TERRIA

This is one of those albums. One of those albums that doesn't hit you right away with the sheer beauty of itself until you've opened yourself enough to handle it. Or at least that's what happened to me. I was originally one of those The Fluke/Life/Christeen/ Traveller kids that liked Devin Townsend for his easier to get into songs. Earth Day also did quite a lot for me, as did Stagnant. I thought I was ready for the whole album ...but honestly, I wasn't. Deep Peace, Tiny Tears, Canada, Mountain, Mobody's Here, I didn't quite get them. Sure, Tiny Tears was real emotional, Mountain had a cool beginning, but I didn't get it.

Then, like any prog record, after enough listens, I got it. In a big way. I got what this record was all about. I wasn't forcing myself to like it, like I did with Close to the Edge (fortunately, that hit me with its genius not too long after). I already liked it, but when I understood it, I loved it. Loved it. This album could inspire a man to start his life anew, make an emotionless prostitute cry, calm a raging man down, and basically help you in life. It is that powerful.

After Physicist, which was more or less SYL lite, Devin sat down and decided not to rush the next album, and let the songs come naturally. That's what it feels like these songs came from, right from Devin's soul, and his guitar playing and especially singing complements the songs perfectly. The other musicians do their part perfectly as well, although nothing to write home about. This album isn't about amazing musicality, it's about inspiring songs and layers and layers of....well, song. These songs are deeper than you could ever imagine. Devy himself said he'd stay up late many nights in a row just adding little effects to songs you could hardly hear, but were quite cool. And if you pay attention, you can hear them. And they work.

The songs themselves are all excellent. Deep Peace and Nobody's Here are similiar in structure, Nobody's Here having some amazing emotional singing halfway through and Deep Peace having the most amazing breakdown in the world halfway through the song. These are the songs that took the longest to get for me, because they don't jump out at you to proclaim themselves as good, they work quietly, waiting for you to appreciate them. And when you begin to appreciate the songs, then they start showing you what their made of. Stupid comparison? Yea, but it's true.

There are four uplifting songs on this album. Stagnant is the first (and the last track), and this track has some amazing singing. The melody is simply amazing, and Devy's vocal work is perfect. Summer's here...the sunlight greets the day...very memorable stuff. The next uplifting song is Canada which is all about cruising down the Canadian freeway with no worries and no real anxiety or troubles. There's not a sad or angry moment to be found on this track, and some of the lyrics are quite funny. You really do feel peaceful listening to this. Canada flows nicely into Down and Under, which is a short instrumental. This piece builds wonderfully into something amazing with Devy softly humming in the background. Lovely. I listen to this whenever I start feeling down. The last uplifting song on this album is The Fluke, which is really similiar in structure to the type of music Devy did for Ocean Machine. It's just a really fun, uplifitng piece with solid songwriting and some really nice sections around 3:00 minutes in.

The next two tracks I wanna talk about are the tracks that are kinda just... introductory. The first two, of course. Olives is extremely strange and not a listenable piece. Mountain starts with a bang, then kinda fades out and doesn't demand your attention until the end, where Devy starts screaming again. It's a nice piece, but really, its only purpose to me when I listen to the album is as an introduction to where the album really begins...which is Earth Day.

Earth Day is one of the two big knockout tracks on this album. I'm not saying that they all aren't killer, but if you were to turn on the emotional tracks of this album, this would be one of them. This song is loud, obnoxious, angry, and in-your-face the whole way. I feel like it's just about proclaiming, "HEY! LISTEN TO ME! YOU ****!". It succeeds in delivering that message, oh my it does. Great great track. Difficult to describe, you'd just have ot hear it.

The other knockout emotional song is Tiny Tears, which is the polar opposite of Earth Day. This song is one of the most emotional, beautiful pieces you'll ever hear. I don't wanan try to put words to it, but it's so amazingly beautiful. Listen to it.

This album is perfect. Even the first two tracks I wouldn't change. This is one of the best albums I've ever heard, and one of the most inspiring. Devy's work is almost divine sometimes.