INFINITY

What we have here with Infinity is Devin's most progressive record, his most unique contribution to the world of music. Instead of the inescapable flow of Ocean Machine: Biomech, Infinity jerks around from point to point. Part of the problem with that is that it still is an unfinished album, in a way. Devin suffered a severe manic low near the end of this album and checked himself into a hospital, to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Some of the tracks, then, are unrelated songs situation into the gaps to make it a full-length album. I end up with mixed feelings about this, because these new additions (Bad Devil, Ants, Wild Colonial Boy, and Noisy Pink Bubbles) do not fit the mood of the rest of the songs, which are nearly perfect. However, I do rather enjoy these tracks, too, so I am glad that they are included somewhere. If you are interested, demos of the remaining tracks meant to be on Infinity can be found on Christeen (+4 Demos).

Infinity opens with Truth, a very deep and brutal track musically, throwing sonic booms and impossible walls of sound at the listener. Devin prefers to open his albums with something will really knock the listener around, and Truth might be the quintessential example of that. The album continues with Christeen, a single sort of track, fun but mostly unimpressive. This then segues into the wonderfully odd Bad Devil, a track that stylistic is nothing like the songs before (in truth, nothing like anything on the rest of the album--or anything else Devin's ever done for that matter). The song has something of a wild swing feel, with the added bonus of a creepy deep voice singing the verses.

War continues Infinity, riding forward very smoothly. The song isn't necessarily really upbeat, but somehow it propels the listener forward very effectively. At some point, a moment which is intentionally kind of vague, the song becomes Soul Driven Cadillac. This song isn't as much of a song as a good bit of atmospheric metal. Lyrics about most everything fill in this massive wall of sound. As a song, it's pretty weak, but as a part of Infinity, it is almost indispensable. It ends with a colossal voice rumbling something about bodywash. That won't make any sense until you hear it a couple of times. Ants comes right on the tail of Soul Driven Cadillac, Devin's most technical and spastic work to date. Wild guitars and even wilder vocal parts detail the sorriness of human obsession with doing things. It doesn't work very well with the album flow, but it certainly does stand as a fascinating piece of music.

Wild Colonial Boy comes next, a rather random Broadway sort of track. It's interesting but not great, though I must admit, the ending reminds me a lot of the ending of Ayreon's Ye Courtly Minstrel Boy (listen to them!). Life Is All Dynamics is one of Devin's most emotional and evocative vocal performances. It then flows into the soft and building Unity, a good album closer. Well, it was supposed to be the album closer, but the fun throwaway track Noisy Pink Bubbles shows up after a bit of quiet. Some bonus tracks wrap up the album.

All in all, a very flawed album, but despite those flaws a very, very strong one. If only Devin had really finished Infinity, we'd have likely his magnum opus. As it is, Infinity is a wonderful release I'd recommend checking out, although as a first taste of Devin it might not be the wisest course to take.

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