"His versatile vocal delivery ranges from screaming to an opera-esque singing, and his songwriting is similarly diverse. Townsend's musical style is rooted in metal, and his albums are written to express different aspects of his personality.

As a self-proclaimed "fan of multitracking", Townsend has developed a trademark production style featuring an atmospheric, layered "wall of sound". Townsend has drawn critical praise for his productions, which "are always marked by a sense of adventure, intrigue, chaotic atmospherics and overall aural pyrotechnics", according to Mike G. of Metal Maniacs.

Townsend mainly uses Pro Tools to produce his music, alongside other software suites such as Steinberg Cubase, Ableton Live, and Logic Pro. Townsend's musical ideas and production style have drawn comparisons to Phil Spector and Frank Zappa. Townsend has carried out the mixing and mastering for most of his solo work himself. He has also mixed and remixed work for other artists such as Rammstein, August Burns Red and Misery Signals."



Solo albums
Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics (March 19, 1996)
Ocean Machine: Biomech (July 21, 1997)
Infinity (June 17, 1998)
Physicist (June 26, 2000)
Terria (November 6, 2001)
Devlab (December 4, 2004)
The Hummer (November 15, 2006)
Ziltoid the Omniscient (May 27, 2007)

The Devin Townsend Band
Accelerated Evolution (March 31, 2003)
Synchestra (January 31, 2006)

Devin Townsend Project
Ki (May 22, 2009)
Addicted (November 17, 2009)
Deconstruction (June 20, 2011)
Ghost (June 20, 2011)
Epicloud (September 18, 2012)
Casualties of Cool (TBA)

Strapping Young Lad
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (April 4, 1995)
City (February 11, 1997)
Strapping Young Lad (February 11, 2003)
Alien (March 22, 2005)
The New Black (July 11, 2006)

Townsend's work on Steve Vai's Sex and Religion as well as the solo album you linked to, Ocean Machine, were out of this world incredible. But he is one of those odd, odd musicians who aside from those two stellar albums I think has been consistently terrible.

Ocean Machine FTW! Changed my view on music when I was younger, still gives me chills.

Seen Strapping Young Lad live twice. Gene Hoagland is an absolute machine behind the drumkit.

Gene Hoagland is fantastic... used to play with Chuck Schuldiner's Death. I remember a cover of preists painkiller that was off the scale

there's this long living myth about Hoglan. He was a roadie/crewdude for slayer. Bostaph/Lombardo saw him behind the drums, or heard him and asked "how long have you been playing", Gene took a quick glance at his watch and said "just about 15 minutes"

"His highly technical playing is extremely accurate at very high and challenging tempos, earning him the nicknames "The Atomic Clock" and "Human Drum Machine." He is best known for his work with acts Dark Angel, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Fear Factory, Opeth, Unearth, and most recently Dethklok and Testament."

lol wikipedia, should bold SYL and Devin

I got to meet Gene after the show when I saw SYL... What really strikes you about him as he huge the guy is. I realize what I'm about to say sounds stupid, but you wouldn't think someone that large could play that fast.