Band:	Devin Townsend
Album:	Transcendence
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	September 09, 2016
A review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

Disc I [Transcendence]
01. Truth
02. Stormbending
03. Failure
04. Secret Sciences
05. Higher
06. Stars
07. Transcendence
08. Offer Your Light
09. From The Heart
10. Transdermal Celebration [Ween cover]
11. Sophie's Boobies [demo] [Japanese bonus]
12. Young Gods [demo] [Japanese bonus]
13. Wolves [demo] [Japanese bonus]

Disc II [Holding Patterns (Special Edition bonus)]
01. Gump
02. Celestial Signals [demo]
03. Support The Cause [demo]
04. Into The Sun [demo]
05. Time Overload [demo]
06. Lexus [demo]
07. Farther On [demo]
08. Victim [demo]
09. MonkeyMind [demo]
10. Canuckleload [demo]
11. Loud

"Transcendence" is not a big enough word to describe this album. Transcendence is the first true collaboration between Devin and the rest of the Project, featuring songwriting contributions from the stellar cast of musicians that has helped bring Devin's machinations to life over the course of several releases. Not only that, but Transcendence also returns Devin to his throne as a much more personal album than DTP's last few offerings and the strongest musical statement he has made in quite a few years.

With multiple dense, lengthy, slow-building masterpieces, Transcendence strongly resembles the first half of Deconstruction in terms of songwriting, but with the manic, insane, and humorous elements replaced by dark, brooding, often more subdued atmosphere. At the end of "Truth," now longer, heavier, and grander than its original incarnation on Infinity, Devin croons, "Everything has changed, but I am home." A lot of this album calls back to his past creative heights, but despite the presence of certain parallels and uniquely Devin characteristics, Transcendence feels brand new in many ways that Devin's last few releases could not achieve. To illustrate this point, "Failure" features a guitar solo from Devin, something so rare it was previously thought no longer to exist in the wild.

Harnessing the Brobdingnagian scale of Epicloud, the grey-skied majesty of Accelerated Evolution, and the balance between heaviness and commercialism found on Addicted!, Transcendence offers up a variety of textures and moods that all fold into a complex, powerful album that I'm sure many fans no longer believed Devin capable of unleashing after the less-than-stellar Z2 and millionth drastic reinvention (however pleasing) on Casualties Of Cool. Anneke van Giersbergen reappears throughout, as do fellow DTP alumni Ché Aimee Dorval and Katrina Natalie, but their presences are much more subdued here than on previous collaborations. Rather than sharing lead vocals with Devin or covering choruses, the trio sticks to providing ambience or an individual line here and there; I always love Devin's vocal tag teams, but with an album like Transcendence, subtlety achieves a greater impact. The simple "oh no" from Anneke in the beginning of "Secret Sciences" does so much for the song.

"Stormbending" swells into a gigantic, symphonic masterpiece before buckling down into the urgent, tense "Failure," both among Devin's best works to date; "Offer Your Light" rips through four of the fastest, most rip-roaring minutes he has recorded in ages. "Stars," the simple, easy-to-digest, "single-type" song stuck in the middle of the album, though probably the least interesting, still sounds relaxing and fun in an almost-forgotten manner. Meanwhile, DJevintownsENT 0000s his way through sections of "Higher" and "Failure," as if "Planet Of The Apes" fused with "Deadhead" and produced a heavy, crunchy, occasionally violent epic filled with dark significance and New-age charm. The breakd0wn in "Higher" is easily the most brutal thing Devin has produced since he laid Strapping Young Lad to rest in 2007. I've never counted myself a Ween fan, due to both ignorance and indifference, but the cover of "Transdermal Celebration" fits the nature of this album perfectly and closes out the voyage on a fittingly serene note.

Transcendence resurrects the emotional gestalt that made albums like City, Accelerated Evolution, and Terria so sublime and was conspicuously absent on more recent releases. Transcendence is about rainy days, melancholic introspection, and bittersweet personal realizations. It doesn't have the bristling, tortured fury of Strapping, but we're not exactly going back to "Grace" and "True North" with hearts open for angelic choruses. Listen to the grim yet reassuring chorus of "Failure," or the great joys explored in "From The Heart"; even in the most carefree and simplistic passages lies the sense that this positivity has been hard-won and tastes all the sweeter for it. The album pursues a variety of themes and feelings, but overall, Transcendence shows us that Devin continues to mature and is bringing his audience along with him.

It isn't necessary to connect with Devin on an emotional level to appreciate his music; the grandiose orchestrations and spectacular performances are just as efficient at drawing in listeners and holding audiences captive through magnificent musical voyages. Yet if you can detect the urgency, the serenity, the self-doubt, and the other visceral feelings that inform albums like Transcendence, the experience becomes that much deeper and more meaningful.

For fans who found the latest albums lacking, Devin is back; for those who never lost faith, he is better than ever. Transcendence lives up to its name like no album since Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing.