TANDJENT:

• No One Will Hear Us (2005) It's certainly fair to say Meshuggah's popularity has gone far beyond imitation, they seem to have started their own genre of music. I know the term "math metal" has been thrown around a lot, but whatever you call it, the band really started something, and Tandjent are right there in the fray. So yes, they do sound a lot like Meshuggah, from the super heavy guitar tone to the odd time signature start-stop riffs and the drummer doing straight 4 / 4 time over top. But damn these songs are good. I mean, it helps that the production is mindbendingly brutal and professional, but the riffs are just fantastic as well. And just when you think you have them categorized, they do something a bit different, like track 3, 'No Question' has the tonal qualities of Meshuggah, but with a groovy riff that's far more Pantera and by the final note of the song you want to skip back and hear it again. Or the double kick part at the beginning of 'Paralyzed' (Meshuggah haven't used straight doublebass in their music for years and years). Or the anthemic quality of the opening to 'I Remain' followed again by a great groovy riff. Songs like these are what push the band away into their own territory. If Tandjent decides to release more cds in the future, these songs have the originality that I hope they expand on. It's tough to imagine "No One Will Hear Us" has been in production for the past 4 years, usually you'd expect a big variation in the song styles and recording quality, but this album is just so consistent. And would you believe the drums are programmed? Perhaps not after hearing this cd, this has to be the most natural sounding drum machine I've ever heard. Top it all off with some seriously shredding guitar leads that hearken back to the days when a solo had something to say instead of just extra texture on top of the rhythm. Stupendous and spectacular, this album is an absolute must buy.

TERRORUST:

• Post Mortal Archives (2006) In this post Nasum world, we need good bands to help fill the void. And Australia's Terrorust is one of them. Half Nasum, half Pig Destroyer, this band goes for the throat with crazy nasally and gargly screaming, constantly blasting and double bass, and tons of aggression. The songs are longer, and many of the riffs are memorable, so don't expect this to be totally mindless grindcore. The band doesn't only rely on super aggression (although there's plenty of it here), they also know how to write a song. If you want to be thrown around the room for approx. 40 minutes and have your brain turned to absolute goo, I highly recommend finding a copy of this cd. Insane stuff, and well worth the cash.
  

TESTAMENT:

• The Legacy (1987) Lots of classic songs, with a slightly weak production (but what do you expect for '87?)
• The New Order (1988) This album sounds a lot like their first album, but once again, some more classic songs. Buy these albums after you've heard Practice.
• Practice What You Preach (1989) A classic album. Really great song writing, the sound is a bit weak, but the title track and "The Ballad" are probably two of the band's best songs ever.
• Souls Of Black (1990) I personally really like this album (although I know many people who don't). Really great production, great song writing, maybe a bit too similar to their last album, but it's no reason to dismiss it.
• The Ritual (1992) Now this album I didn't like (although a lot of people did, go figure). The production is horrible (waaayyy too much reverb), and the aggression is completely lost. Still a few good songs here and there.
• Return To The Apocalyptic City (1993, EP) A must buy EP for no other reason than to get a really great live version of "So Many Lies".
• Low (1994) Even after loosing their star soloist Alex Skolnick, the band has still got it. Much more aggressive than their last album, much lower (like the title), great production, great song writing. This album really redeemed the band.
• Live at the Fillmore (1995, Live) A great live performance with excellent production and a clear mix. The songs speak for themselves, with lots of older material.
• Demonic (1997) Oh my god. Testament is back and how. This isn't the same band you remember. Almost all the vocals are in a more death metal style (sort of like "Dog Faced Gods" off of 'Low'), the guitars are way lower. The riffs are huge, and the entire album just bludgeons you to death. Still, a few small nits, I wish the kick drum had been louder in the mix, I mean, it's Gene Hoglan on the drums, he needs to have all the power he deserves. And also I found the album didn't change tempo much, they should have added some faster songs. Everything generally stays in the slow / mid-tempo range. These problems aside, this album totally rips, and ushers a new age for the band. They have truly understood that metal is about aggression, and evolving means getting more aggressive. Now if only Metallica had listened.
• Signs Of Chaos: The Best Of Testament (1997, Best Of) The whole album is filled with songs from previous albums. It's a good cross section, but I own all their older CD's, so I don't see much reason to own this. The two new tracks on the album are cover songs, I don't know if they're any good, but they're not enough to get me to buy the album.
• The Gathering (1999) Holy shit. This album is good. The boys are back, this time with a superstar lineup including Dave Lombardo on drums, Steve DiGiorgio on bass, and the ever popular James Murphy on guitar. But we've seen superstar lineups falter in the past. Not this time. The album is a lot closer to Low, Chuck still uses death metal style vocals once in awhile, but tends to sing a little more. The riffs are excellent. The songs are well written and memorable, and covers many styles, tempos and moods. The double kicks are the fastest and loudest I've ever heard on a Testament record. James' guitar solos seem a little more subdued than normal, more ambient instead of show off stuff. The production is by far the best on any Testament record, thick chunky bass and crunch with every instrument perfectly clear. It's sort of rare these days to place a new CD in your player and after one listen know that this record will become an instant classic. This is one of those times. Dude, by the CD if you've ever loved this band.
• First Strike is Deadly (2001, EP) This album is a whole bunch of their songs from their first two albums, totally rerecorded using today's technology. Alex Skolnick is even on guitar. Overall, a good album, it's nice to hear these old classics get a little new life, and the production is of course excellent. My only complaint is most of these songs are available on their live recordings such as "Live at the Fillmore" and "Return to the Apocalyptic City", and live the songs tend to be a little more, I don't know, energetic. Whether it's just a speed issue, or Chuck using his more death-metal style vocals in a few bits when live, I think I still prefer the live versions to these rerecorded versions. But this album is still very enjoyable.
• Live In London (2005, LiveCD) Since most of you probably saw me slamming the recent influx of Anthrax live material, prepare yourself for an almost identical ride, this time with Testament. Their stories are almost the same. You get a live album of older songs a few years back ("Live at the Fillmore"), you get a studio album of re-recorded old songs ("First Strike is Deadly"), and now you get the old lineup reuniting and producing a live album of, you guessed it, old songs. And are these different old songs? Nope, the same stuff. So now I've heard 3 almost identical versions of 'The Preacher' and I keep asking myself why? Yes, it's cool that Alex Skolnick is back on this album, and he does a great job on the solos, and Louie returns for a few songs, but the material on this CD isn't different enough from the stuff on the other 2 cds to warrant a purchase. Actually, I take that back, there are a few different songs here, like I've never heard 'Electric Crown', 'Let Go Of My World' or 'Sins Of Omission" live before, but why do we need to hear 'The Haunting' yet again when they could have instead included some rarer material, like maybe a performance of  'Seven Days Of May' or 'Face In The Sky'. So I guess if you factor in the 4 unique songs you may still want to consider buying the cd, but overall it's a golden opportunity lost. The production is great, the performance is energetic, but it needed more songs that weren't already available in an almost identical form on the band's previous releases. Now please, guys, move forward and get us some new music ASAP.
• Live In London (2005, DVD) DVD copy of the concert, please read the review of the CD for songs and other commentary. As far as the video footage, the quality is great, but suffers from the shifty camera syndrome. The camera switches about once every second or so, and the eye isn't seeing anything long enough to take anything in. And during areas where you definitely want a singular focus (like a guitar solo), the camera is all over the place. Certainly if you're a musician and hope to see a few guitar fingerings or drum fills, you'll be out of luck, in general you see more shots of the crowd and random face shots of the band than actual instruments. Like the anthrax DVD, it may be better to get this DVD than the live CD, because at least you get to see the reformed band instead of just hear them, on the other hand, a live cd can be nicer because you can have that on more easily as background music. The interviews at the end is actually quite good, they talk to each member of the band and talk about the past present and future, and at 10min, it's just the right length.
• The Formation Of Damnation (2008) A very impressive album, although it doesn't quite reach the classic level of many of their previous albums. But don't take this as sounding too negative, this IS a really good album and I want to make sure that's very clear. Lots of slow stuff, lots of fast stuff, double kicks and groove, a good mix of death metal Chuck and singing Chuck. Alex Skolnick does his soloing thing, it's nice hearing his solo style with Testament again, they're just so distinctive. But as with anything, it all comes down to the songs. While there's certainly no filler material on this album, there really needs to be a few more "holy shit" songs for this to reach the level of "Low", "The Gathering" or "Practice What Your Preach". There are a few spots, I really love the fill before the verse riff in 'Afterlife'. I really like the songs 'The Evil Has Landed' and 'The Formation Of Damnation', although that's more because they're just a solid songs, not that they have any specific standout spot. This album is all cake, a little extra icing would have been nice, but I'll settle for the cake.
  

• Polars (2004) In general I'm not a fan of bands that are way to similar to other bands, I mean, we all have influences, but I've always felt you should try and blend your influences together to come up with something totally new. I can not call what Textures is doing new, and yet, this is just a great, great cd (This ain't no cheap knock off folks). Lets run down the list, we have Meshuggah influence (heavily), the off beat stop start rhythms, the super chunky guitar tone, fantastic production, and some of the thrashier parts remind me of "Contradictions Collapse". The vocals thankfully aren't identical to Jens Kidman, instead this guy's voice is higher and more akin to say the vocalist in Martyr. There's also some sung / choral parts that are very similar to the stuff Devin Townsend does on his solo records. Then you have really spacy guitar stuff (solos and clean rhythms) similar to Fred Thordendal's (Meshuggah's guitarist) solo album. So anyways, this certainly isn't original, and yet, I find myself putting this into my cd player again and again. Maybe it's that Meshuggah are now for the most part relying more heavily on repeated rhythms rather than writing slightly more traditional song structures, whereas this band is a little closer to the "Destroy Erase Improve" days of super memorable songs that are complex and yet follow a more traditional pattern. Also they are very good at effortlessly flowing between soft spacy keyboard stuff and the harsher angrier bits, possibly because they have a dedicated keyboard player (the last tracks on the album are primarily 10 min long keyboard soundscapes, whereas the other songs have a better balance between the angry and soft). Maybe it's just that I miss the old Meshuggah and so when this band harkens back to that style and yet manages to stay fresh somehow, I can't help myself. Anyways, whatever it is, this is a fantastic cd, and any meshuggah fan should pick this up immediately.
• Drawing Circles (2006) The follow-up to "Polars" (a cd of so much promise), "Drawing Circles" ends up kinda flat. A lack of energy would be the best description. Not as much screaming, way more singing, all the songs are pretty mid paced. Did I mention there was singing? And not cool, super ballsy singing like Devin Townsend, but I mean like nu-metal band flavor of the month type singing. The new vocalist's voice is just too generic, their last vocalist had this raspy high pitched voice that helped the band sound distinct. This guy really sounds like all the other guys. I see this cd as similar to Satariel's newest album "Hydra", everything is slower, more generic, less complex, just lackluster in general. There are a few good bits here and there, but overall, just nothing to get exciting about. I hope the band gets fast and thrashy again in the future. A special version of the album comes with an extra DVD that has a 10 minute documentary, a few short interviews, a lot of people running around, nothing too deep really, a lot of "we used to record in this studio, now we record in this studio" type of stuff.
• Silhouettes (2008) A vast improvement over their last album. While the singing is still there, the songs tend to have way more energy, which was probably my biggest problem with "Drawing Circles". Still not as thrashy as their debut, but this one got my head banging instead of my mouth yawning. As far as the riffs go, they still sound very much like a Meshuggah clone, so the originality isn't really there, but they're decent enough to keep my interest. All the usual elements are here, the spacy keyboards, some choral vocals, nice thick production. Overall this album won't be the most awesome thing you've ever heard, but it's decent, and well worth checking out. I can see myself listening to it again over the next few weeks, but whether it will have any long term staying power, that I can't say.
  

• Submissive (1996, Demo)
• Third Eye Function (1997) The band that keeps popping into my mind is Meshuggah. Some of the riffs on this CD sound like specific Meshuggah riffs. Theory In Practice however seem to have taken the next logical step. Not only do they have weird time signatures, but many of them don't last longer than a bar. While making it hard to mosh to, it does make for some interesting listening. The sound is huge and tight, very technical, straight ahead death metal vocals, lots of keyboards and strange interludes with spanish guitars. The guitar solos, as well as several interludes remind me of Yngwie. Although they heavily borrow from some of their influences, after prolonged exposure to this album, I really like it.
• The Armageddon Theories (1999) A more focused CD this time. Although all the elements from the last CD are still there, it finally sounds like the band is doing their own thing and not just grabbing stuff from other bands. This particular CD is almost closer to black metal than death metal, with a high pitched raspy voice, and huge reverb laden guitar tone (and plenty of epic keyboards). However, if you listen, instead of simplistic tremolo picking, the band is playing complex rhythms in very odd time signatures, sometimes low and chunky, sometimes a cascade of perfectly picked high end notes. This wall of sound almost sounds a little like the new Cryptopsy album, but not as riff oriented, much more chaotic with melodies, rhythms, and speedy double kicks creating this crazy torrent of noise (but if you listen close, there is definite structure to that noise, which makes the music interesting on many levels). Solos are still crazy and yngwie sounding, but work with the music a little better instead of just being on top of the music. The other neat thing is even though the melodies are so chaotic, somehow distinct songs and themes seem to show through. This is certainly not a CD that can be digested in one listen, since there's so much for the ear to hear. Other bands have tried similar stuff but ended up sounding like they were showing off or sounding like they were a complete mess, these guys are definitely doing something right, and real music has emerged from these mess of notes. Cool.
• Colonizing The Sun (2002) This will actually be a very short review, since this album is basically Armageddon Theories part 2, same style, same sound, etc. The songs are a little less frantic than last time, the music is given a chance to breath a bit more with some slightly simpler song structures, but overall it still gets really nuts in a lot of areas with cascading notes and crazy time signatures. The songs of course are great, lots of memorable riffs. If you enjoyed the last album, here's some more for you to digest.

• Fhtagn-nagh Yog-Sothoth (1991) Similar to their later album, but with slightly inferior production. The mix is about the same, but the band feels further from the microphone. Otherwise you pretty much know what to expect. Super slow songs, ridiculously low vocals (with a few spoken word sections), a total of 4 tracks, 3 of which are 8 min each, and one 2 min closing song. Perfect for those times when you've lost all hope.
• Stream from the Heavens (1994) Sometime after all the crazy speed, you just need something that's 100% the opposite, and Thergothon delivers like no other. 200, 300, 400 beats per minute? Nah, lets try 20, 30 or 40 beats per minute. Lets just see how slow we can play without the drummer becoming totally lost! Waves of heavily distorted guitars, super low gargly vocals, and a few synth / sung passages all help lull the listener into a complete state of despair. It's so slow in fact it's almost comical, but laughter would be inappropriate for such music. What can I say, it makes for awesome background music when you need to unwind from all that brutal craziness, but you don't want to go ambient, you still need that fix of heavy distortion. I can highly recommend getting a copy of this cd, you may not listen to it on a regular basis, but I can promise you I'll be pulling this album out every once in awhile when I need to unwind. The epitome of Doom metal.
  

• The Mundane Corruption (2008) The way They:Swarm (formerly Whorecore) was described to me was "If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a new Aborted CD." And that description is completely accurate. This short 4 song EP (with 1 intro) clocks in at just 14 min, but they get a lot done in that short period. Lots of low gurgled vocals, doublebass, low guitars and brutal riffs. And these are GOOD riffs, almost up there with any of the new Aborted material. The production quality and mix is excellent as well. I gotta give them a zero for originality, but if you like Aborted, here's they're long lost brothers. Well worth the cash.

• Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects: Sol Niger Within (1997) A completely mesmerizing album from beginning to end, Fredrik, lead guitarist for Meshuggah, gives us 45 minutes of psychedelic metallic insanity. The album is one long song that twists and turns through 29 separate sections, each one filled with great guitar soloing, strange time signatures, brutal riffs, and eerie keyboards. Vocals consist of spoken word segments, as well as this totally scary voice that sounds sort of like the sound your nails make when running down a chalk board. This is about as close as you can get to diving into someone else's subconscious, or someone else's dreams, where riffs melt into each other, key signatures mean nothing, and the music never quite goes in the direction you expect it to. Buy this album.
• Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects: Sol Niger Within Version 3.33 (1999) A reissue of Fred's solo masterpiece. The sound has been changed a bit, no more organ parts, some songs are a bit longer, with parts added, parts removed. The songs are now separate on the CD (instead of one long track like the first one), and there are two bonus tracks, one excellent 10 minute piece called "Missing Time" (which is in the same vein as the rest of the CD), and then one quick instrumental track that sound much heavier, much closer to a Meshuggah release. My person opinion is that the bonus tracks are worth the price, but you'll have to decide for yourself if you want to pay again for essentially the same CD. If you didn't buy the first copy, then you have no excuse not to buy this one.

• Bloodlust (2005)
  
• Malice (2007) Nice, precise death metal with excellent production and lots of bite. Very similar in style to someone like Behemoth or Bloodbath, with lots of fast but controlled blasting, doublebass and chugging guitars with the occasional harmonized scale. Vocals are pretty low, but growled, not gurgled. The sound on this album is fantastic, thanks to Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal fame producing. If I had one complaint it's that while the songs are generally good and the performance is excellent, the group doesn't have any one particular trait that distinguishes them from anyone else. The songs are all enjoyable, but no one particular section grabs me by the face and says "Listen to me, God Damn It!!" Good material, it's just needs a little bit of extra flavor.
• Skepsis (2010) While I enjoyed their last album, this album just seems a little stale. There's a point in every song where I seem to say "Didn't I just hear this riff last song?" There's just not enough variety here, and a complete lack of individual hooks or memorable riffs. Apparently most of the band left after their last album, so the band has a lot of new members, which is probably the issue. The song are still well performed, with lots of fast double bass, and super angry vocals (although the new vocalist overuses the higher pitched vocals which are too common these days with Black Dahlia and Job For A Cowboy.) Also, a few too many deathcore like breakdowns, their last album was more death metal with a few deathcore bits, this is more deathcore with a few death metal bits. It's decent, but personally I have to label this as a miss.
  

• Infinite Death (2009) Deathcore has invaded Australia, and Thy Art Is Murder is ready to stake their claim. All the usual deathcore staples are here, the screamed and low vocals, the breakdowns with a single start-stop low note being played on guitar, the de-de-dee twin guitar scales, and of course, once a riff is played, it's never repeated ever. While there's really nothing here to make the band stand out from any other deathcore band, the music is well performed, well produced, and many of the riffs are good. Also the drummer is especially fast and loud, a really nice bass drum sound. This is really showcased on the EP's title track, which is definitely the best song on the album. Another good attribute of the album is it's short. I know that sounds like an insult, but really what I mean is with only 15 minutes of music, you have at least a chance of the songs sinking in, it's damn near impossible when you have 45 minutes of similar music. Sometimes I feel like all deathcore needs is an editor to come in and take the good riffs, remove the band ones, and have the band repeat the good riffs a few times to make coherent songs. Anyways, a decent EP, deathcore fans should like it, others beware.
• The Adversary (2010) This is deathcore done right. Personally I have nothing against deathcore as a genre, like any musical style, it contains both good music and bad. My main beef with it is that I find one of its more defining features to be rather boring, namely, the breakdown. I am fine with slowing down the music in the middle for a nice chunky riff, bands like Suffocation do it all the time and to great effect. What I find boring is when the riff is just a single note, played over and over again in a slightly off time rhythm. One song, sure, but every song on the album? It just gets dull and repetitive, the latest Impending Doom album being a prime example. So while this album does contains breakdowns, the band manages to introduce enough variation that the cycle of boredom is broken, and the result is 10 songs that are surprisingly catchy and memorable, even after only a single listen. A prime example is the song 'Laceration Penetration' that contains this fantastic machinegun guitar riff that jumps back and forth between your headphones with insane clarity and precision. Or the ridiculously fast doublebass attack that can take any slow riff and turns its sickness up a few notches. Riffs that you remember and want to skip back to hear again. Moving on to other things, the production quality is excellent, basically identical to their EP. Vocalwise, mostly lowish grunts, nothing to write home about really, a little more variation in the grunting would be nice (although please avoid any pig squeals). A few parts of these songs really remind me of the precision and riffing style of Decapitated. Also, be prepared for highly triggered drums, a slightly more natural drum-sound would probably be nicer. Overall, this is one of those few deathcore albums that you should really own, they join a small minority of bands in the genre that are producing great music. Impressive stuff.
  

• Blind Follower/Point of View (1998)
• Plague (2000) Angry unpolished death metal. Similar in style I'd say to older Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, or Immolation, vocals are midrange for the most part with a few lower and higher parts, a bunch of blasting sections, a lot of slower chunky parts and some good groove. Production is good, but still a little noisy. The songs are all high quality. Overall, I really like this release and their sledge hammer style of music, but I still think a slightly better production would be the icing on the cake. A strong first release.

• Opiate (1992) EP with 4 songs and 2 live tracks. Great sound, great songs, the same quality and style as just about everything else from the band.
• Undertow (1993) A fusion of the best that alternative has to offer with a strong metal edge. Decent production with the bass clear in the mix. Good song writing. By the standard of a lot of the stuff on this page, this music is pretty light, but it's still good music, and there's obviously a lot of aggression here, as well as depression and sadness, so you'll get your injection of dark emotions, don't worry.
• Ænima (1996) Another great album with lots of songs that get stuck in your head and make you loose all hope instantly. The album relies heavily on the bass guitar to create mood and rhythm, while the guitars add texture and random noise before locking in with the rest of the band to create some really razor sharp, tight chugging riffs. Excellent production as usual. The vocals produce a very spacy, depressing feel, mixed with some more aggressive moments. This music is so good I can't believe that it's popular. :)
• Salival (2000, Live & DVD) A two disc set, one DVD and one CD. The DVD has 4 music videos on it, Tool has always had the coolest videos, stop motion animation twisted in a way you just don't see in Disney films. I wish they'd included some live tracks on the DVD, and the menu system is very non intuitive, but the content that is there is good. The Live CD has several live songs, some live covers, and a few intros. The live performance is great, the very best being a modified rendition of 'Pushit' that goes on for well over 10 minutes, and is probably one of the most intense and emotional song the band has ever written / performed. Overall, well worth the cash.
• Lateralus (2001) Over 5 years since the last CD, and expectations are high. Overall, it's a worthy tool album. The first single 'Schism' is good, but a little untool like (unsettling, but more spooky then dark). The leading track 'The Grudge' is probably one of the best, a little digital delay and some great tribal style drumming, as well as the usual thicker guitar tone. Track 3 is probably one of the worst on the album, just because the vocal melody is too similar from parts of 'Pushit', and so sounds like a rehash. But later tracks continue to be new and fresh, including the more upbeat 'Parabola' and the angry and double kick laden 'Ticks And Leeches'. Many of the songs are actually just intros, so the album is actually not as long as you might expect, although most of the non-intro songs tend to be in the 7-10 minute range. As with their previous albums, I think you just listen to it all the way through, say globally it's good, then months later you start really being able to pick out all the specific parts that are the best, which is cool, gotta love an album that's still interesting months after you first hear it. As a friend said, it has more layers than an onion.
• 10,000 Days (2006) After another 5 year hiatus (but Tool was never known for their fast release schedule), the result is a mixed bag of music. It seems best to do a blow by blow on this album, so here goes. The first 2 tracks are great, definitely the strongest on the album. They have a little of everything, they're heavy, they have groove, they have lighter bits, they're epic in length and complex in structure. If you liked "Lateralus" you'll love this stuff. Next comes a 2 part song, about 17 minutes, which starts off quiet, and builds, but never quite gets to its destination. It tries to be what the song 'Pushit' was. Both songs start quiet, get bigger and bigger until it suddenly explodes. The difference is when 'Pushit' reaches it's climax you go "Awesome!" When these songs climax, it's like "this needs to be more intense". The next track 'The Pot' starts off with an odd acapella vocal bit, but it's so odd it's actually pretty cool. The rest of the song is a little repetitive in spots, but it's heavier thankfully and has a nice hook in the middle of the song. I'd say it's the 3rd best song on the album. After a short interlude we get to the song 'Lost Keys' which is a really quiet song with the same chord played again and again and again, and honestly doesn't do much for me. 'Rosetta Stoned' is louder and angrier, but the main riff just didn't wow me (maybe it's because it goes on without too much variation for 11 min or so). 'Intension' is another 7 min song that's quiet, and basically the same riff repeated again and again. And at this point, I start to see what my issue is with the album. Tool has always been a band to start a riff, then build ontop of the riff with variations, more instruments, etc. But for some reason a few of these songs just have too much repetition without enough variation. It's like the band wrote some great song structures but didn't add enough frills. That can work if the songs are 3 min long, but for it to work in a 7min long song, you need those frills to keep things interesting. The last "song" is 5 minutes of ambient noises. The album does grown on you, the first listen didn't grab me right away, but slowly it got better and better. Even so, I really feel like the band wrote about half an album, and expanded that to fill out the rest. Still worth getting for the first 2 tracks alone (and for the really interesting packaging that contains 3d stereograms and glasses), but I had hoped for something a little more.
  

• Erotic Diarrhea Fantasy (2004) Wow, band names are just getting more and more bizarre, eh? This two person band falls squarely into the Disgorge / Decrepit Birth category of fast riffs, low gurgly sound and superfast drums. A drum machine in this case. The vocals are especially low even for Disgorge standards, sounds like the guy may be inhaling instead of exhaling (but no voice processing apparently). Lots and lots of sound clips, and long clips too, in fact, I'd wager about 10 minutes of the album is sound clip instead of music. I won't even get into the song titles or lyrics (but 'Raped By Elephants' should give you some indication). This is definitely a band of extremes, what's the worst song titles anyone's come up with? Ok, lets be worse. What's the nastiest situation we can discuss? Ok, lets find something sicker. What are the lowest vocals we've ever heard? Ok, lets get lower. Unfortunately, they spent so much time trying to outdo everybody else, they didn't spend as much time on the riffs as they could have, and memorable riffs are one of the main reasons to write music, right? The material isn't bad, and the nice production is an added bonus, but with the mechanical drums and riffs we've all heard before, there's really not enough here to keep me satisfied. Fun and yet unfulfilling.

• Ocean Machine - Biomech (1997) Devin Townsend is back, this time with a more relaxed record (well, relaxed in comparison to the new Strapping Young Lad). The album proves the depth to Devin's songwriting skills, and the depth to his emotional states. While SYL represented pure and unbridled anger, Ocean Machine is far more mellow, sad, almost depressing at points. The guitar sound is huge, with dozens of guitars and keyboards layered on top of one another. The songs are more melodic, "80's music done right" as a friend put it. What can I say, Devin knows how to write great music, musically and emotionally. Very worth the money.
• Infinity (1998) This just goes to prove, Devin really is insane. First he hit us with the ultraviolence of Strapping Young Lad, then he made us totally depressed with his mournful Ocean Machine, and now we have the missing link between the two. And what a variety. First we have the crazy and wacky evil songs such as the Death Metal Swing tune 'Bad Devil', or the crazy guitar antics of 'Ants'. Then you have these epic film score pieces such as 'Truth' or 'Dynamics', you can just see Devin running to the top of a giant mountain with his delay pedal and screaming to the heavens. John Williams couldn't do better. With all this variety, you'd think you're listening to Steve Vai, except without the guitar heroics. Sound wise, the usual Devin stuff, he knows how to write a great riff and back it up with a thunderous cacophony of noise and echo that is messy and tight at the same time. Order and chaos combined, the white that balances the blue and the red of his other two bands. So, what the verdict? Devin is a musical genius, and I love him dearly, and I will be listening to this album until the day I die.
• Christeen (1998, EP) The songs 'Christeen' and 'Colonial Boy' from the Infinity CD, and 'Night' from Devin's Ocean Machine project. If you already have Ocean Machine and Infinity, not much reason to own this unless you're a collector.
• Christeen + 4 Demos (1998, EP) 5 songs, starting with 'Christeen', and then 4 demos that should have made the Infinity CD. As far as demos go, these are difficult to distinguish from finished pieces of work, which is good. 'Om' is another one of Devin's epic songs with layer upon layer of vocal harmonies and guitar reverb. A distinctly Asian sounding sunshine song is next called 'Sit In The Mountain'. The last two songs, 'Processional' and 'Love-Load' are more experiments in sound and sound processing than cohesive songs, still good though. If you liked Infinity, get this EP right now.
• Official Bootleg (2000) Live the way it should be done, with no overdubs, just the musicians and the microphone. Oh ya, and a large marshall. A dozen songs off of Infinity and Ocean Machine, and two SYL tracks (all from a live show in Japan) show devin in the stadium setting with lots of keyboards and big guitars, then 4 tracks all acoustic from a show in Vancouver, just devin, his guitar and his voice. Lots of interesting stuff here, some good performance parts. We were warned though there were a few mistakes here and there, and that would have to be Devin missing a bunch of notes in the singing parts (i.e., off key). D'oh! Many songs are done perfectly though, so don't fret too much. The guitar parts are right on the money, the drumming excellent, and fine production for a bootleg (probably from the house microphones), I do think though some reverb to the vocals, as well as reducing them in the mix a bit to match the level of the other instruments might have been a good idea. Raw and unpolished, this cd is very limited, so order yours today (if you still can)!
• Physicist (2000) Another offering from Devin's perverse mind. And perverse it is. He starts off with song structures reminiscent of big musicals, a theme to a sitcom on TV, an old scifi film like E.T., and then performs them using his usual onslaught of layered guitars, as well as some very inventive and fast doublekick work from our good friend Gene Hoglan. Imagine any musical on broadway, but twisted into an angry mess through distortion and blastbeats. His description of diet-SYL seems apt, since the feel is definitely Strapping, but not quite as angry and with vocal textures more similar to his work on infinity. So, does it all work? Yes. Even though some of the songs get a little silly with their Jesus Christ Superstar overtones (especially track 9, but devin admits that's probably his least favorite track on the album, so I'm reassured), other songs are masterpieces of sonic brutality, others achieve a proper zen like moment of perfect beauty and clarity. As he says in the interview available as part of the CD-ROM portion of the album, this album is not really a step forward like his other albums, but a step sideways. Devin seems destined to never release the same album twice, and no matter what direction he heads in, there's always the familiar sound that he manages to achieve in all his music that'll keep fans coming back for more.
• Ass-Sordid Demos 1990-1996 (2000) As the name states, 10 demos and extra tracks. As Devin states in the liner notes that come with this mailorder only cd "listening to demos can be like picking through turds, but turds can be cool though." Meaning, some really great music on this cd, and a few songs that don't quite cut it (or that are really just for fun). Nothing is terribly polished or perfected, just some raw ideas from Devin's brain before they got the final treatment needed to place them on an official album. Again, like the stuff off "Christeen + 4 Demos", demo means simpler arrangements that need many more layers of vocals and keyboards and such before they're ready for primetime, it does not mean bad sound quality, Devin seems to be able to get as great a sound on a demo as he does in the studio. Several songs are off his original Noisescapes demo, a studio copy of L.A., and other stuff written around the time Devin and Steve Vai were doing the Sex and Religion tour. Well worth checking out if you're a devin fan, probably not the place to start if you've never heard his music before.
• Official Bootleg Video (2000, Video) This is the Live bootleg CD, but in videoform. First comes the japanese show, which is well recorded, single camera but decent for a bootleg. They play a song or two that's not on the CD. Next comes the reason to buy the video, devin does his live acoustic show, just him and his guitar. This includes several new songs, as well as some very amusing banter between songs not on the CD. I don't know, there's always something compelling about a single man performance in a smoky club, you really feel like you're sitting beside that guy with the camcorder, no need to pan across the band every few minutes, there is only one focus, and his name is Devin.
• Terria (2001) After a slightly disappointing last album (disappointing in the sense it wasn't a quantum leap forward like all his other albums were), Devin is again going in a forward direction. This is the brown album, in touch with mother earth, and I can't think of a better way to describe it. Basically, it's the counterpart of ocean machine, same big guitars, thick keyboards, except with a slightly less sad tone and a more serene atmosphere. A perfect moment of beauty you might say. Overall, every song on the album is a masterpiece, they all work together like a narrative, which I suppose can be said of all devin's work, since every album chronicles another slice of his life and experiences. Really, I have no clue what the next step will be, I guess he doesn't know either until he's lived a little more, but in the meantime, I'd say once again, we've just been given the best Devin album yet.
• Terria Digipak (2001, Digipak) Includes the original CD, a bunch of new artwork, 1 bonus track (which I'm sorta glad he left off the album, it was too gospel in my opinion). Also includes video footage from the last tour which I believe is the same footage as off the Official Bootleg Video. Lastly, a whole bunch of audio commentary about the making of terria. That's definitely the most interesting part of the CD. Anyways, for the casual fan, I'd only get this if you didn't buy the original album, otherwise, for diehard fans only (like me).
• Accelerated Evolution (2003) I think the best way to describe this cd is the same description we were given long before the cd came out: shorter, more to the point songs similar in style to 'Life' from Ocean Machine. While a few songs do tend to go a bit longer than anyone's definition of shorter, for the most part these are far more straight forward compositions. Parallels could be drawn to many of Devin's former projects, like Ocean Machine but not quite as sad, like Infinity but without the same level of maniacal happiness, like Terria but not quite as epic. You'd almost expect mixing all these different styles together, you might accidentally end up with something kinda bland, but no, instead you get the best elements from all his past work combined into one of the more brilliant albums I've heard in quite some time (well, at least since "Terria"). The album starts out with a pounding metal tune perfect for a drive through the mountains, followed by a more haunting melody that showcases Devin's more emotional singing. Track 3 is an Infinity style tongue-in-cheek upbeat piece, happy yet strangely twisted. Track 4 is a big thick plodding symphonic kinda thing. Ok, ok, I'll stop the play by play, just believe me when I say as the album progresses you are pulled through states of happiness, joy, sadness, despair, confusion and just about any other emotion I suppose Devin was feeling during the performance of this record. A true masterpiece.
• Accelerated Evolution Special Edition (2003, Digipak) Contains an extra cd with 3 songs off Devin's Techno project called "Eko". Certainly not the usual stuff you'd expect from Devin, But they do share the same quirky sense of musical creativity. Very low key, quiet, understated songs, weird samples, keyboards, a drum machine, and guitars making strange noises (think the last song off of the "Christeen" EP). It's Devin in play mode. If you already have the regular "Accelerated Evolution", I'd only recommend this special edition for hardcore fans, otherwise, you might as well grab this edition, the songs are F-U-N.
• Ass-Sordid Demos II 1991-1992 (2004, Demos) Very early demos from the almighty Devin Townsend. HDR seems more than a little worried that these demos may in some way have a bad effect on Devin's reputation, people mistaking them for current material. In fact, they go as far as to include warning after warning asking us not to put this material on kazza, and "This CD not intended for commercial sale", and "For some current material please write to:". Anyways, maybe they're a little paranoid, maybe I'm not paranoid enough, but personally I'm very happy this material finally got released, I had heard of the Noisescapes demo (that got Steve Vai interested in Devin) as far back as 10 years ago and I'm so happy to finally hear some of it. The first 6 tracks are from 1991, with Devin's band Grey Skies. While there's elements of garage band here, as usual, Devin's demos tend to be better than some big budget studio stuff. It's sort of blues, rock, metal, lounge somethin. I can totally see what Steve liked in this guy, not only is the guitarwork crazy (Devin's definitely got solo chops, his sweep picking and tapping are especially good), but he's also pretty wacky. The Soundscapes stuff (4 tracks from 1992) is far more serious, at least it starts that way, hints of SYL, Ocean Machine and any number of other later songs. Then 4 more random songs from various projects, including one really great song called Soft that starts off like 'Things Beyond Things', but eventually builds into an entirely new song, really beautiful stuff. Anyways, plenty of good material here, maybe not the best way to be introduced to Devin, but for a fan who already knows his stuff, there's plenty of gems here to get excited about.
• Devlab (2004) An experimental cd that will not be for everybody. Well over an hour, 15 songs of what best could be described as electronic noise. You know these weird interludes that devin does between songs on say Physicist, Terria or the last track on the Christeen EP? Well, here's a whole album of them. Plenty of neat ambient sounds, keyboards, looped delay / distortion, and a rare beat to keep the ear entertained. 90% of the material is quiet stuff, only a few spots do things get really noisy and loud. I'd highly recommend having this cd playing in the background while you're doing work, in that context the album is actually really cool, but I can't really recommend sitting down and doing nothing else but listen to this cd.
• Sychestra (2006, Digipak) As close to Infinity as Devin's come since. What I mean by that is where "Accelerated Evolution" was for the most part a pretty consistent album without too much variation and catchy songs, the songs on "Synchestra" have far more variety, from soft acoustic numbers to big devin guitar orchestral pieces to wacky experiments. The album starts acoustic, and quickly builds into one of Devin's army of guitar pieces that could totally be taken from "Terria". Track 3, 'Triumph' is the first official song after 2 intro pieces, and includes a solo by guitar-meister Steve Vai,  its fast in parts but not so fast as to take away from the orchestration, it's really well integrated into the piece, sort of reminiscent of Vai's song 'Rescue Me Or Bury Me". Then things start to get odder, with songs like 'Vampolka' and it's counterpart 'Vampira', which is strange and odd in the same way 'Bad Devil' and 'Ants' from "Infinity" is. Then things get back to more known territory with 'Gaia' which is probably the most straight forward radio friendly song off the album. Followed by a thunderous song called 'Pixillate', which is super heavy and just this side of being a Strapping Young Lad type of song. The album continues with several soundscape type songs which have tons of mood, but nothing easily identifiable as a standard song structure to them, then ends with 'Notes From Africa', which is a pretty straight forward song, but long. All in all, this album has longer and more complex songs than "Accelerated Evolution", it's mostly a cross between "Terria" (for the long songs and non standard structure) and "Infinity" (for the wackiness and variety). This album gets a good solid spot somewhere in the middle of the Devin Townsend catalog, some of the songs are a bit too odd for me and will probably be skipped in future listens, but there's some really awesome material here that will keep fans plenty happy, especially the beginning of the album. The Digipak comes with a DVD called "Safe Zone" which shows the band perform older material for an hour in a studio setting. The track listing is as follows: 'Truth', 'Regulator', 'Storm', 'Earth Day', 'Life', 'Dead Head', 'Away / Deep Peace', and 'Slow Me Down'. First off, the sound quality is of course awesome, and there's plenty of cameras on the band, but the whole concert has these fractally effects going on, which obscure the performers. I'm sorry, but for me a concert is about seeing the people, not about "cool" effects, and it interferes with the performance. After about 2 songs, like noise in a crowded room, you're able to ignore the effects, so not all is lost. And thank goodness they can be ignored, because this DVD is one of the very best concerts I've seen in quite some time. The band improvises actually a great deal in the songs, nothing super major, just extra drum fills here, extra guitar parts, etc, but it makes the songs feel fresh as opposed to just copying verbatim what's on the albums. Devin's voice is in prime form, and in the middle of 'Away' Devin goes crazy in the guitar solo, playing super super fast tapping, then sweep picking scales, anyone who didn't realize Devin has a shredder side to him, well, this will show you otherwise. After an extended solo, the band moves into the ending to 'Deep Peace'. That combined track, while long, that track is just spectacular to watch, my second favorite track being their rendition of 'Life'. Anyways, there are few concert DVDs that you ever want to go back to again and again, but this will be one of them, so if there was any question in your brain, let that question be answered and spend the extra cash for the Digipak version.
• The Hummer (2007) Not really my thing. This CD is ambient, I mean really ambient. Like one song is 15 minutes of a low hum that changes pitch every few minutes slightly. One song has some quiet dialog with odd noises underneath. A couple of times, my office mate asked me if I'd turned the cd off, because they couldn't hear anything. You know that music they tend to play at massage parlors? Well, this is even more low key. I can't say I wasn't warned, but this CD is the height of minimalism, so if you love SYL or Devin's other music, expect nothing like you've ever heard before. If you're into very quiet, peaceful, serene ambiance, check this out.
• Ziltoid the Omniscient (2007) Right before Devin takes an extended hiatus from making music to focus on producing, he gives us "Ziltoid!", a humorous tale that's based on a puppet show he wrote as a kid. The plot: a creature named ziltoid visits our universe, and demands the ultimate cup of coffee. He's disappointed with the results, and so he attacks the earth, the earth attacks back, you get the picture. While the humans may be unable to produce the best blend of coffee, Devin manages to produce a good blend of all his previous projects. You get elements of Strapping Young Lad (like 'Planet Smasher', which brings me back to 'Cod Metal King' off the first SYL), Ocean Machine (like in the pulsing rocker 'Hyperdrive'), bits that sound like Infinity, pretty much if you love Devin, there's plenty of good stuff here. The story is highly tongue in cheek (can a serious story be created that centers around coffee?), so if you're expecting some amazingly deep concept album, sorry this ain't it. But there are a number of great songs here, like the previously mentioned 'Hyperdrive', I'm also partial to 'The Greys' and 'Solar Winds'. The cd is a mix of instrumentals, sung vocals, and character dialog performed by Devin, to keep the story going. Everything on the album is Devin, all guitars, bass, vocals, and the "the drumkit from hell" drum machine was used for the drumming, which still isn't as good as a real drummer, but if you have to go drum machine, this is the one to use. "Ziltoid" may not be the best Devin album ever, but it has some good tunes, and it's a fun listen. Can't wait for him to return to the creative fold after his break. We'll miss ya, come back soon!
• Ki (2009) Devin warned us this CD would be light, but I had no idea, this is light even for Devin. Not quite as quiet as "The Hummer", but it definitely falls in the light rock category, it sometimes even goes off in a jazz direction. Almost all clean guitars with very little distortion, and a distinct lack of the big symphonic layering that Devin is known for, what we have here is pretty much a stripped down drum kit, a bass and guitar (and vocals of course), and every once in awhile some quiet keyboards. A few songs do crescendo into something bigger and heavier, like 'Disruptr' and 'Heaven Send', building slowly into a few yells and a big sound. But for the most part this album is very relaxed and calm. Multiple listens will certainly improve your view of the CD, there's a lot of great songs and great riffs. But it's a bit hard to review this in terms of a metal webzine, since metal it ain't. I'll be very interested to see how this CD fits in with the other 3 in the series, as this is just the beginning of a project that will evolve over the next few years. But as a standalone CD, all I'll say is I really enjoy it, but if you felt stuff like Ocean Machine wasn't heavy enough, then you may want to stay away.
• Addicted (2009) After a soft opening to his latest project ("Ki"), Addicted brings back the heavy guitars. And heavy is the word, man is this stuff big and ballsy. But don't expect the anger of Strapping, this album has all the heaviness of Strapping, but without the anger. Sure, there's still plenty of shouting and screaming, but it seems to be more about high energy then being pissed off. With this album, Devin wanted something with shorter and more immediate songs. And he's achieved it, this album has all the catchiness of Def Leppard (and vocal harmonies as well), but with the thunderous guitars and drums of most of Devin's solo projects like Ocean Machine. It also includes a lot of female vocals, the female in question being the former singer for the Gathering, Anneke Van Giersbergen. She does an excellent job with the singing, and does almost as many vocals as Devin does during the course of the album. If you love Ocean Machine, but want more uplifting songs, or if you loved "Accelerated Evolution", this album will be your new bible.
  

• The Serpent's Manifold (2008) Vagely what you'd expect from a band that contains a questionmark in their name. Transcending is probably best described as symphonic black metal, with maybe extra emphasis on symphonic. The band does lots of spooky intros (think Nile), and integrates plenty of keyboards and orhcestral bits into the music itself. Imagine Akercocke but with a little less speed and a little more experimental. While the black metal aspects are nothing unique (although certainly well performed), I find myself really enjoying the orchestral bits (the strings mostly), they integrate really well into the music, add lots of atmosphere, and make the music kinda catchy. The literature mentions a comparison with Danny Elfman, which is quite apt. If you always wanted to see how the music of "A Nightmare Before Christmas" would have sounded if it had been handled by a black metal band (mixed with a few middle eastern themes), check out this album.
  

• Killer Species (2000) Harken back to the old days of metal, well, not that old, but say the late eighties when you didn't have trouble finding a decent thrash band. Now the style is all but gone, except for a few bands like Transfear trying to keep the genre alive. While they don't break any new ground with this 4 song demo, they provide some decent catchy riffs, mostly thrash, with a touch of death metal thrown in, and a pinch of Entombed's wolverine blues.

• Purgation (2008)
  
• The Great Depression (2009)
  
• Degenerate (2010) Modern metal at its most blasting. Plenty of influences here, in some parts you feel the speed and intensity of Origin or Brain Drill (thankfully, the riffs aren't as random as Brain Drill). Or the precision but chaotic nature of Beneath The Massacre. Maybe even a few shades of Behemoth during the fast doublebass parts. But perhaps one of the closest comparisons would be to Hate Eternal, especially their "Fury and Flames" album. Not that this album sounds like Hate Eternal specifically, but they share a love of big layered distorted guitars, pounding unrelenting drums, midrange growled dual vocals, and super fast riffs that reach a truly chaotic level of intensity. The band does slow it down now and again for some groove, but more often than not the songs are fast and punishing all the way through. Excellent production with a stellar mix. The riffs are well above average on the memorability scale, in general though, it's the mood the album creates that I think will bring you back for more, you ears will most definitely feel brutalized after each listen. Impressive stuff.