DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT: KI

The first time through it, I was pretty impressed with it. I don't usually appreciate most of the 'cliched' metal-isms that a lot of metal music has, but what I've heard of Devin Townsend has usually sounded great to my ears (although I'm still just scratching the surface of his releases), so I figured I'd give his new project a try.

I found myself really digging a lot of the songs on the first listen, including Gato, Heaven Send, and Ki. But upon repeated listens, I find this album growing old quicker than I had expected. As well, certain songs seem to follow similar formulas, but in a really obvious way that reduces their value. An example would be Gato and Heaven Send. Each feature a strong chorus that works well because of the interesting dynamics between female vocals and Devin's death-metally growls. Yet, each song sounds almost the exact same. Perhaps I am just too used to complex songs for simpler songs to grab me the same as they used to, but I almost can't tell these songs apart other than the chorus.

A friend of mine recommended listening to this album with Disruptr, Gato, Heaven Send, and Trainfire removed. I gave it a shot, and found that it did change the album a lot. He described it as "a much cooler, chill out album with less 'heavy-because-this-is-devin-townsend' songs", and I have to agree with his prognosis.

Overall, this is a fun album, if it does get old a bit fast for my liking. The strongest track, in my eyes, is 'Ki', which for some reason reminds me of "The Circle of Life" off of the Lion King. (Everyone I've mentioned that too thinks I'm crazy, but I still like the song). Overall, though, I'd give this album two stars - it just doesn't have enough to warrant many repeated listens, or enough songs that will remain valuable outside of the album context.

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