Epicloud
| Epicloud | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Devin Townsend Project | ||||
| Released | September 18, 2012[1] | |||
| Recorded | March 2012 – May 2012 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, experimental rock, progressive metal, alternative rock, hard rock, new age | |||
| Length | 49:52 | |||
| Label | HevyDevy | |||
| Producer | Devin Townsend | |||
| Devin Townsend chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   [2] |
| Allmusic |  [3] |
| Blistering | [4] |
| Sputnikmusic | 3.0/5[5] |
Epicloud is the fifteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the fifth album in the Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released on September 18, 2012 in North America and September 24, 2012 in Europe through his independent record label HevyDevy Records and InsideOut Music.[6]
Background
In an interview with Soundwave TV, Devin stated about how Epicloud was conceived, "In this sort of process of writing that I've discovered that I guess I'm capable of now, with a sober frame of mind, part of that is just not second-guessing it, so if I write something like that, I just do it, and just finish it."
He continued, "Over the past couple of years, I thought, 'OK, I've gotta write this next 'Ziltoid' thing; I'm inspired to make this epic space opera and, like, really overdo it, and [make it] really dark. And so I sat down to write, but every time I went to write, I'd write some poppy hard rock thing. And I was like, 'OK, we'll get that one out of the way and then I'll write 'Ziltoid'.' And I got it out of the way and I'd go write 'Ziltoid'. And I'd write another one. So I'm thinking, 'OK, it's pretty obvious to me that I've got this that wants to come out before that.'"
Regarding the musical direction of Epicloud, Devin told Noisecreep, "Over the course of the full record, there's sort of new agey stuff, jazzy stuff, really heavy stuff. We basically cover the gamut. Epicloud is the first record that I felt confident enough to include all those things on one record so it goes between melodic hard rock to schizophrenic heavy metal to country to really ambient stuff and it's all in one place. I'm using a gospel choir, a string section and a horn section for this one as well."
On the topic of his decision to re-record "Kingdom", a song from his Physicist album, which came out in 2000 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records, Devin said, "We re-did 'Kingdom' because it's a live set staple, and so much better now than the Physicist recording."[7]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Devin Townsend.| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Effervescent!" | 0:44 | |
| 2. | "True North" | 3:53 | |
| 3. | "Lucky Animals" | 3:21 | |
| 4. | "Liberation" | 3:21 | |
| 5. | "Where We Belong" | 4:27 | |
| 6. | "Save Our Now" | 4:08 | |
| 7. | "Kingdom" | 5:29 | |
| 8. | "Divine" | 3:17 | |
| 9. | "Grace" | 6:09 | |
| 10. | "More!" | 4:05 | |
| 11. | "Lessons" | 1:07 | |
| 12. | "Hold On" | 3:57 | |
| 13. | "Angel" | 5:54 | |
| 14. | "Epicloud" (vinyl bonus track) | 6:07 | |
| 15. | "Cry Forever" (iTunes bonus track) | 4:00 | |
| 16. | "Take My Ego" (iTunes bonus track) | 6:22 | |
Total length: |
55:59 | ||
| Epiclouder (disc 2, deluxe edition only) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "Believe" (demo) | 4:05 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Happy Birthday" (demo) | 4:36 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Quietus" (demo) | 5:34 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Heatwave" (demo) | 3:36 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Love Tonight" (demo) | 4:49 | ||||||||
| 6. | "The Mind WASP" (demo) | 4:40 | ||||||||
| 7. | "Woah No!" (demo) | 4:11 | ||||||||
| 8. | "Love and Marriage" (demo) | 4:02 | ||||||||
| 9. | "Socialization" (demo) | 7:18 | ||||||||
| 10. | "Little Pig" (demo) | 4:53 | ||||||||
Total length: |
47:44 | |||||||||
Musicians
- Devin Townsend – guitars, vocals, keyboards
- Anneke van Giersbergen – vocals
- Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums
- Brian Waddell – bass
- Dave Young - guitars,[8] additional keyboards
References
- ↑
- ↑ Westland, Raymond (September 2012). "Epicloud Review." About.com.
- ↑ Jurek, Thom (October 2012). "Epicloud Review." Allmusic.
- ↑ Gehlke, David (2012). "Epicloud Review.." Blistering.
- ↑ Irving Tan Zhi Mian (September 15, 2012). "Epicloud Review." Sputnikmusic.
- ↑ http://www.blistering.com/fastpage/fpengine.php/link/1/templateid/25837/tempidx/1/menuid/1
- ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=177665
- ↑ Dave Young's Twitter, Dave Young mentioned on his Twitter account to be tracking rhythm guitars for Epicloud.
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