| Infinity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Devin Townsend | ||||
| Released | October 21, 1998 | |||
| Recorded | April 1997 – August 1998 at Red Stripe Studios, Burnaby, BC | |||
| Genre | Progressive metal, progressive rock, jazz fusion | |||
| Length | 46:41 | |||
| Label | HevyDevy Records | |||
| Producer | Devin Townsend | |||
| Devin Townsend chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Chronicles of Chaos | [1] |
| Sputnikmusic | [2] |
Infinity is the third solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in October 1998 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.
Contents |
After the completion of Strapping Young Lad's extreme metal album City and his solo progressive rock release Ocean Machine: Biomech, Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat," he explained, "life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In 1997, he checked himself into a mental-health hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from; he felt his disorder "gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping's City record and Ocean Machine's Biomech."[3]
After being discharged from the hospital, Townsend found that "everything just clicked" and he was able to write his third solo album, Infinity, which he described as "the parent project" of City and Biomech.[3] Townsend returned to the studio, accompanied by drummer Gene Hoglan, to work on the album, on which Townsend played most of the instruments.
The InsideOut release of Infinity had different titles for several tracks; these are listed in parentheses. The InsideOut release of Infinity also contained three bonus tracks.
All songs written and composed by Devin Townsend except where noted.
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Truth" | 3:58 | |
| 2. | "Christeen" | Townsend, Ginger | 3:41 |
| 3. | "Bad Devil" | 4:52 | |
| 4. | "War" | 6:29 | |
| 5. | "Soul Driven" ("Soul Driven Cadillac") | 5:14 | |
| 6. | "Ants" | 2:01 | |
| 7. | "Colonial Boy" ("Wild Colonial Boy") | 3:04 | |
| 8. | "Dynamics" ("Life Is All Dynamics") | 5:08 | |
| 9. | "Unity" | 6:07 | |
| 10. | "Noisy Pink Bubbles" | 5:22 | |
|
Total length:
|
46:41 | ||
| Bonus tracks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 11. | "Sister" (Live acoustic version) | 2:15 | |||||||
| 12. | "Hide Nowhere" (Live acoustic version) | 5:03 | |||||||
| 13. | "Man" ('96 Demo) | 5:12 | |||||||
|
Total length:
|
59:11 | ||||||||
The original track listing intended for Infinity was different from its final release. Due to the record label's time restraints, Townsend could not finish some of the tracks. These were later included on the Christeen + Four Demos EP. The original track list was:[4]
| Original track list | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Truth" | 3:38 | |||||||
| 2. | "Processional"
|
11:42 | |||||||
| 3. | "Christeen" | 3:41 | |||||||
| 4. | "War" | 6:29 | |||||||
| 5. | "Soul Driven" | 5:14 | |||||||
| 6. | "Om" | 6:18 | |||||||
| 7. | "Dynamics" | 5:08 | |||||||
| 8. | "Unity" | 6:07 | |||||||
|
Total length:
|
47:37 | ||||||||
Infinity was released in October 1998 on Townsend's independent label, HevyDevy Records. It was distributed in Canada by HevyDevy, in Japan by Sony, and in Europe initially by USG Records and later on by InsideOut and with three bonus tracks.
| Chart | Weeks | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| Oricon (Japan)[5] | 2 | 29 |
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