“I ended up thinking I knew it all, and it was my responsibility to tell everybody what they were doing wrong”: How close did Devin Townsend come to forming a cult in 1998?

Infinity Prog There’s a rare moment of pause from Devin Townsend. “Please try not to make this sensationalistic,” the progressive metal maverick asks. “What I’m trying to do with expressing this is to help people who are going through something similar.

If this comes across as, ‘I did this many drugs, I was a fucking crazy person and they put me in a mental institution,’ that’s really going to do a disservice to this.” You can understand Townsend’s apprehension. He and are talking about his 1998 solo album Infinity, which has been remastered and re-released for its 25th anniversary.

And, as the multi-instrumentalist just summarised, the story behind the record is a sensitive one. Knowing Townsend’s work is almost a prerequisite for being a progressive metal fan in the 21st century. The Canadian polymath entered the public consciousness in 1993, singing for on the virtuoso’s album.

For most artists, that venture (whenTownsend was barely in his 20s) would have been an unassailable career highlight. However, Townsend’s influence and myriad projects since have turned it into more of a footnote. The musician earned prominence on his own terms with the extreme metal outlet in the mid-90s, then began contrasting the band’s roaring and riffing with the immense yet melodic textures of his solo music.

Since Strapping Young Lad were dissolved in 2007, he has dedicated himself to the Devin Townsend Project (an extension of his solo career from 2009 to 2017), c.