Review by Xephyr for Devin Townsend - Empath (2019)

Empathy Achieved

Empath seems to be the beginning of another era for Devin Townsend, with his name alone replacing Devin Townsend Project as the artist for the first time since Ziltoid the Omniscient. Devin also funded the release of Empath out of his own pocket, making this album a somewhat risky business venture considered what's packed inside of it. This setup gave Devin exactly what he was looking for at the time: full creative freedom. As someone who wasn't too much of a fan of Transcendence, Z², or Epicloud, I can see why Devin wanted to break the shackles and let his somewhat eccentric mind run wild. Emapath is the brand of material that can only come from someone like Devin Townsend, who is remarkably musical but has had to suffer through mental hardships as well. In a lot of ways, Empath succeeds in showcasing and celebrating those hardships by leaving any ounce of caution at the door and delivering an album that is pure, unbridled insanity.

The theme of Empath is that there is no theme. Is that a cheesy subject? Absolutely, but it's what Empath excels at. The genre defying randomness of the entire record is an experience in itself, with the first real track "Genesis" hardly sticking to one musical idea for more than 4 measures. It's an assault on the senses, with dozens of different instruments and sound effects blaring into your ears with Devin's "signature" brick-wall mixing and production that has been present on his albums for the past few years. The lunacy of Empath's scope, which combines orchestra, choir, a full metal band, and any other sort of noise imaginable, is all fused into a wall of impenetrable sound can be daunting and off-putting. All of these nonsensical twists and turns, as jarring as they can be, create this absurd but captivating experience that is unapologetic in expressing Devin's inner machinations.

It would be impossible to truly discuss Empath without diving into the man himself, as his past and personality sheds quite a bit of light on kind of project that Empath is. Although I've only seen him live once, his personality is true to all the descriptions of being corny, eccentric, and passionate. With a little digging into his personal issues mentioned in interviews, the fact that he has been diagnosed as bipolar quickly surfaces and suddenly Empath begins to become more than just a random wall of noise. When Devin had first began his solo excursions, Biomech had been released alongside Strapping Young Lad's City, showing two polar opposites of his music. Twenty-two years later, Devin has taken his two musical personalities and smashed them together with zero remorse, leaving a chaotic but highly personable product behind. It took me quite a few listens, but Empath finally started to click when I realized that I was musically experiencing Devin Townsend's mid-life crisis. Sure, a lot of the lyrics may be overused and clichéd, but that's very much who Devin is, and a lot of the issues posed by Empath made me think about my own life in a very clichéd way.

Empath rips you from your sedentary island paradise with the realization that the hardships and monsters of life are how you create yourself. Once you start creating that life, can you pick yourself back up from hardship? Do you deserve the life that you have, or have you somehow lost yourself in the process? Through all the chaos of Empath's composition, Devin's struggle became a way for me to reflect on my own experiences and where I'm currently standing in my life, which is a very powerful affair for me.

Let Empath take you wherever it chooses and it undoubtedly becomes greater than a random jumble of genres and jarring transitions. The instrumentation is spot on, especially the drumming in "Hear Me" and "Singularity", and the sheer amount of content packed into each layer of the crammed mix ensures replay-ability. It's definitely not for everyone, but if it clicks, Empath is one of the most powerful progressive metal albums out there, living up to its name of being able to deliver all kinds of emotions and feelings to the listener if they're susceptible to receive them. I can't say what this release means for Devin Townsend going forward, but it was incredible to derive Empath's meaning to me as well as its meaning for Devin.