INFINITY

Devin Townsend's second album proves to be a very different beast from his first, taking away the atmospheric, subtle, clean tracks, for outright madness and fun. The production is very strange, both sounding very clear, yet also having a degree of muddiness to it, the compositions are incredibly varied, sounding more like individual tracks rather than a cohesive album, and their is a sense of outright fun to be found here, rather than the extremely solemn 'Ocean Machine: Biomech'. Due to this being a Devin Townsend release, one thing that can be counted on is the absolutely perfect vocals for any case, ranging from beautiful and operatic, to aggressive screaming.

From the opening song 'Truth' it already becomes clear just how different this album is going to be, exploding into a wall of sound full of quirky, bizarre vocal noises and makes for a strange way to kick the album off. 'Christeen' is a much more pop oriented track, with a fun catchy chorus and more strange vocalisations, making for a completely different sound from the opener. Just to destroy any notions that 'Christeen' was going to be an outlier track, the clear highlight, 'Bad Devil' bursts in. These is easily one of my favourite songs that Devin has ever written, being an extremely entertaining, fun swing metal song that clearly went on to influence 'Diablo Swing Orchestra', particularly 'Balrog Boogie'. Everything about this song works absolutely perfectly, being full of energy and easily grabbing the attention of anyone listening to this album. The album continues strongly with 'War', being another massive, seemingly impenetrable wall of sound, with a fairly decent groove that is pushed to its breaking point, with a gradual increase of layers to the music, until it explodes with Devin screaming about stopping the noise, which I find to be interesting. 'Soul Driven Cadillac' is quite similar to the tracks 'Life if All Dynamics' and 'Unity', all conveying the more grandiose, atmospheric side of Devin's music. These songs all contain very powerful grooves to them, displaying his more serious side. 'Ants' is the single weirdest song in Townsend's entire discography, with some of the most unadulterated insanity I've heard in any band. truly a song that needs to be heard, and one that never fails to get a laugh out of me. 'Wild Colonial Boy' is a fun waltzy power ballad with some great melody, and an awesome chorus. The closing track 'Noisy Pink Bubbles' is a good one all around, having a psychedelic, stoner style to it, ending the album in the same way it started, strangely.

While the album is less coherent than any other Devin Townsend effort, it is also one of the most purely entertaining one, with a lot of diversity and fun involved. While I recommend other Devin Townsend albums over this one, simply because this doesn't have the same scope and maturity as albums such as 'Ocean Machine', 'Terria' or even 'Ziltoid the Omniscient', however, this is definitely a great album that I'll recommend to any fan of Devin Townsend, and I'll recommend 'Bad Devil' to anyone.

Best Songs: Bad Devil, War, Unity

Weakest Songs: None

Verdict: Fun album all around that is quite accessible, using various styles and genres throughout with very little restraint. While it doesn't reach the creative highs of other albums, it is nonetheless a fun listen.