Review Summary: Take your time and dive in, you won't be disappointed
An epic rock opera by prog metal professor Devin Townshend!!
Another one, you might ask? A fair question. This one though is his self proclaimed magnum opus. A project more than ten years in the making and finally coming to fruition through a collaboration with the Dutch North Netherlands Orchestra, and a bunch of befriended singers.
So what the hell is this? Sounds like....an opera? But there is some metal riffing and grunting going on. And that angelic female...?!
Sounds pretty interesting., but hey, is there a song in here??
That's about the feel of the first 4 songs, or better maybe, the first 4 pieces of music.
After some careful listening The Moth reveals itself as a n amazing collection of songs, glued together by extended instrumental parts to fit the metal opera definition.
Its dense musical content makes the album hard to wrap your head around at first . The fact that the different parts and songs are all glued together as one large piece of music doesn't help in that respect. But once you can distinguish the song style music in between the other stuff, it's beautiful. And the whole thing is beautifully engineered and recorded too. The album sounds fresh and balanced for a change. Something Townshend's productions have struggled with in the past.
After the extended (and sometimes really weird) "intro" consisting of basically the first four compositions, there's a first flow of exciting songs. Starting from the fifth song Enter The City right through to Orion, it's basically all great.
Enter The City has a theatrical vocal style sometimes resembling (among other stuff) musical theatre like Chess, but..... with chugging guitars. Oh yeah, beautiful guitars here!!
After that the beautiful Covered in Causes. With a running time around 8 minutes it really shines brightly in the first Act.
The orchestra feels like a warm bed of music beneath the beautiful vocals of Townshend and longtime collaborator Anneke Giersbergen. Again, musical theatre tendencies are not far away on this track. Steven Wilson is another name that comes up listening to more than a few songs on this album.
Lexin is the next great song. A very cool sound from the get go with processed vocals and choir backings.
The next song, The Mothers, is a prime example. A nice little interlude, but hardly enough to call it a song.
Maybe Townsend should have named these pieces differently? To set them more apart from the "true" songs, maybe making to album a little easier to digest?
Orion picks up the pace again, and is one of the more classic sounding prog metal songs, of the first act. The orchestral parts/effects here are especially remarkable given the fact it's all played live instead of being programmed. Great to keep this in mind when exploring the album further. Later in the song we enter Ayreon territory (or was it the other way around....?). A great song, very easy on the ears.
So there you have it; a great seven song stretch only "interrupted" by the nice little The Mothers. Others would just release these songs and call it an album. Not Devin Townsend though...
Act 1 closes with Stay There. A more functional track to wrap up Act 1 , but still musically very satisfying.
A lot of names and references pop in your head when listening to this album but what this album first and foremost sounds like is, of course, Devin Townshend! He has always had an idiosyncratic style, a universe of his own where he does as he pleases. And here it's not different. It's somehow typical DT, but the orchestra adds something special. It seems Townsend really went above and beyond to deliver a piece that the classical folk surely wouldn't frown upon. With The Moth Townsend seems to have found the perfect form to tell his big story. A story about the life of an individual and the changes you go through when growing older. A true rock opera, Townsend style! Over the top? Hell yeah. Opera style interludes? Do it! Orchestral madness with grunts and choir backings? Bring it on!
Act two starts off with what seems to be a long buildup again, to the next string of great songs starting with Prepare for War and ending in the brilliant madness of A Life In Review.
Metamorphosis is again a more functional track in between, but the Steve Vai like guitar playing and melodic progression makes it a great listen nonetheless.
Strained Hearts (another great song title btw), is the emotional high point of the album, where we hear Devin and Anneke singing together again, only a few songs before the last (24th) song.
Those who are patient get rewarded....
This album truly aims to be one continuous piece, a real magnum opus, an orchestral - prog metal symphony. And paradoxically that very idea of grandeur works against the appeal of the album as a whole, especially as something to be picked up casually for a listen. Every time you play it, you really have to know where the songs are.
The "interludes" can come across as over the top sometimes, but there is equal amounts of beautifully composed quieter stuff as well.
These parts do not fit the classic idea of a song and should therefore also not be judged as such. They only really "count" if you want to rate the project as a whole. A bit like classical music, where there's also themes and more functional parts to fit the "Sonate" format for instance.
This duality makes the album not easy to fall in love with. This is reflected in the overall mediocre reviews published so far.
The Moth is a monumental and ambitious work of music. It is the best Townsend has sounded so far, at least for this particular reviewer.
Between the metal-opera style interludes there are loads of really great songs that find Townsend in top form both musically and in regard to the arrangements, the orchestra really adds a magical touch on more than one level.
You need to really dive in (or write a review :-) to get to the bottom of this album. Those who do however, will not be disappointed.
