So I finally heard this Devin Townsend - "Terria" the other night
- Thread starter FuSoYa
- Start date
chupe666 said:
yeah i know. maybe i need to listen to it more. as of now it doesn't chime with me. the thing about terria, is that seems like it's missing something which i normally might identify with 'art'. it's lacking a kind of 'gravitas' or something like an authentic spiritual weight about it. i don't know. i definitely need to listen to it again sometime.
Baliset
guitar deity
chupe666
You may enter up to 25 ch
btw, what about devin's music is progressive? is that like saying the new foo fighters has a track with some 7/4 bars in it, so it's progressive metal now?
Baliset
guitar deity
i am starting to think eric that "progressive" has become a more generalized term for "sounds different" or something. I think its just that he presents his music in a way not many other bands do. I mean there are alot of bands who use lots of synths and such but he sounds different from them. I think "progressive" is a dead term anyway.
I got that last Threshold album which was labelled "progressive metal" and the bottom line is that it isn't progressive, it doesn't reinvent music at all. BUT the songs are fucking amazing imo.
Like I said before, upon seeing him live his songs come out on stage as really fresh sounding Sabbath-y type metal when you strip away all the synths but he has awesome stage presence and charisma which comes out on the albums and in the performance as very real and that is what attracts me to him and maybe thats why I reacted very strongly to his songs.
I got that last Threshold album which was labelled "progressive metal" and the bottom line is that it isn't progressive, it doesn't reinvent music at all. BUT the songs are fucking amazing imo.
Like I said before, upon seeing him live his songs come out on stage as really fresh sounding Sabbath-y type metal when you strip away all the synths but he has awesome stage presence and charisma which comes out on the albums and in the performance as very real and that is what attracts me to him and maybe thats why I reacted very strongly to his songs.
YaYo
whendaydescends.com
- May 6, 2001
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devin townsend is the last person i'd say were similar to motw. I can't see the similarity at all.
At heart devin townsend's music seems extremely simple, some like just chord work. Its then layered with lots of stuff to make it interesting. Production also helps, you can really feel everything in there! It ends up being really great to listen to, and he's got obvious talent with structuring songs together and such. But i would not say he was a good riff writer, his songs played on a single acoustic guitar would be boring as hell, the general ideas from song to song seem to just be chord progressions.
Motw on the other hand you could make single acoustic guitar versions and still be a good interesting listen.
The way the layering is done is completely different as well.. devin's layering seems a lot more electronic/processed... motw uses natural instruments... devin creates a lot of emotion through the different sounds/effects he uses, while sticking to pretty predictable melodies.. i cant really put into words what motw does, but i guess the focus is more on writing lots of little parts that all work together and interact with each other to create a complex riff in itself.
hm Devin seems like he just layers till it sounds layered enough, a lot of the layers seem easily replaceable with similar ideas without changing the feel of the song. It works well but it's not the same approach of motw, imo.
I mean people don't have a genre to describe motw by, and its very hard to accurately sum up the sound in a few descriptive sentences, so they'll go for the next best thing.. describing similar bands. Who the fuck are you similar to?
At heart devin townsend's music seems extremely simple, some like just chord work. Its then layered with lots of stuff to make it interesting. Production also helps, you can really feel everything in there! It ends up being really great to listen to, and he's got obvious talent with structuring songs together and such. But i would not say he was a good riff writer, his songs played on a single acoustic guitar would be boring as hell, the general ideas from song to song seem to just be chord progressions.
Motw on the other hand you could make single acoustic guitar versions and still be a good interesting listen.
The way the layering is done is completely different as well.. devin's layering seems a lot more electronic/processed... motw uses natural instruments... devin creates a lot of emotion through the different sounds/effects he uses, while sticking to pretty predictable melodies.. i cant really put into words what motw does, but i guess the focus is more on writing lots of little parts that all work together and interact with each other to create a complex riff in itself.
hm Devin seems like he just layers till it sounds layered enough, a lot of the layers seem easily replaceable with similar ideas without changing the feel of the song. It works well but it's not the same approach of motw, imo.
This is right. Whether you think motw sound like Opeth or not, there is obviously a big connection that means people who like one are likely to like the other. It's something that's probably more a comment about the approach and attitude to music, rather than how it sounds in the end.
I mean people don't have a genre to describe motw by, and its very hard to accurately sum up the sound in a few descriptive sentences, so they'll go for the next best thing.. describing similar bands. Who the fuck are you similar to?
I HATE the metal scene, metal critics, metal labels, and most metal bands. They're (often) so fucking ignorant. This is all coming from the perspective of someone whose band was misunderstood at best and outright dissed more often than not by the metal scene overall which is sort of like Toby's position so of course I'm very jaded. I think I'm probably harsher in my dislike towards the scene, whatever it may be, than Toby though since motW at least gets a lot of laudatory press and an overall good response. I've found that what I dislike about metal extends to other forms of "underground" rock in general. I could get a lot more specific but It'll make me sound like a total prick so I'll shut up about it for now.
On Devin: I liked "City" by SYL a good bit but I haven't heard anything else. I don't think it's terribly "progressive" though.
On Devin: I liked "City" by SYL a good bit but I haven't heard anything else. I don't think it's terribly "progressive" though.
azal
love is the answer
City is a masterpiece IMO.
nothing sounds like it. It's so fucking noisy and brilliant.
the music is pure, real anger and hostility. Devy's frame of mind at that time was fucking disturbing. He was just broke and angry, and going insane in Canada.
the best part is that it's so brutal and filthy, but yet very melodic.
And as for his solo works, I love them all, but I think "Infinity" is where it's at.
Just listen to "Truth" and "Soul Driven" they are so huge and there is so much stoff going on.
From what I know, after recording the album he spent several months in the hospital recovering because he literally went out of his mind recording it.
And when you keep that in mind during the listening process you can kinda understand how that happened.
nothing sounds like it. It's so fucking noisy and brilliant.
the music is pure, real anger and hostility. Devy's frame of mind at that time was fucking disturbing. He was just broke and angry, and going insane in Canada.
the best part is that it's so brutal and filthy, but yet very melodic.
And as for his solo works, I love them all, but I think "Infinity" is where it's at.
Just listen to "Truth" and "Soul Driven" they are so huge and there is so much stoff going on.
From what I know, after recording the album he spent several months in the hospital recovering because he literally went out of his mind recording it.
And when you keep that in mind during the listening process you can kinda understand how that happened.
The Dope
Hi.
Wow. I was wondering when azal was finally gonna throw his 2 bronze coins into this discussion. I felt like making an "attn: azal" thread containing a link to this one if he didn't chime in soon.
azal
love is the answer
I was just pissed off initially because you guys started this thread the one day I wasn't on.
but I got over it, sucked it up, and contributed.
but I got over it, sucked it up, and contributed.
Demonspell
cheating the polygraph
Devin defies easy categorization, and therefore I wouldn't label his music as progressive metal, although Terria especially has some very proggy things going on and all his solo albums feature massive layers of detail that only reveal themselves after multiple listens...
I am dismayed to see that a band I like a lot is putting another musician whose fan I happen to be down. I like both motW and Devind Townsend. I've been listening to motW for over two years and Devin for a few months. They sound nothing similar, but both are very original.
also if you read carefully this thread was actually a pointed lament about the perception of the metal listening public, moreso than about Townsend's music.
Also I'm interested to hear Nagle's comments that will make him sound like a "total prick" because he probably knows what he's talking about.
ChromeLife
askew
I dont think there is anything I can compare to Kayo Dot or MotW as a whole... That is why we suckle at you fellas teets so much. We cant get it anywhere else 
FalseTodd
Skirt Wizard
Well, I guess I'll weigh in and say that I like Townsend quite a bit, but not because he's overly progressive. That's not to say he doesn't do some really interesting stuff, though, I find the big band swing feel that pops up on Infinity to be really cool...but mostly there's a grain of honesty in his work I find very appealing, and very rare in metal.
But some of what Toby is saying is true: it's a bit weird to say 'He's so progressive listen to all the layers' cause they really are just thickening up what is, at heart, pop-influenced metal music. And I don't mean to impart all the negative connotation of "pop-influenced", I just mean that it's got huge catchy choruses, hooks, riff-oriented writing, etc. I think he makes really effective use of those concepts, and makes it feel really honest and passionate.
But some of what Toby is saying is true: it's a bit weird to say 'He's so progressive listen to all the layers' cause they really are just thickening up what is, at heart, pop-influenced metal music. And I don't mean to impart all the negative connotation of "pop-influenced", I just mean that it's got huge catchy choruses, hooks, riff-oriented writing, etc. I think he makes really effective use of those concepts, and makes it feel really honest and passionate.
