“There’s a feel redolent of broadening horizons”: Devin Townsend’s Terria vinyl reissue

Following directly on from Devin Townsend ’s rare artistic misstep of 2000’s Physicist , and a bleak period of depression and emotional turmoil, Terria felt like a deep gulp of clean Canadian air.

The album on the theme of his homeland was born when the singer/guitarist undertook his first-ever extensive tour of the country with his extreme metal project Strapping Young Lad , supporting Alberta band The Smalls. The result was a relatively understated classic that still ranks as one of his best solo albums nearly a quarter of a century on.

It’s certainly not a travelogue, but there’s an expansive feel to the songs that’s redolent of broadening horizons. “I started finding myself expanding outside the box... without a lot of the baggage that was part of the prior records,” he writes in new liner notes. That discovery translated into a melodic and atmospheric journey, full of breathtaking musical vistas.

The multipart Earth Day swirls through symphonic swells, floating harmonies and pure prog guitars; while Deep Peace is a sigh of mellow acoustics, lilting vocals and ambient background sounds. Canada is similarly laid-back – but there are strategically placed oddball mid-sections, set-pieces and mind-blowing solos that essentially present mini-songs within songs. Elsewhere the dreamy Nobody’s Here and the catchy Stagnant are delivered with fewer curveballs.

This reissue sees the album taking a star turn on vinyl, with the same mastering that first appeared on 2018 box set Eras . Bonus track Universal makes its vinyl debut here, having originally appeared on the double CD deluxe edition. With its countrified picking and space-rock riffs it still sounds very much like a Terria outlier – but it does make a nice inclusion for completist fans.

Overall, this is a welcome revival of an album that’s well worth revisiting or – even better – discovering for the first time.

The vinyl edition of Terria is on sale now via InsideOut.