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  

Classic Album Review, Strapping Young Lad, City

Strapping Young Lad, City (Century Media-1997)

Now and then a metal album comes along and just makes you wonder why bother. I still remember my first listen of this amazing album. March 1997 just back from Music Mania (Old Glasgow shop) and the owner said to me good luck as I left the shop.

I see why for 1997 it is such a crazy album. For 2012 it is still a crazy album. In 2050 it WILL still be a crazy album. But it is a good thing. Devin Townsend hits such highs on this album that it will always be a benchmark for the nosier side of things. The band was started as more of a joke band. Much like Spinal Tap.  Devin was playing guitar with Stevie Vai for a while and was a well respected musician. But he had to break away from being in someone else's band and start his own. And well job done.

I say a joke album not so much as in ha ha look at the haircuts but the music is just so over the top. It was not trying to push boundaries but show how full of shit the boundaries are. We all have seen the Cannibal Corpse album covers and heard the guttural vocals of death metal. At times it is good but much of it is a load of crap. First song 'All Hail the New Flesh' follows on from an epic intro track to really take metal to you.

There is so much going on here on this album I really don't want to review this album with words like"heavy", "Loud" and "Skullcrushing". Saying this album is heavy over and over is again the joke. But Devin is so good at making music. Not just a great writer and guitar player he has crafted this album into more than a white noise album. You can feel some real music in this, it may be layered over and over in the tracking in the album. But you do get a real sense of another listen and each time it gets better.

Songs like 'Detox' that may have a meaning to us all are delivered with such attitude it feels as if it is perfectly normal to play like this. Big riffs and a great drum sound are all here each track builds nicely and shows the listener that at times heavy music can create just as much character as a comedy actor.

Devin deemed himself a musical whore due to being forced to play with other artists that I think this album was his therapy and also the reason to move on. 'Oh my Fucking God' is as it says on the tin. Again mocking the play faster to be fastest band attitude. During the song it slows down with the lyrics just repeating the song name. Point made and at times he is so right.

'AAA' is the song that changes style a little, slower and more industrial feeling. Cleaner guitars are here but still made to sound big by Devin. You could call this a slow song in a way but well the rule book has been binned for this album.

This album really got noticed in the press and only in the metal press. I think it does deserve to be listened by more people who may hate metal music. Remember metal is not just Metallica and Slayer, give this a try and if only to have an album to get one back on the noisy crap music that is played by the neighbors till 4am on a Sunday morning.

The album was on a metal label but that really should not have stopped it selling more. It was also Devin's first full on band album (His first SYL was more him and a drum machine). It really shows what he could do and his fantastic studio skills. This album set him up for all his solo work, a body of work that is more varied than most of the 70s put together. People who say they like classic rock music may mock this album but I say this is never going to sound classic. Now that is worth a listen.