Devin Townsend Project - 'Ki'

An album of the year candidate, Ki signifies a new and exciting musical direction for Devin Townsend.

Devin Townsend has always been one of the most eccentric musicians in metal, but it’s very likely that many are not prepared for what he has come up with on Ki. The first of a planned four-album series under the Devin Townsend Project moniker, Ki is an exercise in patience, an album guaranteed to take some time to fully digest. Townsend went for a melodic approach with Ki, teasing the listener with brief bouts of aggression, as if dangling a delicious cake out of arm’s reach.

The thirteen tracks on Ki don’t follow any type of a pre-determined design. Townsend has put everything he has into each of these songs and it shows. From the epic build-up towards chaos on “Heaven Sent” to the harsh dynamics between tender female vocals and bitter shrieks on “Gato,” Townsend has never sounded more in control of his madness. There is even a nod to 50s rock n’ roll with the bluesy “Trainfire,” with Townsend crooning like a modern-day Elvis Presley.

A tense atmosphere plays a major role in Ki. To achieve this, much of the album is ambient rock, with metal used as an emotional backdrop. Because of this musical direction, some may find the album to be uneven or plodding, a filthy beast that never gets out of its cage enough. That’s why multiple listens are a necessity, in order to let the ideas and concepts sink in. Ki is not an album about individual tracks; each one builds off the other to create a single musical entity.

Any preconceived notions of Devin Townsend as a musician and songwriter is thrown out the window with Ki. The only flaw is that the album should have ended with the masterful title track, instead of two shorter tracks. That small criticism doesn’t hinder Ki’s impact in the slightest bit, as the rest of the album is some of Townsend’s strongest written material to date, a hopeful sign that this series may be Townsend’s magnum opus.