Canadian/American art rock quartet Envy Of None have announced that they will release their second album, Stygian Wavz, through Kscope on March 14.
The band have also shared a brand new video for the track Stygian Waves, which follows the release of previous singles Not Dead Yet and Under The Stars, both of whch also feature on the upcoming album
“This track is a favourite of all 4 EONs,” enthuses former Coney Hatch bassist Andy Curran. “Despite the fact of the spartan lyrical content, this song features our sweet Maiah on lead vocals. Her harmonies and layers of vocals are literally symphonic! It’s hard to put a finger on what style or genre this one is…and we’re proud of that!”
Curran is joined on the album by fellow bandmates, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson andvocalist Maiah Wayne and producer and engineer Alfio Annibalini.
Stygian Wavz will be released on a selection of formats including coloured vinyl, standard black vinyl, CD, Blu-ray, digitally and as a special deluxe edition boxset, which includes CD and Blu-ray (with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround & Hi-Res Stereo Mixes and 4 promo videos), plus Gatefold Green & Black Marble LP with individual band member prints and a 12-page booklet featuring track-by-track notes from the band and exclusive photography.
You can view the new artwork and tracklisting below.
Envy Of None: Stygian Wavz 1. Not Dead Yet 2. The Story 3. Under The Stars 4. Thrill Of The Chase 5. Handle With Care 6. That Was Then 7. Raindrops 8. New Trip 9. Clouds 10. The End 11. Stygian Waves
Sabaton will soon release The War To End All Wars – The Movie to streaming services.
Sweden’s power metal war dogs will make their animated, 67-minute motion picture available on Apple TV, Google Play, Youtube and Amazon Prime from March 11. It can now be pre-ordered via Apple TV ahead of release.
The band say The War To End All Wars – The Movie, which features songs from their namesake First World War-themed album, “takes viewers on a captivating journey through the harrowing and heroic stories of World War I”.
“It brings to life the remarkable and often untold experiences of those who lived through the Great War,” they continue. “Inspired by the narratives behind the songs of Sabaton’s 10th studio album The War To End All Wars, the film blends historical accuracy with creative artistry, all supported by a powerful musical score.
“These stories carry deep meaning and are presented in a unique and engaging format. The War To End All Wars – The Movie also features animated and live-action appearances by band members.”
Sabaton put out their War To End All Wars album in 2022, following the release of their similarly First World War-inspired effort The Great War in 2019.
The tie-in film was announced in late 2023 and premiered in numerous war museums that November. The events were part of the band’s History Rocks drive, designed to raise awareness of the historical events which inspire their music.
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“The idea of this movie was initially to show journalists the stories behind the song of the latest album The War To End All Wars,” bassist Pär Sundström said at the time.
“Over the years we have met a lot of museums and talked to a lot of museums who have informed us about the difficulties of operating. They always have a constant struggle to find a new audience. A lot of them have asked us, ‘Is there anything Sabaton can do to help us, can we collaborate on something?’, and here we go.
“With the History Rocks project, we have come up with an idea where local museums can benefit from all our fans.”
Sabaton are expected to release a new album later this year. It will be their first since 2016’s The Last Stand to feature returning guitarist Thobbe Englund. Vocalist Joakim Brodén told Metal Hammer in 2023 that the project will not centre around the First World War.
“We could do 50 more albums and never run out of fantastic stories,” he said, “but we’ve done the ones we feel the most passionate about for now. We’re not going to go into the studio and look at more World War I stuff – I need a break! Ha ha ha!”
Nov 14: Cologne Lanxess Arena, Germany Nov 15: Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena, Germany Nov 16: Ostrava Ostravar Aréna, Czech Republic Nov 18: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland Nov 20: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany Nov 21: Vienna Stadthalle, Austria Nov 22: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland Nov 24: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany Nov 25: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany Nov 26: Esch sur Alzette Rockhal, Luxembourg Nov 28: Paris Accor Arena, France Nov 29: Lyon LDLC Arena, France Dec 01: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands Dec 02: Antwerp Sportpaleis, Belgium Dec 04: London O2 Arena, UK Dec 05: Manchester Co-Op Live, UK Dec 06: Nottingham Motorpoint, UK Dec 08: Hannover ZAG Arena, Germany Dec 09: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark Dec 11: Oslo Telenor, Norway
Ringo Starr has announced a pair of star-studded benefit concerts to help raise funds for Los Angeles wildfire relief.
The shows will take place at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium tonight and tomorrow. Starr — who recently released his T Bone Burnett-produced country album, Look Up — will be joined by artists from throughout the rock and country worlds. Among them, Jack White, Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings, Emmylou Harris, Mickey Guyton, Jamey Johnson, Brenda Lee and War and Treaty.
The performances will reportedly feature country renditions of such Beatles classics as “Boys,” “Act Naturally,” “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Yellow Submarine” and “Don’t Pass Me By,” as well as Ringo’s beloved solo hit “It Don’t Come Easy.”
Officially dubbed Ringo & Friends At The Ryman, the gigs will be taped for a TV special airing later this spring on CBS and Paramount+.
“It is always a thrill to play the Ryman, and this time we are going country!” Starr said via statement. “T Bone has put together a great show. I’m excited to hear my songs done in a country vein and to play with this incredible group of musicians. It will be two nights of peace, love and country music.”
Ringo Starr’s Country History
Look Up marks Starr’s return to country, a genre he embraced in 1970 on his first solo album, Beaucoup of Blues. The drummer was also responsible for several of the Beatles’ more country-leaning tunes, including “Act Naturally,” “What Goes On” and “Don’t Pass Me By.”
Meanwhile, Starr is set to hit the road with his All Starr band beginning in June.
Ringo Starr’s 10 Most Historic Moments
Ringo Starr seldom sang with the Beatles – just 11 songs total – but that’s hardly the sum of his value.
Alex Lifeson‘s Envy of None has announced a March 14 release date for their sophomore album, Stygian Wavz, and shared the title track from the upcoming release.
Stygian Wavz follows Envy of None’s self-titled 2022 debut album and 2023’s That Was Then, This Is Now EP. The 11-track album is available to preorder in multiple formats including colored vinyl, black vinyl, CD, Blu-ray, digital and a deluxe-edition box set.
You can watch the “Stygian Waves” music video and see the full album track listing below.
“Stygian Waves” features Lifeson’s characteristically shapeshifting guitar work, a heavy groove and pulsating synths, while lead singer Maiah Wynne delivers evocative, non-lexical vocals.
“This track is a favorite of all 4 EONs,” songwriter and bassist Andy Curran said in a statement. “Despite the fact of the spartan lyrical content, this song features our sweet Maiah on lead vocals. Her harmonies and layers of vocals are literally symphonic! It’s hard to put a finger on what style or genre this one is … and we’re proud of that!”
Envy of None previously teased Stygian Wavz with the singles “Not Dead Yet” and “Under the Stars,” both of which appear on the album.
Envy Of None, ‘Stygian Wavz’ Track Listing 1. “Not Dead Yet” 2. “The Story” 3. “Under the Stars” 4. “Thrill of the Chase” 5. “Handle With Care” 6. “That Was Then” 7. “Raindrops” 8. “New Trip” 9. “Clouds” 10. “The End” 11. “Stygian Waves”
Rush Albums Ranked
We examine Rush’s 19 studio albums, from 1974’s muscular self-titled release to a series of remarkable late-career triumphs.
Wilco has announced dates for a new tour. The band’s upcoming Sweet and Sour Spring 2025 tour includes dates with the alt-country and indie artist Waxahatchee.
The shows start on April 25 in Fairhope, Alabama, a week after leader Jeff Tweedy plays a pair of solo dates in the band’s hometown of Chicago.
Wilco’s new run of dates coincides with the release of two archival projects from the band: a four-CD box celebrating the 20th anniversary of 2024’s A Ghost Is Born, out on Feb. 7, and a three-LP version of 2010’s The Whole Love arriving in April.
The group’s last album, Cousin, was released in 2023. In 2024, Wilco issued a six-song EP titled Hot Sun Cool Shroud.
Where Is Wilco Playing in 2025?
The Sweet and Sour Spring 2025 dates will keep Wilco on the road for nearly three months. Shows with Waxahatchee run through mid-May; the band will head out on overseas dates, including some festival performances, later that month.
The tour is scheduled to conclude on June 29 in Valencia, Spain.
The show dates are below; more information can be found on Wilco’s website.
Wilco 2025 Tour Fri. Apr. 25 – Fairhope, AL @ Halstead Amphitheater Sat. Apr. 26 – Tallahassee, FL @ Adderley Amphitheater % Sun. Apr. 27 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Mahaffey Theater Tue. Apr. 29 – Miami, FL @ Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theatre % Wed. Apr. 30 – St. Augustine, FL @ The St. Augustine Amphitheater % Fri. May 2 – Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company % Sat. May 3 – New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theatre % Sun. May 4 – Houston, TX @ The Lawn at White Oak % Tue. May 6 – San Antonio, TX @ The Espee % Wed. May 7 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory % Fri. May 9 – Nashville, TN @ The Pinnacle % Sat. May 10 – Atlanta, GA @ Chastain Park Amphitheatre % Sun. May 11 – Chattanooga, TN @ Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium % Tue. May 13 – Wilmington, NC @ Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park % Thu. May 15 – Charlotte, NC @ The Amp Ballantyne % Fri. May 16 – Asheville, NC @ Asheville Yards % Sat. May 17 – Louisville, KY @ Iroquois Amphitheater Sun. May 25 – São Paulo, BR @ C6 Festival Sun. Jun. 15 – Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival Mon. Jun. 16 – Antwerp, BE @ OLT Rivierenhof Tue. Jun. 17 Antwerp, BE @ OLT Rivierenhof Thu. Jun. 19 – Dachau, DE @ Dachau Musiksommer Fr. Jun. 20 – Dortmund, DE @ JunkYard Open Air Sun. Jun. 22 – London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall Mon. Jun. 23 – Paris, FR @ La Cigale Thu. Jun. 26 – Barcelona, ES @ Alma Barcelona Fri. Jun. 27 – Madrid, ES @ Alma Madrid Sat. Jun. 28 – Granada, ES @ Recinto Ferial Fermasa Sun. Jun. 29 – Valencia, ES @ Marina Norte % with Waxahatchee
Jeff Tweedy Tour Dates Fri. Apr. 18 – Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theater Sat. Apr. 19 – Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theater
Wilco Albums Ranked
They started out as an alt-country offshoot but soon turned into one of the best bands in America.
Happy 59th Ian Mayo (BURNING RAIN) – January 14th, 1966 Marco Hietala (NIGHTWISH) – January 14th, 1966
Happy 56th Dave Grohl (FOO FIGHTERS, NIRVANA) – January 14th, 1969
Happy 53rd Kenn Jackson (PRETTY MAIDS) – January 14th, 1972
Happy 42nd Talena Atfield (KITTIE) – January 14th, 1983
Happy 51st Brent Hinds (MASTODON) – January 14th, 1974
HEAVY RELEASES
Happy 45th RUSH’s Permanent Waves – January 1st, 1980
Happy 42nd EXCITER’s Heavy Metal Maniac – January 14th, 1983
Happy 33rd LILLIAN AXE’ Poetic Justice – January 14th, 1992
Happy 15th ABORTED’s Coronary Reconstruction – January 14th, 2010
Happy 14th BELPHEGOR’s Blood Magick Necromance – January 14th, 2011
Happy 10th DR. SIN’s Inactus – January 14th, 2015
Happy 3rd Enterprise Earth – The Chosen – January 14th, 2022 Fit For An Autopsy – Oh What the Future Holds – January 14th, 2022 Ilium – Quantum Evolution Event – January 14th, 2022 Shadow Of Intent – Elegy – January 14th, 2022 Skillet – Dominion – January 14th, 2022 Tony Martin – Thorns – January 14th, 2022 Underoath – Voyeurist – January 14th, 2022
The Vito Bratta Forever YouTube channel, dedicated to original White Lion guitarist Vito Bratta, has shared rare fan-filmed video of the band petrforming the Ozzy Osbourne classic “I Don’t Know” at an undisclosed location. Check it out below.
White Lion was officially active from 1983 – 1992, releasing four albums: Fight To Survive (1985), Pride (1987), Big Game (1989) and Mane Attraction (1991). The band called it quits in September 1991 and Bratta retired from the music business.
Guitar World caught up with Bratta in 2023, and during the interview he discussed White Lion’s debut album, Fight To Survive, released in 1985. Bratta calls it a “fucking disaster” specifically because of the guitar parts that made it onto the record.
He reveals that the entire album consists of scratch tracks. For those who don’t know, scratch tracks are demo tracks recorded as a temporary filler to help hold down the rest of the song. These are meant to be replaced with final takes, which Bratta never got to do.
Bratta: “None of it is what it was supposed to be. I laid the scratch guitars down, and then the producer, Peter (Hauke) told me, ‘OK, Vito, that’s good for now. We’ll have you come back in and finish the guitars when the rest of the album is done. So, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, I guess I’ll redo these and put the polish on after.’ See, I was a dumb kid. I knew nothing. I’d never been in a recording studio. And now, I’m in Germany with this bald guy yelling at me. I won’t say I was scared, but I wasn’t going to question him.
Long story short, Mike (Tramp) finishes his vocals, and Peter tells me, ‘We’re done. You can go home now.’ And I’m like, ‘What about the guitars?’ Peter just looked at me and said, ‘Sorry. We ran out of money and time. We’re going with what we’ve got.’ I was devastated. I couldn’t believe a bunch of shitty scratch tracks would be my first record.”
Paganfest 2025 – featuring Alestorm, Ensiferum, Týr, Heidevolk and Elvenking – kicked off on January 8 in Hamburg, Germany at Grosse Freiheit. Alestorm has shared a behind-the-scenes vlog from their January 11th show in Oberhausen, Germany at Turbinenhalle. Check it out below.
Remaining dates on the tour are as follows:
January 14 – Bremen, Germany – Aladin Music Hall 16 – Birmingham, United Kingdom – O2 Academy 17 – Edinburgh, United Kingdom – O2 Academy 18 – Manchester, United Kingdom – O2 Victoria Warehouse 19 – London, United Kingdom – O2 Academy Brixton 20 – Brussels, Belgium – Ancienne Belgique 21 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Schlachthof 22 – Paris, France – Zenith 23 – Pratteln, Switzerland – Z7 Konzertfabrik 24 – Geiselwind, Germany – Eventzentrum * extended show with special guests 25 – Munich, Germany – Backstage 26 – Liege, Belgium – OM 28 – Milan, Italy – Alcatraz 29 – Lyon, France – Transbordeur 30 – Lausanne, Switzerland – Salle Metropole 31 – Meisenthal, France – Halle Verrière
February 1 – Leipzig, Germany – Felsenkeller 2 – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013 Poppodium 3 – Hannover, Germany – Capitol 5 – Krakow, Poland – Studio 6 – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja 7 – Zlin, Czechia – Hala Datart 8 – Budapest, Hungary – Barba Negra *extended show with special guests 9 – Zagreb, Croatia – Tvornica
German folk musician Patty Gurdy recently released a new single, “Peg Leg Silly-Billy”, featuring a guest performance by Alestorm frontman, Christopher Bowes. Check out the official video below.
Slipknot percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan has teased the nu metal nine-piece will release a torrent of new music in the near-future.
During a recent interview with Knotfest, the Iowans’ co-founder says that their next album is in the works and that progress continues on their long-anticipated offshoot project Look Outside Your Window.
For starters, he declares when looking ahead to 2025, “We got a new album.”
“2025 I’m going to work on ‘No Complaining’,” Clown says in full. “Just not going to do it anymore. I realised my expectations are never going to be met. So I need to give myself a break. It’s probably the last part of ego I need to work on. That way I can just float. Nothing will bother me. I can just work on positive potential.”
He continues: “We got a new album. We’re gonna start at some point. I just want to roll into that with an energy like it’s all starting again. That’s how I want to approach it.”
Clown also suggests that the band’s recent 25th-anniversary tour has galvanised them into writing new music. He says there have been mentions of writing in Slipknot’s rehearsal room, as they did during their formative days.
“If we got our room and our shit’s going, someone’s gonna pop, everybody’s gonna join in,” he says. “And if we go, ‘Oh, that’s good,’ that fucker will be done by the end of the night and then massaged over a month. And that’’ the best way to write fucking Slipknot music.”
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New Slipknot music has been teased for some time now. A single called Long May You Die was announced back in the spring but, at time of publishing, is yet to see the light of day.
Elsewhere in the interview, Clown offers yet another update on the long-rumoured, long-delayed Look Outside Your Window, which has apparently been confirmed for an early 2025 release date.
Slipknot members Clown, Corey Taylor (vocals), Sid Wilson (turntables) and Jim Root (guitars) recorded Look Outside Your Window during downtime in the sessions for 2008 album All Hope Is Gone. In the latest twist regarding the much-talked-about, little-listened-to effort, Clown insists that it isn’t a Slipknot album at all.
“It was never a Slipknot album,” he claims. “Not while it was happening, not while I’ve held onto it for ten years, and certainly not fuckin’ when it comes out.”
Although Look Outside Your Window now stands as one of nu metal’s biggest white whales, snippets of it have been heard. The track ’Til We Die made the deluxe edition of All Hope Is Gone. Plus, the song My Pain from 2019 album We Are Not Your Kind evolved out of material recorded for the project.
The long wait for Look Outside Your Window, the existence of which was revealed back in 2018, has caused fatigue among both the Slipknot fanbase and the band themselves. Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer in December, Root said that he’s repeatedly threatened to leak the project and get it over and done with.
“Man, I keep telling Clown that I’m just gonna throw it up on Youtube, then put a link to it on my Instagram or something,” the guitarist stated. “He’s like, ‘Don’t dude, just don’t.’”
“I thought it was just going to be a fun little party record, but my grief started leaching into the music”: Devin Townsend is slightly embarrassed by his new album, and that’s a good thing
(Image credit: Tanya Ghosh)
Devin Townsend’s 22nd album was meant to be fun: a record full of primal riffs and mammoth choruses. But when tragedy repeatedly struck during its writing, the effervescent Canadian was forced to take stock. His grieving process has translated into PowerNerd, his most honest, vulnerable and challenging record yet.
Take Devin Townsend’s 22nd studio album at face value and you’ve got one of prog’s most hardworking, tirelessly anthemic songwriters going gung-ho at party metal anthems. But to scrape the surface is to pay PowerNerd a disservice.
Its outer linings may have more in common with fist-pumping stadium rock anthems than King Crimson, but dig a bit deeper and you’ll find Hevy Devy at his most exposed after his plans for the record unravelled at the seams. The most extroverted of settings ended up being the perfect environment for Townsend to come to terms with his grief.
PowerNerd is the first of a trio of records that present the man behind the music in a near-autobiographical way. It was dreamt up as a light-hearted “appetiser” before, in his own words, “the orchestral musical craziness of The Moth and the ambient loop-based weirdness of Axolotl .” Together, they will paint a picture of Townsend’s multi-dimensional musical DNA.
As the old adage goes, though, the best-laid plans of a Canadian progger often go awry and, while Townsend was riffing away in his home studio, his life turned upside down. “Circumstances dictated that my life went absolutely tits up,” he says. “I thought it was just going to be a fun little party record, but it ended up being so emotionally intense; my grief started leaching into the music. It became a collision of two things that summarises my personality in ways that maybe some of the other records don’t.
“On one hand,” he continues, “it’s a simple record: it’s Motörhead riffs and Bon Jovi choruses. But on the other, it was the soundtrack to this period of my life that just had a lot of loss. The combination was not what I expected. By the time I got to the [penultimate] song Goodbye, I was so fucking broken by the experience of losing people.”
Townsend has never shirked away from discussing his mental health in interviews or in his music, but it’s never been presented like it is on PowerNerd. Much of its instrumental nucleus remains, with signature Devin guitar work and top-of-the-mountain choruses aplenty, but those elements are blended with the grappling with grief.
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“The whole idea is the record follows the process of ‘How do you get through losing someone?’” he explains. “You can’t just stop working. So you get through it. Each song progressively goes through that. It wasn’t planned – it just happened.
A big part of the process of losing someone was gaining this different view of myself
“Glacier is about the death of somebody, and then Goodbye is when you make peace with it. I think, for much of my life, I haven’t processed these emotions. I could turn it into work because of my tendency to get hyper-focused on projects; I hadn’t recognised I’d repressed so many of those emotions. So when the dam started to crack, I had to surrender to it.
“I always thought you could intellectualise things and just keep things under wraps – but when it wants to come out, it does, and it did during the making of the record. There were moments where I didn’t think the record was going to happen. But I hope that the process of going through the record and experiencing the stages of grief is of some use to people. It was to me.”
PowerNerd stands as a manifesto for powering through adversity and turning what can be perceived as weaknesses – such as Townsend’s hypersensitivity to emotions – into superpowers. And as he soldiered on, lessons were learned of his larger-than-life self.
“So much of my career and my work has been complicated music: it’s lots of notes and complicated time signatures and crazy stuff. But a big part of the process of losing someone was gaining this different view of myself.
I went down all these rabbit holes with different ideas and sentiments, but they all sounded like I was lying
“I told myself I had my shit together – but I realised I was still a kid, I was still 15 years old. That’s why the music on this record became ironically appropriate. I grew up in a lower-middle class kind of area and we didn’t have a ton of money. The social scene was to go to a bonfire; you listened to AC/DC and Motörhead and it was girls and beer. Part of the honesty of this record was just like, ‘Oh, that’s where my lineage is, more so than a lot of the prog stuff that people would assume.’
“I didn’t listen to Gentle Giant, King Crimson or Genesis back then. So when I got sideswiped by life, I realised the stuff that I loved when I was 15 was coming out of me. It was a little strange to admit that, because that music has less social collateral for what people think is appropriate for a guy who writes prog.
“And so all my childhood, and all the loss and trauma, coalesced into this imperfect, perfect thing.”
In the quest to connect with his emotions, Townsend found his usually dense and exuberant production to be insincere. “It’s definitely still full of too much shit, like I normally do,” he admits. “But it was a conscious decision [to strip things back], for sure. I had lyrics written for it that were simple and dumb. But then I realised I actually don’t feel that way.
“The biggest problem was the verses – I couldn’t find an approach that seemed true enough. Typically what I do is I track four vocals, tune them and time-align them, and it’s this big pad of vocals. But every time I did that it sounded distant, emotionally, in a way that was in opposition to what was going on.
“By the end I was so pressed for time I ended up doing one vocal with a handheld mic without tuning it and without anything, and it just sounded so vulnerable. So I kept it. It was weird because I didn’t love how it sounded, but it was the only thing that sounded appropriate. I went down all these rabbit holes with different ideas and sentiments, but they all sounded like I was lying.
I couldn’t get a hold of him for about a month, then he’s like, ‘I joined Slipknot.’ It was the best excuse, to be honest
“After all the years of choirs and orchestras and 700 tracks and all this shit, I’m just like, ‘Guys, it’s been a rough few years. I’m a confused 15-year-old from Surrey.’ PowerNerd ended up being the most vulnerable thing that I think I could possibly have put out. And I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t some clever artistic move on my part. It’s just that my fucking life exploded while I was making a party record.”
With a crack in his voice, he adds, “It was a leap of faith in a lot of ways to do that. I realised I’ve been insecure about it for so many years. You can hide yourself behind the production and make yourself sound like a god on top of Mount Olympus slaying a dragon. But what my voice actually sounds like is the verses on PowerNerd – I’m a human being.
“And there’s a part of me that’s embarrassed. You want people to think of you as always being a powerhouse or whatever, but that’s not what I wanted with this, to be honest. A more direct nature seemed more fitting.”
Another thing to conspire against what should have been a joyous wham- bam-thank-you-ma’am of a record was the personnel, or, more accurately, the lack thereof. Former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande had been lined up to track the drums. A guitarist, bassist and mixing engineer, too, were mooted, but all fell by the wayside.
“We had a date set for Eloy,” says Townsend. “We’d wanted to work together since forever. But suddenly I couldn’t get a hold of him for about a month, and then he’s like, ‘Oh, I joined Slipknot.’ It was the best excuse, to be honest. That’s amazing for him. But then I had about a week left before the tracking was supposed to start, so I didn’t know what to do.”
The plan for this to be the simplest record I’d ever done ended up being one of the opposite
Darby Todd, a regular in Townsend’s live bands who has also worked with Martin Barre and Frost*, was drafted at the last minute. “Darby flew in from London, we rehearsed for a day, and he tracked the record in two days. The guy’s a fucking maniac!” Townsend says with a grin. “It’s the third time he saved the day for me. When we did the Royal Albert Hall shows last year, he learned 50 songs, and he stepped in for Bloodstock in 2021 too. I can always rely on him.”
With drums locked in, Townsend ended up handling guitar, bass and mixing duties, despite not intending to fulfil any of those roles. “The plan for this to be the simplest record that I’d ever done ended up being arguably one of the opposite!” he says with a laugh.
Maybe it was a sign from the universe that he should take such an incredibly personal and transparent record into his own hands. Townsend’s emotions, be it on the dream-like balladry of Ubelia or the gritty hip-swinger Knuckledragger, seep into every crack.
As Goodbye turns from a beautifully sombre, oddly uplifting song into a swathe of reminiscing ambience – it’s a song that wouldn’t sound out of place on his much-lauded Ocean Machine record – Townsend, at last, makes peace with his tragedies. And then comes his most bonkers caricature self on Ruby Quaker, a song about the glory of coffee dressed in Broadway metal garbs.
Ruby Quaker wasn’t meant to be on the record. But after Goodbye, I couldn’t leave people like that
“The whole point with Ruby Quaker is that it doesn’t end there,” Townsend explains. “Loss and grief are a process of life. If you suppress it, it’s unhealthy. Once you allow yourself to grieve, it’s a new day. It wasn’t meant to be on the record. But after Goodbye, I couldn’t leave people like that. That’s actually not how life goes.”
Of the song’s origins, he explains: “My buddy showed up one morning and it was like, ‘Here, just have some breakfast, have a cup of coffee,’ and then all of a sudden, you start to see the other side of it.”
And so after a record of heavy emotions and adrenaline-fuelled music – a chalk-and-cheese contrast that only someone as ludicrous as Devin Townsend could make work – is a song with which to soak up the tears.
It’s proof that life never stands still, even when you want it to.
You can usually find this Prog scribe writing about the heavier side of the genre, chatting to bands for features and news pieces or introducing you to exciting new bands that deserve your attention. Elsewhere, Phil can be found on stage with progressive metallers Prognosis or behind a camera teaching filmmaking skills to young people.
