DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT: Addicted

Produced by Devin Townsend

Released: November 21, 2009

DTP's album from earlier this year was something of an oddity, even for an artist like Devin Townsend, who once recorded a concept album based on a science fiction story he wrote when he was a child. Ki was so far removed from anything he's done before that it was almost hard to associate it with Devin Townsend. Frustratingly uneven, it was Devin throwing his fans a curveball just for the sake of it, but it did announce in no uncertain terms that he intended the Project to be a separate entity from his previous outlets.

So it is both strange and satisfying (and very Townsendian) that on Addicted, Devin has retraced his steps to his blustering metal days once again. You know you're back in familiar territory as "Addicted!" rises up like a colossos, crushing its way forward on an immense bank of guitar violence and manic vocals. Indeed, the opening third sounds like what Strapping Young Lad should have done instead of The New Black, but Townsend tempers the outrageous violence with undercurrents of groove, drum loops, danceable beats and insidious melodies. Then he brings out his secret weapon, The Gathering's Anneke van Giersbergen, who takes the vocal mantle for a good percentage of the album, including a reworked version of "Hyperdrive!" (from Ziltoid the Omniscient). The songwriting and style is more in-tune with his earlier solo releases like Ocean Machine and Infinity mixed with influences from the Wildhearts ("Resolve!"), disco (everything) and commercially-laced pop music ("Ih-ah"), not to mention a song about Bender from Futurama. van Giersbergen's vocals both compliment and are a foil to Townsend's, whose performance here ranks as perhaps his most diverse ever, which says a lot.

The inclusion of van Giersbergen on Addicted is a trump card that DTP plays strongly, but Townsend's constant experimentation with vastly different musical elements also helps to make this one of his better albums, and certainly the best since Alien. Devin Townsend is back. Be afraid.

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!

Rating: 89%