In a series of tweets, Devin Townsend revealed he is nearing completion of his new album, Empath, due this spring via InsideOut Music. In addition to frequent collaborator Anneke Van Giersbergen (Vuur), Devy is working with Chad Kroger of Nickelback, Che Dorval, Mike Keneally, and others. He discussed the arduous process of making this album and how relieved he is that it is nearing completion. He also commented that the theme of the album is “anti-suicide”.
No sleep tonight. I’ve got the final stages of this year long process rolling through my mind. Almost done…another 3.5 weeks and this stage of it (the album) will be wrapped up.
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
Listened to the roughs of Empath on the flight and it had me teared up the whole way. I haven’t had this visceral a reaction to the work in many years. To think It all stemmed from taking a vacation! my god, what an intense period this has been. I’ll remember this past two years.
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
Thanks to some further guests, Anneke Van Giersbergen, Che Dorval, Chad Kroeger, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, Lords Of The sound orchestra… it’s been total catharsis and tied intrinsically to the process of working through this transformation. It’s a lovely, complicated, weird one
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
Some people will totally love it, a fair amount will take awhile to have it sink in, some won’t get it at all, some will definitely prefer the bonus disk or the previous work, but fuck me, did I ever need to get this out of my system. It’s like 12 years of vomit at once…
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
I had a choice to either go commercial or uncompromised on this. Thanks to Garth Richardson and Chad for convincing me to not compromise. It’s a hard choice as you get older because the temptation to play it safe is huge for the sake of family and security.
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
Exhausting… pure catharsis. It was about middle age, realization, fear, death, moderation, meditation, and overcoming the internal dialogues. I guess it was ultimately about getting it right after all these years, then kind of realizing that you just have to let it all go…
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
Music is just an expression of gratitude I think. Ultimately it’s just another album in a long line of albums, some will like it, some won’t. But it appears as if it will be accurate, and that’s a huge huge relief.
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
Three drummers, two bassists, orchestras, choirs, ducks, cats, goats, birds, whales… and I didn’t sabotage this one, for once…
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
Have to be at the studio in 3 hours after a sleepless night. Sweet. Luckily it’s not an immensely complicated mix 🙄
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018
There’s a reoccurring theme on this project that seems to have appeared, and that seems to be one of ‘anti-suicide’
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) December 3, 2018