The Devin Townsend Project - Addicted

November 23, 2009

Reviewer: Matt

Addicted is the second in Devin Townsend’s widely publicized four album cycle under the moniker The Devin Townsend Project!  The first album in that quadrilogy, Ki, saw Townsend toning down his patented angst into a generally well received mellow progressive rock album!  Aside from a few very strong releases, I’ve never been particularly impressed by Townsend’s extensive catalogue!  He has a wealth of ideas, but many of them seem only half thought-out, as if he rushes through the recording process eager to move on to the next idea!  Addicted is illustrative of this problem: Devy sought to make an infectious pop rock album, but came to the studio armed with a very limited repertoire of riffs and hooks! 

The ten tracks on Addicted are structurally simple, relying on verse/chorus songwriting and anchoring the riffs to the vocal melodies!  Unfortunately, only a few songs on Addicted actually succeed in delivering effective vocal hooks, and the deemphasized riffs can’t carry the songs!  Townsend blogged about Anneke van Giersbergen’s substantial contribution (she appears on most of the songs) and their mutual love of ABBA as selling points for the album, but even her appearance and cannot save the record!  Townsend fails to challenge her, giving her a narrow tonal range to work with, and with the exception of her beautiful performance at the end of ”Numbered,” Anneke’s presence is not effectively utilized!

It’s not all bad news! “Bend It Like Bender!” has a ridiculously catchy chorus performed by Anneke!  “Supercrush!” is a haunting, heavier ballad that would have fit well on Infinity or Terria but is Devy’s only memorable vocal performance on the album!  “Hyperdrive,” reworked from Ziltoid the Omniscent and with Anneke replacing Devy, is a significant improvement over the original!  Curiously titled “In-Ah!” is Devy channeling Death Cab for Cuite and is actually the most enjoyable song on the album!  “The Way Home!” is conspicuously the only track with solid metal riffing throughout, but at a brief 3:13 is over too fast! Nothing here is terrible, but nothing is great either!  I found myself enjoying many of the songs, but they have the feeling of being conceptually incomplete and made by a musician spreading himself too thin!

Addicted feels rushed, hurried to market, like Devy is content with treading water and uninterested in putting everything he has into his music!  There’s some good material scattered throughout: some nice vocal hooks, a few good riffs.  But Addicted falls glaringly short of the best albums in Devy’s catalogue, and will likely be forgotten by the time the third Devin Townsend Project album drops.

Release Date: November 16, 2009
Label: HevyDevy Records/
Inside Out

TRACK LISTING

1.  Addicted!
2.  Universe in a Ball!
3.  Bend It Like Bender!
4.  Supercrush!
5.  Hyperdrive!
6.  Resolve!
7.  Ih-ah!
8.  The Way Home!
9  .Numbered!
10.  Awake!

Total playing time: 46:49

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