Devin Townsend Project - Addicted

Genre: Experimental / Progressive Rock
Year: 2009
Country: Canada
Tracklist:

1.	Addicted!	05:36
2.	Universe in a Ball!	04:09
3.	Bend It Like Bender!	03:37
4.	Supercrush!	05:13
5.	Hyperdrive!	03:36
6.	Resolve!	03:12
7.	Ih-ah!	03:45
8.	The Way Home!	03:14
9.	Numbered!	04:55
10.	Awake!	09:44
Total playing time		46:49

Download (depositfiles)
Even within the grimmest of frostbitten winterdemons hides a goddamn hippie. How can one otherwise explain the constant urge to merge “happy” and “metal” into something that actually makes sense? So far, this fusion had mostly led to the most abominable cheesefests known to mankind, but if there is one person on this world to whom we can entrust the task of creating a genuinely good natured metal album it’s Devin Townsend. Since ‘Addicted’ is exactly such an album, check your corpsepaint at the door please.

With the brooding and restrained ‘Ki’, the first part of his four album project, Townsend may have alienated parts of his fanbase, so let’s start this review with some assuring words: ‘Addicted’ is a lot more representative of what Devin has done in the past. The album is very much in line with what he did with The Devin Townsend Band, Ocean Machine, Ziltoid, etcetera. There is only one slight difference: ‘Addicted’ is a lot better! Despite more or less returning to the kind of loud, layered, musicalised metal he Canadian is known for, Townsend has retained the newfound confidence and his open mind to an open sound that could be found on ‘Ki’. This has resulted in his most crushing production and, more importantly, his strongest songwriting to date.

‘Addicted’ sounds instantly recognizable. Devin’s trademark style is just all over the place. From the opening title track to the subsequent ‘Universe In A Ball!’, a rollercoaster ride of a track with a very unusual beat, everything sounds extremely familiar, but then the next song, the brilliantly titled ‘Bend It Like Bender!’ is a complete curveball; with its upbeat rock-meets-disco rhythm and a chorus that is about as catchy as the Mexican flu, the album kicks into top gear from these on. It is also this song the features the first of several utterly dominating performances by Anneke van Giersbergen (Agua De Annique, ex-The Gathering), who appears on eight out of this album’s ten songs.

The remaining songs just keep this momentum going right until the very end of these 46 minutes. ‘Addicted’ is simply a barrage of great riffs and excellent choruses that are a clear invitation for singing along obnoxiously loud and woefully out of tune whilst driving insanely fast on the motorway. Naming any highlights would be a nigh impossible task, but a song that does stand really out is ‘Hyperdrive!’, which may be very familiar to everyone owning the ‘Ziltoid’ record. Anneke’s rendition of the song on ‘Addicted’ is not only by far superior to the original, it is also simply goosebump inducing. What makes ‘Addicted’ stand out so much is the fact that this is just an unapologetically heavy album. It’s simply loud, good fun, without any trace of guilt, shame or any of that. What is left is an album filled with straightforward, seemingly simple songs that have a lot going on beneath the surface. ‘Addicted’ also features stellar performances from Townsend, drummer Ryan van Poederooyen en most of all Anneke van Giersbergen, who has easily done her very best work since leaving The Gathering.

Finally some words of comfort to all those grim and frostbitten winterdemons: don’t be afraid to include this one in your top 10 of 2009. Given how uplifting and FUN ‘Addicted’ is, this album might just as well be much more dangerous than the whole Burzum back catalogue, especially if listened to in traffic. It’s either that or you’ll get a number of speeding tickets that is simply criminal.