Our esteemed Devy has been rather self-indulgent of late. Whilst last years “The Puzzle/Snuggles” duo explored cinematic noise-scapes, 2019s “Empath” was a crazy progressive pinball through everything in his repertoire including the kitchen sink. Sandwiched between these musical oddities during the pandemic, were a series of extensive podcasts exploring the Townsend psyche during the making of specific albums.
For those of you unfamiliar with his work, the recorded oeuvre of Mr Townsend stretches back to 1993, and extends into some fantastical realms. From art noise to esoteric country, through progressive fret gymnastics and brutal industrial death metal, not to mention pop rock, soaring classic metal and even a touch of semi-operatic theatre. 2022s “Lightwork” represents a return to the relative normality(!) of more focussed albums such as “Sky Blue” and “Transcendence”.
The arrival of “Moonpeople” is heralded with a foghorn, in keeping with the marine theme of the cover art which features a lighthouse either guarded by, or under siege from, a large tentacled creature. The song itself is a rather airy, easy listening affair. The title track follows, stepping things up a gear with some soaring vocals and female chorus. This in turn segues seamlessly into “Equinox”, a gem of a tune with tremolo-picked pop melodies set to a subtle disco beat.
“Call of the Void” is another melodic pop-rock number, with an acoustic guitar strumming away in the background, and layers of ambience woven in. Our first departure from this seemingly straight forward album comes with the staccato riff of “Heartbreaker”, a rhythmically driven number featuring breathy, whispered vocals and a marginally discordant middle section.
Changing tack completely, “Dimensions” is laid back journey through a semi-industrial neo-synth soundscape, with Borg-like vocals and our first outing of the famed Hevy Devy screaminess. Featuring a meandering discordant solo, it’s a bit of an anomaly here and more in keeping with a “Deconstruction” style project, or possibly as a Strapping Young Lad (never say never!) piece.
“Celestial Signals” stands out considerably as a bombastic, majestic, soaring pop-metal tune, before “Heavy Burden” introduces elements of the self-indulgent mucking about which bewildered listeners of previous album “Empath”. “Vacation” slows things down with some warm, easy listening country-pop in the vein of Texas or Beautiful South.
“Children of God” is the longest track on the album, with tribal-esque back-beats and layered vocals, ending with a foghorn outro that bookends the album intro. This satisfying conclusion is in stark and welcome contrast to albums as far back as “Epicloud”, which have simply fizzled out with a couple of meandering filler tracks at the end.
“Lightwork” is more focussed and structured than many of Devin Townsends recent releases. It feels like a balance between the gentle reflective progression of “Accelerated Evolution”, and the unapologetic pop-rock of “Addicted”. Frankly though, as you’d expect from the constantly evolving and creative mind of Devin Townsend, it sounds like neither.
(7.5/10 Doogz)
Leave a Reply