Search - Devin Townsend :: Ocean Machine: Biomech

Hydrotherapy

Robert Peace | Westcentral PA, USA | 06/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You've fronted a highly-respected guitarist's (Steve Vai) "backup" band. You've reached new heights of extremity and belligerence with your own project (Strapping Young Lad). Now you want to substantiate yourself with a release entirely your own, with no presumption or restriction of what is expected from you. There's only one thing to do - start your own record label and record your vision. And so Devin Townsend became the sea. More correctly, his music became the voice of the sea. Ocean Machine was borne of the concept that the ocean has a soundtrack, and Mr. Townsend is the medium through which it plays. Not a concept album, per se, Biomech includes songs that stand alone on their respective merits yet flow together in an intricate tapestry of sound. An exercise in emotional and dynamic shifts, this soundtrack, like the ocean, is at once as vast and full of life as it is sparse and lonely. The ocean and its songs have many moods. Musically, this is probably one of the most rich yet understated metal albums I've had the pleasure to hear. It IS heavy, but not in what I might call the classical sense of the term. The more profoundly hefty aspects are sometimes partially buried by the vocal delivery (ie: the chorus of "Seventh Wave" and the middle refrain of "Hide Nowhere"), but the weight of this album is FELT more than it is heard. The guitar work is phenomenal and relies on substance instead of showmanship - Townsend's tunesmithing lends itself to quality over the ubiquitous self-indulgent fret acrobatics of lesser composers attempting to veil their weakness. The lyrics are profound and wide open to subjective interpretation. Some invoke general feelings, but most are attuned to specific emotions. An acquaintance of mine read the lyrics to "The Death of Music" and just shook his head. He read them again while HEARING the song and wept. That is pure unadulterated truth. That said, a warning: you will connect. The vocals, like the music, are par excellence. Townsend's voice is unlike any other and is immediately recognizable to anyone who's heard him on previous outings. And he will use it. All of it. The more esoteric aspects of his pipes are immediately apparent but hard to put a finger on. Describing his voice to someone who hasn't heard him is like describing color to a blind man. Listen to "Regulator", "Voices in the Fan", and "Funeral". The vocals in these songs not only run the gamut, they ARE are the gamut. The production and mix of Biomech bears little resemblance to its briny inspiration, save for its hugeness. The only turbidity and lack of clarity in this ocean machine is there for a reason and only at opportune moments. Samples and layers abound. Poetry, environmental oration, hundred-track vocal dubs, noises, voices, etc. are evident but add to the mystique of what exactly is going on here. In these times of hunger for true musical genius, this is manna...but from Canada instead of heaven. This album is a must. Not for Devin Townsend fans, metalheads, "undergrounders", or obscurists, but for everyone. Experience, connect, grow, and let the waters carry you out..."

Huge.

spiral_mind | Pennsylvania | 12/01/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If I could sum up the sound of Ocean Machine in one word, that would be it - HUGE. Intense. It's as heavy as Tool and as well-produced and atmospheric as Brian Eno's best work. If you crank up the volume you can rattle some walls, but if it's kept at a medium level the ambience surrounds you and fills the whole room. Layers and waves of sound are blended and mingled into an enormous crashing tapestry of sound that fills your whole head; as has been pointed out, the best way to describe it would be as the voice of the sea. Guitars flow and echo like waves. Devin's voice ranges from angry god-like thundering ("Seventh Wave") to plaintive loneliness ("Funeral") to the ramblings of the quietly insane ("Death of Music"). Even the drums sound like they're coming through a submarine haze. Listen with your head between the speakers and it'll feel like the waves are flowing back and forth through you. I don't mean to make the album sound overproduced - far from it. Biomech actually has more tasteful restraint than almost any metal album I've heard. I won't go so far as to say this is the greatest album ever recorded, as some below have done, but I'll unflinchingly say that it's one of the most well-recorded albums ever made. Dark, lonely, angry, powerful, searing, this is 73 minutes of heavy, melodic metal that'll leave you in need of a break by the time the almost-ambient "Thing Beyond Things" fades away (it's still here at the end, although listed as "Bonus Track" instead on my version). Maybe in need of some Prozac too considering just how dark, gloomy and frightening the overall tone is, with the exception of the not-quite-power-ballad "Life."Just want heavy metal? Then pass on this one; you can't just crank up Biomech and pound on things to the beat. This has to be listened to with your ears, heart and mind. Watch the waves."

The Real Thing

Chris | Western Canada | 06/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You want it? You got it. The greatest album ever recorded, Devin Townsend's Ocean Machine is the ultimate experience in heavy metal melody. Each song flows like blue waves of water, creating a sort of sonic liquid aura as they splash into the pleasure sensors of the brain, never to be forgotten.With JR Harder on bass, and Marty Chapman on drums (and Devin doing everything else), Devin Townsend has managed to create a wall of sound on this recording that would make Phil Spector drool. There is very little dead space on this album, and even when it does appear, it still feels full. And with the epic styles of certain songs, you can't help but sway to the melodies like the waves of the ocean itself. You may even find yourself singing along to "Regulator" on your first listen.I could type a million more words, describing the awesomeness of this album, but mere words can't even begin to tell the tale of Ocean Machine. Simply put, if the ocean ever made an album, this is what it would sound like. The creativity, the layers, and the heavy melodic wall of sound will come crashing down on you like the sonic waves they are."