So I finally heard this Devin Townsend - "Terria" the other night

I've grown to hate Devin Townsend's production. At first i was like "Wow! listen to how big and full that sound is". But now it stresses me out, it just yells at me "HEY! IM COMPRESSED LOTS SO THAT EVERYTHING IS THE SAME LEVEL!". For the life of me, i can NOT listen to a devin townsend cd and actually imagine a band playing it, because to me it just doesnt sound real at all.

But then again a lot of metal productions bother me lately. I thank motW/KOdot for being some of the bands to show me the true variety of sounds and textures you can get into an album, rather than simply a clear straight line from distortion to clean.
 
And one more thing, i think it wouldnt be so good if people werent allowed to express negative opinions about a band, simply because they are in one themselves. Everyone has opinions, and most musicians enjoy discussing such things, i like to hear the honest opinions from these people. I certainly dont think there's any need to take offence at someone in a band disliking another band, nobody is going to be liked by everyone and band members are just people after all.

Furthermore, if you don't express such opinions, how can you ever be corrected or shown where the talent/meaning of the songs lies?
 
Devy's production rules. Who cares how he layers it, it sounds SWEET. City is his best, with Ocean Machine and Terria running right behind it. But City is impeccable, it's the height of the industrial metal subgenre and a motherfucking raging beast of an album. It's one of the heaviest and most crushing things I have heard without relying too much on speed to convey the aggression (although Oh My Fucking God gets fast beyond belief, approaching grindcore levels).
 
Yayo - I hear you on the compression. However I can't think of a more appropriate use for that sound than Devy's songwriting. I think it benefits from that ridiculously balls-out production. There are a lot of records that suffer from that degree of squishedness, but I don't see DT's stuff as falling into that category.

Compression really drives me nuts when its' applied post facto on the radio and whatnot.
 
Even though I hadn't heard his music, I could just tell that Devin Townsend's music would kind of suck. Perhaps it's the force. [/naive statement considering I haven't even heard Devin Townsend]

The first bands I'd compare to Kayo Dot and motW would not be metal bands.

I'll have to check out this Devil Townsman fellow's music...
 
YaYo said:
I've grown to hate Devin Townsend's production. At first i was like "Wow! listen to how big and full that sound is". But now it stresses me out, it just yells at me "HEY! IM COMPRESSED LOTS SO THAT EVERYTHING IS THE SAME LEVEL!". For the life of me, i can NOT listen to a devin townsend cd and actually imagine a band playing it, because to me it just doesnt sound real at all.
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You'd be surprised at how good those songs sound live, the solo work I mean. And it is not that complicated to reproduce. Devin's guitar is spit into two channels, one has a delay in it and the other has his usual distorted sound. Add another guitar with the same sound and its pretty damn close to the original. The one thing I have grown tiresome is Devin mixes where the drum is way too high but I can live with that.

As for the comparison between motW and Devin Townsend, it's ludicrous. Nothing is further from the truth because its world's apart. Devin comes from an industrial and metal background and he plays with that in a masterful way. You guys have an approach that is a lot different, with more of an orchestral way of constructing songs. Devin is on the other pretty simple rock song, with catchy chorus and sometimes a progression that could be described as progressive (Deep Peace, Funeral, Death of Music, Stagnant etc..) As you do, I think Devin's solo music defies categories and that's where the comparison ends.

As for Fusoya's comments about overdubbing and the backdrop being unappealing to you, consider this: I have never heard anybody say that they liked Terria on the first listen. They might find it intriguing and want to hear more and thinking that its pretty good but I don't think it is possible to grasp the full extent of composition and details that goes on on this record on one listen. Terria, for example, has one of the most interesting bass lines I have ever heard on a rock record, but you have to really listen to it a few times to grasp them. As for overdubbing the way Devin does, it IS to create the epic wall of guitar that all his albums have, but that is the goal. If the goal was to create a few overdubs here and there and have a very light and "airy" recording that would not work at all but that is not the point.

And Infinity is my favorite Devin album BTW.
 
mindspell said:
You'd be surprised at how good those songs sound live, the solo work I mean. And it is not that complicated to reproduce. Devin's guitar is spit into two channels, one has a delay in it and the other has his usual distorted sound. Add another guitar with the same sound and its pretty damn close to the original. The one thing I have grown tiresome is Devin mixes where the drum is way too high but I can live with that.
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I would be interested to hear it live, maybe some more dynamics would seep into the sound though still retaining the same general production.

FalseTodd said:
but I don't see DT's stuff as falling into that category.
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There's definitely some moments where the production is used to great effect (hmmm The Fluke! A personal favourite), but as i've listened to more and more i just find the production tires me out. Like sometimes the huge ballsy production is the default for him, and as such can be misplaced where a softer drum sound or similar mightve worked better. To me it removes the effect that the powerful moments have, because the softer moments are often just as big! A song is fine, an album and everything starts to just lose it's effect for me. I mean, it's well done, but overdone, imo.

mindspell said:
As for Fusoya's comments about overdubbing and the backdrop being unappealing to you, consider this: I have never heard anybody say that they liked Terria on the first listen.
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I loved Terria on first listen, and it was my first experience with Townsend at all. I think i listened to it non-stop for a few days. :p
 
The most tangible connection between the music of Devin Townsend and motW I can think of is that they share some fans. It's almost as if the comparison comes from a lazy sort of critical hyperbole. They heap the praise on Mr. T. then compare you to him and save more choice mutations of "WOWOWOWOWOW AWESOME" for another day.
 
i hate it when people call devin prog, or proggy, or progressive. what makes him awesome is that he writes good songs, and is accessible and emotional and stuff, and of course is totally underserved by the gay mainstream because he is balding and canadian, even though a lot of his songs would fit in really well next to the foo fighters and stuff.
 
Devy is really good, and some of the stuff has depth, some of it's just silly stoner music. I like it, but it's nothing like motW or Kayo Dot.
 
This thread was a great read! Am I the only one who isn't surprised at all that the members of Kayo Dot have different musical tastes?
 
sam: if you want excite, I can have an illustrated fisting poll up by 2:00!
 
My sexual endeavors are perfectly calm sedate normal and healthy! I got the goat skull elsewhere!
 
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