THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND: SYNCHESTRA

Devin Townsend has, it seem, for ten years been struggling between metal and prog, as if there is no in-between, and occasionally stopping of for a comic album such as fake punk. The Devin Townsend Band alias seems to change that, and it takes the best bits of his hard rock and mixes them in with a progressive approach to album making.

The first three songs fit together well, almost presenting themselves as an epic, cut up for accessibility, but not quite. Let it roll builds up to the heavy Hypergeek, which itself builds up to the full orchestration of Triumph, which is the albums best song for me. I don't like to use the term wall of sound because it give such a negative feel, but its used just right here and unlike the SYL releases is used only for effect and isn't kept up for whole songs. The folk style interlude makes the song for me, I love it when a band can surprise the listener like that (plus it makes me wonder if he was influenced by his collaborations for Ayreon in the folky 'Day 16: Father').

Baby song serves a purpose, but its very usual - give it credit for being incredibly removed from the mainstream approach, but not for being a masterpiece.

Vampolka, with the corny tuba and guitar, is a perfect introduction to the ironic Vampira, and together they turn what is essentially one big metal cliché (Vampira) into an effective song. They're both catchy as hell, irritatingly.

The next few big songs - Gaia, Pixillate, Judgement - are best listened together as an epic, and form an incredible piece that displays everything I didn't expect to like about Devin Townsend on this record, but did. They're both heavy and graceful, and as with the whole album, only Townsend could pull it off quite so well. This is demonstrated again by A Simple Lullaby, Sunset and Notes From Africa - they keep up the pace and standard kept by Triumph at the beginning and make for an album that is far more enjoyable than I expected.

The finally, Sunshine and Happiness is as corny as it sounds, but pulls it off just as Townsend himself pulls of a receding hairline and a clichéd goatee. This album, overall, is a masterpiece without trying - the best type of masterpiece. Buy it.