When an artist releases what they consider their masterpiece, I try to take it seriously. I want to approach it with the same sense of reverence and ambition they possessed in making it. Devin Townsend recently launched The Moth, an album ten years in the making, one of his most serious offerings. It released on May 29th through Inside Out Music.
Devin Townsend needs no introduction. He’s been a mainstay in progressive music and metal for decades. He, however, always brings with him a cast of performers. This time they are Devin on vocals and guitars, the Noord Nederlands Orkest on orchestrations, Jukka Iisakkila as conductor, Darby Todd on drums, Mike Keneally on guitar, James Leach on bass, Anneke Van Giersbergen and Lynn Wu on vocals, and Aman Kohsla on acoustic guitar.
Before I talk about the music, I want to discuss the lyrics of The Moth, which are quite ambitious. The story seems to be about personal metamorphosis, about facing yourself in all your ruined glory, and changing for the better. There are moments of despair and triumph, moments of confusion and enlightenment, moments of sadness and elation. The story itself is worth experiencing simply because it is so human.
The music here is Devin’s signature zany progressive metal, but with an equal measure of orchestra. Many songs have no guitars or metal at all. In fact, you can almost say the guitars feel like part of the orchestra, only coming into the fray when necessary. Still, the album is pretty heavy at parts, both musically and emotionally. I will say that Devin really scales back on the humor and jokes here, making for one of his most straightforward, serious albums yet.
The album has two halves separated by an intermission, but they are not equal in length. If you look at the track lengths, the second half is much shorter; only a couple tracks get over three minutes. In some ways, that makes it more difficult to latch onto, if you know what I mean. It flies by and there are many highlight moments, but they are gone before you even become familiar with them. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation. Most of the songs on this album are quite short, most being under five minutes.
With twenty-four tracks, I can’t discuss all of them, but I do want to point out my favorite parts in each half. In the first half, thirteen tracks long, there are several climactic moments. My favorites are the heaviness darkness of “War Beyond Words”, the immediate follow-up of “The Moth” with its elegant cinema and sheer storytelling serenity, and probably the best song on the album, “Covered By Causes”. This piece is eight minutes long and features Anneke heavily on vocals; I adore the cinema here, the majestic melodies, the immersive layering. The track is incredible!
I also love the one-two punch of “The Mothers”, with more Anneke vocals, and “Orion”, one of the more straightforward pieces on the album; it has an Empath tone to it (which I consider his masterpiece), and I love the choirs and chorus. I think “Home at Night” could be the more underappreciated piece in the first half, being mostly just Devin’s theatrical performance up against strings. He sings it incredibly well and seems so vulnerable in that moment.
In the second half, things move more quickly. After the five-minute ambience of “Intermission”, the album jumps from track to track like lightning. Some highlights are “Prepare for War” plus “The Big Snit”, a super heavy duo with rage and stormy skies raining an inferno of fire upon us. My favorite overall is “Silver Princess”, only three minutes long, but feels like a 90’s soundtrack somehow—I love the swooning, harmonious tone. I also love “Stained Hearts”, the touchstone in this half; this song has such a gorgeous quality, and the raised voices really make it feel momentous. I like how the choir chorus seems to answer Anneke’s vocals in the verses. The last couple tracks are short, but I really like how they help us land into the ending softly; both of them are more ambient, though one is darker and the finale, “We Don’t Deserve Dogs”, is quite charming and hopeful.
Devin really has delivered with The Moth. It definitely won’t be my favorite from him, but I think he might see himself in the lyrics, and thus it’s important to him. The album is truly a cinematic wonder with towering moments, yet it feels innately human and personal. That’s a difficult balance to achieve. I think all progressive metal fans should sit through it at least once.
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