Devin Townsend - Terria (2001) Reviews

I never considered myself much of a fan of this whole "experimental/post metal/tech metal" thing (I don't really understand what any genre of music with the word "post" in it means). I bought this album because it was cheap. I knew of Devin Townsend by reputation, but have never thought of myself as a fan. He did produce Stuck Mojo's 'Pigwalk' though, and that album is bloody brilliant!

But 'Terria'... one great big ball of "meh" from me. I find most of the songs too slow paced for my liking. Not that I mind slower songs, but these ones just plod along uninterestingly. Other than two songs, 'Earth Day' and 'Nobody's Here' (admittedly, two very good songs), I find most of the album boring. There's nothing catchy or memorable that incites anything from me other than dreariness.

The record does have a very "big" sound, and the vocals blend in with the music very well to create an almost dreamlike ambience. Sadly it just doesn't do anything to make the album any more appealing to me.

Devin Townsend's 'Terria' is not awful by any stretch, but it's just really not my thing. Simple as that.

I'd rather listen to Stuck Mojo!

Devin Townsend is one of the most active solo acts in the progressive metal scene, but he didn't start out a genius.  No, his first album is a mistagged and overhyped (but unique and good-spirited) album called Biomech, released under the name Ocean Machine.  It's considered by many to be a big step forward for modern metal, but IMO it was only an alt-metal stepping stone towards his future progressive sound.  That sound would be improved and further explored over a few albums until we finally got to his fourth: Terria.

Terria is constantly surprising, applies the shoegaze production of Biomech to a number of soft and extreme rock and metal influences, and keeps the album consistent through the production values.  Even on the third track, Earth Day, we get a full example of the best genre-traits of Townsend's diverse range at the time, so it's like Earth Day is a perfect representation of what the whole album has to offer.  Unfortunately, the album has a bad habit of using too much noise, almost drowning everything out.  So while this is a more advanced counterpart to Biomech for a greater sense of diversity and good balance, it's still shoving its biggest mistake down the lister's throat, so it's not quite perfect.  But the album does a good job at drawing the listener into this shoegaze metal world and taking you on a world tour with some surprising compositions.  Terria is IMO easily Townsend's greatest effort.