Ocean Machine, Biomech

Ocean Machine, Biomech (Heavy Devy Records/East West, 1997 )

This is more of a side project than a full on band or even a solo album. If you don't know Devin Townsend he has been in my list before with Strapping Young Lad and the City album. That was a great album and his breakthrough to the music selling world. But at about the same time this was being made as well. Devin did form a band for this project but it seems to be more a part time thing as some of it was recorded at home and at various studios. Even mixing was done in other places over a long time.

With his previous album he had the all out metal attack of Strapping Young lad, this is far more mellow and stripped down. Sure the guitars are still there as is the full band sound but it just feels more... modern in a way.

Take "Seventh Wave" now here we have what Devin is about. He starts a metal record with a quote from Alfred Tennyson's, In Memoriam A.H.H. a poem years in the making as this album could have been as well. The first track is a big sounding metal classic. But the changes are very obvious, very slow riffs and so is the drums. All working in tandem playing slower. Much like Tennyson's poem Devin is in no rush to be done.

With the big start has to be more right? Well "Life" is best describes as a pop song. It has the big sounding intro but it falls nicely into a melodic guitar riff and then into Devin's very subtle voice. I mean it sounds rock and metal like but I feel like singing along. Listen to it and you will see.

Some guitar FX and that big band sound help "Nightlife" come to life. It is close to his previous work but still has the feeling of that album and some nice melodic parts to keep the head nodding. "Hide Nowhere" is one of the most upbeat songs here, not that the album is depressing but again that is why I love this album. You can play it any time and feel good. The contents have been done so well even 16 years later I can find a new thing.

"Sister and "3 AM" are more like small snippets with overdubs of other things. It does feel like its half way and "Voices in the Fan" comes in with some nice melodic vocals. Confusing at times as you feel the album has lost some of it's way but as it falls into "Greetings" you switch again to a guitar intro done with some nice multi tracking. This is not prog but it feels simple yet really good. Again no real riffs or even a tune here but it falls in place so well.

With this album done as a side project and self funded the pressure was off and so the creative juices could flow. It is not the sort of album you could tour with "Funeral" gives us our first big riff and I can see elements of this album in all of his music from now onwards. Not so much as copying but he seems to really enjoy this music. "Regulator" sounds much like the first track, in no hurry to get anything done quickly. The last three tracks end the album in a similar way. Very minimalist, noises here and there. A small bit of guitar and an over dub there. The ending is like a journey and possibly the start of something new. As the album opens with a memorandum could it be an album in reverse? Is this a birth at the end?  What ever he was doing it is fantastic and an album that should be in any record collection. I once saw this album in the classical section of HMV (It was even printed on the barcode) it is not often a high street mass retailer get it right but if they sold one copy by mistake it was on good terms.

Released on his own label as Ocean Machine, Biomech the album was re released with Devin Townsend as the project name. Easily available from Amazon  and all good classical shops.

@29xthefun