Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997)
Released the same year as Strapping Young Lad's vicious "FUCK YOU" effort that was "City", this album almost serves as its 180 counterpart to show the light at the end of the tunnel of unrestrained anger and madness that was that album. Featuring much more on Devin Townsend's clean vocals, his (at times) emotional guitar playing, and his amazing (and catchy) songwriting abilities, this album is just as great as you'd probably expect, and possibly even a bit more. It's really hard to describe the sound of this album, but if I were to try my hand at it, I'd say that it sounds like the mind of a man who's very unsatisfied about the world he lives in, but can also appreciate the beauty of it. There are moments on this album like in "Night" where it sounds like a concentrated frenzy of ideas and late night thoughts thrown into a pot, "Hide Nowhere" where it sounds like an expertly done song in a musical, as if the millions of voices in Devin Townsend's head that were screaming in "City" suddenly came together in unison to perform a broadway show, "Sister" where it sounds like just sitting out on a boat with an acoustic guitar and a radio lightly humming in the background to fill the void of silence in between strokes, and so much more. This album has a habit of taking you through such different atmospheres without any of it sounding like an abrupt change, ala a Faith No More or Ween album, and trust me: From all of the albums I've listened to in my life, that's hard as shit to do.
Devin Townsend's vocals on this album range from calming to majestic and powerful, as does his guitar playing, and when you combine that with his love for intense in-your-face production that sounds like a wall of sound with many textures, it's an experience to listen and find all of the little details he inserted into the music that you normally wouldn't hear on a sub-par pair of computer speakers. Hell, in the case of a track I previously mentioned, "Sister", it's so calming in the foreground but so hectic and noisy in the background, colliding both of Devin Townsend's musical mindsets in such a natural and fluid way that you can pay attention to one or the other and hear the song in a completely different light. It's not even his amazing singing or brilliant guitar skills that really sells Devin Townsend as a legendary talent, it's his attention to detail, atmosphere, and production to really nail home his ideas in such a way that'd probably blow you the fuck away if you were on mushrooms or whatever other mind-altering substance. His production is just as intricate and beautiful as the actual songs are!!
Speaking of his songs being beautiful, lemme sidetrack for a second: There are plenty of moments in life that just stick with you for some reason. You know what moments I'm talking about: Those little memories that don't really mean a single thing to anyone but you, even if you explained the reasoning why. For me, one of those moments was the night that my grandfather died. My grandfather never really approved of much of what I did as a kid, he was a real fire-and-brimestone type preacher that didn't like my long hair, and was generally an angry guy. The last time I saw him, when I was about ten, it had been years after my grandmother died, and my grandfather married his caretaker (who was his age, mind you), and for the first time in my short life, I saw him happy. He traveled to my house from his (he lived in another state) in an RV, he pulled into our driveway, and after my mom was done hugging him and saying how happy she was that he was here, he looked at me and said "Hey boy. I like your hair." and that's my last real memory of my grandfather. The night he died, I listened to "Life" from this album, and all I could really think about was what a beautiful song it is, and how the lyrics "I'll see you on the other side!" rang true to my hopes and dreams for everyone I loved that had passed. Sure, the lyrics are simple, and I'm sure my grandfather would've scorned at the lyric of "Wouldn't you rather live it on your own even when it bends you over?" but that's just the old man being the same as always. I want this song played at my funeral, and it's generally just one of my all-time favorite songs.
"Ocean Machine: Biomech" is one of those albums that rides the fine line between simple and complicated and just gets it right. Devin Townsend doesn't need to masturbate his guitar to make an album that initially helped cement him as a great musician/songwriter. The devil, or rather, the beauty is in the details of it all. From the humongous-sounding guitar riffs that hit like a massive wave in the ocean against a ship, to the man playing them while singing his heart out about whatever is important to him, this album has a lot of emotion behind both the vocals and the guitar playing, and when you combine that with the fact that the songs are generally just amazing, sure, it isn't a perfect album, but it's one that you'd be foolish not to listen to at least once while contemplating life at night. Heavily recommended for any fan of progressive music, or just music in general, because life is too short to not listen to Devin Townsend.
9/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
