Epicloud (LP)
Devin Townsend Project
Amoeba Review
Having gotten a "quadralogy" of DTP albums out of his system last year, Canadian multi-instrumentalist progressive metal hero Townsend is back with a big, BIG romantic pop-metal album with a vast scope and sound. As usual, it features his blazing guitar work, huge choirs and string sections and avalanches of sound, but the real difference here is how catchy it is -- it hearkens back to the big pop era of Abba, Queen and E.L.O., with just the right touch of metal rage to light the fire. Ex-The Gathering vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen returns as well. Townsend claims he wants to make something "spiritual without religion, and set to heavy music" and if a single phrase could sum up a sprawling musical juggernaut like Epicloud, that phrase will do.