Origin:	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genres:	Progressive Metal
DISBANDED

Page online:	December 17, 2007
Last update/review:	November 19, 2009

Devin Townsend Band

It wasn't that long ago that Devin Townsend was a semi-obscure musician, known for some affiliations with bands such as the Wildhearts (as well as a stint with guitar hero Steve Vai) but not a lot else. Then along came Strapping Young Lad, and Townsend's underground legend grew to enormous proportions, revered for his production work, SYL of course, and just being an influential and original extreme metal musician. In addition to SYL, Devin has recorded a variety of albums, some labelled purely as solo albums, others seemingly in a solo context though released as a band (Ocean Machine), and still others in his alternate band, the Devin Townsend Band, this site making the distinction (arguably a arbitrary one) between the band proper and Devin's previous solo works such as Physicist and Terria. Devin's trademark vocals and unique songwriting skills are, as expected, the foundation of this band's sound -- at times SYL-like, at times not, but always with that imcomparable "it" factor that only he seems to possess. Synchestra, the second of the two releases, is simply a marvel, with a wide range of songs to absorb (to these ears, the aptly-titled "Vampolka", dismissed as jokey by many, is one of the album's highlights, along with its proper sidekick "Vampira").

Technically, this band as such is no more, since Townsend is now recording as Devin Townsend Project.