Short Reviews [Devin Townsend - 2021 - Devolution Series #2. "Galactic Quarantine"]

This was the fourth in a series of quarantine concerts undertaken by Devin, and he calls this the “green screen” concert as the guys are all in different cities when they performed this, quite an advert for the speed of the internet in some parts of the world. This has now been made available in all formats, and some of this is on YouTube if you want to check it out. One would never guess from the performance that the guys were not actually playing together, and of course one gets the highly polished sound and use of backing tracks that one has come to expect with Devin’s shows. The one thing which does seem weird is that at times Devin talks to those people watching when this was originally streamed, but of course there is no response, no crowd noise. I am not sure what is left to say about the mad canuck, as he has been consistently releasing great albums for a long time now, and it is incredible to realise that the mighty ‘Infinity’ will be 25 years old next year! His wall of sound approach is unparalleled, and one immediately recognises his material from just a few bars, not something which can be said for many performers. I do think it will take a lot for him to ever release a live album to match the sheer power and presence of ‘Retinal Circus’, and I confess to preferring his material when he works with Anneke Van Giersbergen as her vocals provide a cut through and balance to his own, but there is no doubt this is yet another high polished performance by a workaholic who is always coming up with new ideas and adapting them to his own world. If you are a Devin fan then you know what to expect, and if not, why not? Hopefully I will see him down here again, as the last time his presence was just immense, until then we have a whole series of live and studio albums to listen to, with ‘Lightwork’ planned for the end of October.