Redefining Devin Townsend

Canadian artist, Devin Townsend is said to have picked up his first stringed instrument at the age of 5. He went on to become a musician, songwriter, vocalist and producer. He has been associated with a wide body of music covering such genres as extreme metal, thrash metal, industrial metal, experimental metal, ambient and progressive rock. His enduring popularity is made obvious by the fact that his fans go crazy over Devin Townsend Project merch.

The artist is really best known for his body of solo artistic creations and productions. His most recent notable individual creation is the Devin Townsend Project. As most of his avid followers know however, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Townsend who once had to perform for or with other people. His name first came to light in the music industry when he performed vocals for Steve Vai in Sex and Religion. This early project essentially gave him a name in the industry but it was one that he was not entirely happy with. He found it appalling that he had to work under someone else’s creative influence. What he really wanted to do was to become an artist on his own, a difficult feat considering the rejections he received for his own work.

To give himself another chance for acceptance as an artist on his own, he took on the alias Strapping Young Lad. This was the name he used in the 90s when Century Media Records offered him a contract for five albums. Townsend later decided to come up with a permanent band complement for Strapping Young Lad. With his own set of musicians, he recorded City. With more people beginning to respect his talents, he began using his name again starting with Infinity.

In 2002, Strapping Young Lad came together to perform in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. It was also around this time however when Devin Townsend put together another band that was named after him. It was then that he released Accelerated Evolution. Townsend played with both bands on different occasions.

The artist’s prolific work and unrestrained energy finally took its toll. In 2007, he declared that he would no longer perform with either of his bands. As many music fans suspected however, this was to be only a temporary hiatus. Like every other active musician, Townsend was bound to make a comeback.

The artist did take steps towards a new beginning in 2008. He marked this with a transformation that included having his locks cut and a new determination to stay away from drinking, smoking and composing with the help of drugs. After two years, Townsend generated sixty songs that fit into four categories. This was to be the beginning of the Devin Townsend Project, a four album venture. Each set would cover a specific theme and would be played by four different sets of session players.

Ki was the very first album to come out for the project in 2009. The album is noticeably more restrained than Townsend’s other releases. Following this release are Addicted and Deconstruction. The final album, Ghost is set for release in 2011 and is said to carry ambient type of music.

There is no stopping Devin Townsend from cementing his name in the music industry. There truly is a lot more to expect from the man and his music after the Devin Townsend Project. There’s bound to be more merch and music tees for fans to collect.