Lights! Camera! Addicted! It is simply amazing the sheer volume of music Devin Townsend has put out over the years. The Zappa-esque variety in his songmaterial is equally amazing. Like Zappa he never feels restricted by limits of any genre. And why would you? In this project he focuses on the groove side of metal. It does not contain high complex guitar riffing or mind dazzling solo’s, just a batch of simple songs with excellent grooves. The second of four albums in a series dubbed as the Devin Townsend Project.  Each album will consist of a different collection of session musicians. This time he is blessed with the company of former Gathering front woman Anneke van Giersbergen.

 

The overwhelming rich bombastic sound Addicted! is blessed with, kind of explains why every song title has an explanation marks. The bursts of energy are not to be compared with Strapping Young Lad. It is heavy as hell, but it doesn’t go into hyperdrive. As an apt chosen title, it has got a lot of addictive groovy riffs. At least it catches my interest from the first tones of the opening track. It has been a while since I got a kick of just a simple and basic riff. Some might entitle this like Rammstein, but I totally disagree. Those guys know how to hide their lack of talent; Devin Townsend is capable of much more. He only uses what he needs to write good songs. You can clearly hear that in the material he has put out now. And more importantly, the songs don’t sound alike.

 

My god, how the hell can I choose a highlight here? I think the album is overall great. Anneke’s voice is simply amazing on songs like ‘Supercrush!’ It contains easily the best melodic vocals I heard this year. I was never crazy about the stuff she did with The Gathering, but here she shows that she is truly a great singer.

This second instalment that has appeared under the moniker Devin Townsend Project is highly energetic, fresh, which leaves no time to breathe. It is along the lines of his previous work like Ocean Machine and Accelerated Evolution. To put it in the words of bandleader himself: ‘10 good kick ass rocking songs, no bullshit. Simple songs, heavy without being dark and depressive. That’s what I wanted to achieve.’ And yes he did it again. The big wall of sound is addictive. To be continued as I’m looking forward to release number three.  This is simply one of the best releases of 2009.