitar riffs I've ever heard which is still making my head spin a little transporting me to another place at another time. Definitely one of the highlights of the album and it isn't even the best song here. Then follows the
Deep Peace. This track would've been just a good relaxing song if not for
that middle section. Holy hell, the solo is incredible, majestic and the best Devin ever done to date, imo. It always blows my mind each and every time I listen to it. And there's a big chance it'll blow yours too.
Now we're getting closer to the middle of the album and the 5th track is
Canada. To my taste this is the best song on Terria. Featuring an awesome opening riff, mellow heartfelt vocals and lyrics about his homeland, great overdubbing, it explodes into colossal wall of sound in the end only Devy could produce. Oh and again the middle section will blow your socks off. It just rocks. Truly one of the best songs he's ever written it defines the word EPIC. It's a real shame he never plays it live, maybe he feels that he can't do it justice?
Down and Under is more like an intermission for the album and as such it feels good and not out of place. It is a cool lovely little tune for sure but only in the context of the album. I doubt anyone will be listening to it separately.
The Fluke is a very catchy song and has a great chorus. And once again it is elevated by its superb middle section turning a great song into something more. You can already see the pattern with this album, the middle sections here are just excellent!
Nobody's Here is another classic tune here. The chorus is top notch. The middle is mind blowing as always, it even features another amazing Devin solo and he hasn't done a lot of them in his career. The production is particularly great on this track with all the little subtle effects and layers. One of his best songs for sure and again never heard or seen him play it live in all its glory. What the hell Devin? Now I must admit that the next track
Tiny Tears never did anything for me. I always felt it was somewhat repetitive, little boring and too long for its own good. It is an interesting track for sure and Devin has written worse in his career but it just doesn't live up to the very high standard of other songs on the album.
Stagnant is the last "official" song on Terria and it finishes the album with a bang. While not quite the classic, it is definitely the catchiest and most accessible track among them all here. The melody is great as always with this album and I really dig the lyrics to this song, feel like I can relate to them.
"It's beautiful, the way it's meant to be. Beautiful, but it "don't do shit" for me, yeah!" On one hand it feels like a happy sounding song but after you pay attention to the text it becomes somewhat depressing but still gives me hope rather than sadness.
I'll not repeat the accolades already given to this album in the beginning. And I'll not be ranting how Devin Townsend is still one the most underrated artists in the world as everyone already knows it here. I just want to express my only regret regarding this album. It is that Devin very rarely plays songs from what lots of people consider his greatest solo album Live. It makes me feel sad. For sure
Deadhead is an amazing piece of music which he plays on nearly every show but so is Earth Day, Canada, The Fluke and others! I wish I could ask the man himself why he doesn't perform all these songs on his concerts. In fact this whole album deserves to be played live just like he already did with
Ocean Machine album. I still hope he'll change his mind and will start including songs from Terria in the future.
So there it goes. Even after so many years and countless other albums Terria stands tall among all his other outputs and to me and judging by ratings here lots of other people is one of his two greatest solo albums. The other one being of course "The Ocean Machine". I can't really decide which I like more but Terria I feel has a slight edge. But it all can change depending on the mood. In the end I think everyone who likes good music has to give this album a chance and maybe it'll become one of your favourites too.
Recommended tracks:
Earth Day
Deep Peace
Canada
Stagnant
