THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND: SYNCHESTRA

It starts with 'Let it Roll'. A song depicting how you can often screw up in life, but just to 'let it roll'. It's starts an soothing acoustic riff, slowly building up with added synths and guitars to the song Hypergeek -essentially the second part of a long intro. Hypergeek is an instrumental, an interlude between Let it Roll to Triumph, it's purpose to get the mood started. Next Triumph. Triumph is the first 'real' song on the album, and what a song! I cannot give it credit through words, so i won't. However i will say that Steve Vai guests on this song with a solo which fits the mood perfectly, not over-the-top guitar masturbation either! I was genuinely shocked. The Baby song comes next. It acts as a sober antitheses to the song Posessions of SYL's Alien, dealing with the idea and, i guess, dev's anxieties of becoming a parent. In my opinion this is the album's weak link, but still, it has it's place and i far from dislike. The album then begins to enters it's next progression with the song Vampolka. This is a polka prelude to Vampira to essentially lighten the mood before dragging you down with the themes mentioned in Vampira, and it's hilarious. Vampira is rumoured to be the album's single, and it definitely has that feel about it - a modern metal classic. Almost. It is an over-dramatisation of the negative aspects of life and personifys that as an entity named Vampira. To calm the mood while waiting for the next transition, we have the serene song Mental Tan which serves it's purpose as an intermission between Vampira and Gaia.

Gaia is about the beauty of nature, the world and how we, as humans, have neglected it for nothing more than a load of self-absorbed reasons. This is my personal favourite on the album, rivalling hard with triumph, but i'm sure this will regually change, as do all my favourite songs/albums do. I just love arpeggio section towards the end. Up next, Pixillate. This song askeds questions based on the themes of Gaia: I've been such a cunt, I can't believe what i stand for, aren't i just fucking idiot. The answer comes with the song Judgement. Yes, yes you are a fucking idiot, but thats ok because you're human, and that's what we are about. A Simple Lullaby comes, and this is the climax of record according to the man himself. A mass celebration. Then things start to wind down, we have two songs - Sunset (an ending credits type song -everything's gunna be alright) and Notes From Africa. These summarise everything. And as Notes From Africa fades out you are left with the lush soundscapes of a rainforest, to leave you in reflection for a couple of minutes in a tropical paradise. Then, just when you think it's all over you get a secret track - Sunshine and Happiness!! which is meant to be nothing but the happiest song in the world, and it lives up to that statement. This album will not be to everyone's taste, but if you decide to give it a go, listen to it all in a sitting a few times through to let it grow on you (almost like the cover suggests), and if you still don't like it, well then this ain't for you! Those of you who do like Dev's signature incredibely lush wall of sound, then it'll fit right into your cd collection.