DEVIN TOWNSEND announces new album ‘Empath’

Canadian heavy music artist Devin Townsend has officially announced the release of his forthcoming new album ‘Empath’ for March 29, 2019.

In the lead up to the album’s release, Devin will walk fans through how ‘Empath’ came together with a series of documentary episodes recorded as phone conversations during the course of the albums recording. Watch him explain more in this video.

Devin comments:

“Hello everybody, this is Devin Townsend and I would like to formally announce that after almost a year and a half of working, I have finished Empath. Now this record has taken me down a lot of very interesting psychological and technical avenues and the process was documented from the very get-go by a series of documentary videos that I have done, that outline everything from the gestation of the idea to the actualisation of it, through all the existential ups and downs that went on. As such this record is different to any record that I have released thus far, and trying to get people on board for what it is versus what it isn’t, I think needs to be dealt with in a different way. Stay tuned for the making of Empath – the video series.”

Over the past few years, the success that Devin has slowly worked for has fortunately come with the power to control his own creative destiny. The recent successes with the DVD from a sold-out Royal Albert hall, or his 2012 ‘Retinal Circus’, or last year’s ‘Ocean Machine’ live DVD with the Orchestra and Choir of State Opera Plovdiv has put him in a position where with the new album ‘Empath’ he will once and for all define himself as a musical force outside of any particular genre classification.

On this album Devin has decided to see what would happen if all the styles that make up his current interests were finally represented in one place. To finally shake the fear of expectation, and just do what it is he was meant to do creatively, ‘Empath’, true to the name, is about allowing the audience a feeling for a variety of musical emotions. The musical dynamics represented on this single album are broad, challenging, and immense. To approach this sort of work with a long history of what makes heavy music ‘heavy’, allows this to be done with a type of power rarely heard.

Joining Devin on this album is Frank Zappa alumni Mike Keneally as music director, as well as Morgan Ågren (Mats And Morgan, Frank Zappa, Fredrik Thordendal), Anup Sastry (Monuments, Periphery), Samus Paulicelli (Decrepit Birth, Abigail Williams), Nathan Navarro, Elliot Desagnes, Steve Vai, Chad Kroeger, Anneke Van Giersbergen, Ché Aimee Dorval, Ryan Dhale and the Elektra Women’s Choir.

A bold statement with massive production values and dynamic, uncompromised musicality. This is a statement about not only pursuing creative freedom in a conservative scene, but also trying to show that heavy music is truly a valid musical tool.

‘Empath’ will be released on Limited 2 CD Digipak (including an entire disc of bonus material), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180G 2LP Vinyl + CD + LP-booklet & as digital album. The full track-listing is as follows:

1. Castaway
2. Genesis
3. Spirits Will Collide
4. Evermore
5. Sprite
6. Hear Me
7. Why
8. Borderlands
9. Requiem
10. Singularity Part 1 – Adrift
11. Singularity Part 2 – I Am I
12. Singularity Part 3 – There Be Monsters
13. Singularity Part 4 – Curious Gods
14. Singularity Part 5 – Silicon Scientists
15. Singularity Part 6 – Here Comes The Sun

Last year Devin announced a special ‘An Evening With’ tour that would see him performing acoustically, as well as taking part in a fan Q&A at each show.

The full list of dates are as follows, many of which are already sold out:
7^th March – The Piano Man Jazz Club, New Delhi, India SOLD OUT
8^th March – Levi’s Lounge, Mumbai, India SOLD OUT
29^th March – Savoy Theater, Helsinki, Finland SOLD OUT
30^th March – Savoy Theater, Helsinki, Finland SOLD OUT
31^st March – Sodra Teatern, Stockholm, Sweden SOLD OUT
1^st April – Edderkoppen, Oslo, Norway SOLD OUT
2^nd April – Bremen Theater, Copenhagen, Denmark
4^th April – PassionKirchhe, Berlin, Germany
5^th April – Stodola, Warsaw, Poland
6^th April – La Fabrica, Prague, Czech Republic SOLD OUT
7^th April – Freiheiz, Munich, Germany SOLD OUT
9^th April – Kulturkirche, Cologne, Germany SOLD OUT
10^th April – Grunspan, Hamburg, Germany
11^th April – Bravo Kerk, Haarlem, Netherlands SOLD OUT
13^th April – Reading 3, Tel Aviv, Israel
24^th April – Bush Hall, London, UK SOLD OUT
25^th April – Bush Hall, London, UK SOLD OUT
26^th April – St George’s, Bristol, UK SOLD OUT
27^th April – City Varieties, Leeds, UK SOLD OUT
29^th April – Jam House, Edinburgh, UK SOLD OUT
30^th April – Glee Club, Birmingham, UK SOLD OUT

Devin’s varied back catalogue is also being celebrated with lavish vinyl box-sets under the name of ERAS. Having already released parts 1 and 2 earlier in early 2018, the end of the year saw the release of part 3, which features some of his most recent work with Devin Townsend Project, including the albums ‘Accelerated Evolution’, ‘Epicloud’, ‘Sky Blue’, ‘Transcendence’ & the first ever vinyl release of the second part of the DTP’s now legendary Royal Albert Hall show. Order your copy of this deluxe 10 LP box-set here: devintownsendproject.lnk.to/ErasIII

DEVIN TOWNSEND online:
www.hevydevy.com
www.facebook.com/dvntownsend
www.omerch.com
twitter.com/dvntownsend
www.instagram.com/dvntownsend/
www.youtube.com/user/poopynuggeteer/featured