Canadian guitarist and producer Devin Townsend has been around in a few musical forms during over the
years. Early in his career he was introduced to Steve Vai and performed the vocals on Vai's 1993 album
Sex & Religion and toured with Vai in support of the album.
After the Sex & Religion album, Townsend's primary focus was him main band Strapping Young Lad. This was
an extreme metal band mixing various styles, including death metal and industrial metal, into Townsend's
own aggressive sound. In between and alongside the Strapping Young Lad albums, Townsend would also write his own solo
material under the names Devin Townsend, The Devin Townsend Band and eventually The Devin Townsend
Project. The Devin Townsend solo material has always appeared to be an opposite counterpart to the
Strapping Young Lad albums, being more progressive and including atmospheric and ambient elements. Check
out the track Grace here from The Devin Townsend Project's latest album Epicloud which is release today
in the UK.
Townsend's particular playing style is almost a genre of its own, and whether it be Strapping Young Lad
or his solo work it is always identifyable as Devin Townsend. He is a fan of multitracking to make a
thick wall of sound with his guitars and also uses a lot of delay and reverb and has carried out the
production for most of his solo work himself.
Check out the incredible live video of Deadhead from the 2003 Devin Townsend Band album Accelerated Evolution...
