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DEVIN TOWNSEND – Order of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1’ out today

October 23, 2020

Devin Townsend’s new live album ‘Order Of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1’ is out today, October 23rd, 2020. The collection is a document of his Winter 2019 European tour that saw him taking on possibly his most ambitious live show to date.

“Prog-metal’s greatest showman in full flight on epic live album” – Prog Magazine

“Order of Magnitude: Empath Live Volume 1 is Devin’s grand slam.” – Echoes and Dust

“An essential addition to Townsend’s legacy and a must-own for all fans.” – The Prog Report

You can watch these previously released videos from the live set

‘Why?’: https://youtu.be/Fgrik7HDKQ4
War: https://youtu.be/FrB8uyWFhyU
‘Genesis’ : https://youtu.be/qtgv89oLCOU

The blu-ray edition of this forthcoming release features a behind the scenes feature, taking a look at the preparation for this tour & the filming of the live album. Watch the trailer for it here: https://youtu.be/K8HW2WB_BK4

Recorded in December 2019 in London, UK on the penultimate night of the tour in support of his latest album ‘Empath’, this run of shows saw Devin joined by an incredible line-up of musicians. The band was made up of guitarists Mike Kenneally (ex-Frank Zappa) and Markus Reuter (Stick Men, The Crimson Project), drummer Morgen Agren (Kaipa, Mats & Morgan, Frank Zappa), bassist Nathan Navarro, Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida, and guitarist/vocalist Ché Aimee Dorval, as well as vocalists Samantha & Anne Preis and Arabella Packford.

Devin’s plan for the Empath touring cycle was to divide it up into three ‘Volumes’, and this was Volume 1. The idea behind the shows was a simple one: none of the backing tapes or click tracks that had long been necessary to bring the kaleidoscopic cacophony in his head and on his records to life in the flesh. This would just be Devin Townsend and a band of genius-level musicians getting up there and trying to keep it from spinning off into outer space. Or maybe just letting it spin-off into outer space for the sheer hell of it.

“The whole objective was that I wanted to make that statement: This is by the seat our pants,” he says. “Because it's important to me to represent this hyper anal-retentive music that I've made over the years, but in a human way. Rather than it just being, ‘Well, here it is, perfectly done.’”

“I was overwhelmed by the fact that all these brilliant people that I have so much respect for were willing to come together and play this weird shit with me,” says Devin. “I had these unique players and this interesting instrumentation that allowed us to interpret the music in different ways. It was clear to me that I could just have fun and be me and know that they would be effortlessly be able to follow that.”

That sense of fun and freedom was evident to anyone who was there on the night. Visually, it was an assault on the senses in the best possible way. A digital screen projected vivid images throughout the show. A giant gleaming mirrorball hung from the ceiling. There were multiple costume changes and a tiki bar onstage (a tiki bar!).

‘Order Of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1’ will be released as a Limited Deluxe 2CD+Blu-Ray+DVD Artbook (including expanded artwork & photos), Limited 2CD+DVD Digipak, Standalone Blu-Ray, Gatefold 3LP+2CD vinyl box-set & as a Digital Album. The Blu-Ray disc includes a bonus behind the scenes documentary, and both DVD & Blu-Ray feature a 5.1 surround sound mix.

Order here: https://Devin-Townsend.lnk.to/EmpathLiveVol1/

The track-listing is as follows:
1.Borderlands
2.Evermore
3.War
4.Sprite
5.Gigpig Jam
6.Coast
7.Gato
8.Heavens End
9.Ain’t Never Gonna Win
10.Deadhead
11.Why?
12.Lucky Animals
13.Castaway/Genesis
14.Spirits Will Collide
15.Disco Inferno
16.Kingdom

In June, ‘Empath – The Ultimate Edition’ was released, the definitive version of his latest studio album. It features a glorious 5.1 surround mix with accompanying visuals, plus a host of bonus material including mixing lesson, documentary, as well as a live set filmed during his April 2019 acoustic tour.

Order now here:
https://www.omerch.eu/shop/devintownsend/
https://Devin-Townsend.lnk.to/Empath-TheUltimateEdition

The ‘Empath Live Volume 2’ tour would’ve started this year during the European summer festival run, followed by a club tour in November. Whereas Volume 1 is considered the more mellow/prog version, Empath Volume 2 encompasses the more ‘heavy songs’ from Devin’s long time career and these were selected by the fans last year though an online poll. This set list would’ve have been played at UK’s Bloodstock Festival, Finland’s Tuska Festival and at Hellfest in France but COVID-19 decided to put a stop to that. Instead Devin has now put in massive efforts to bring the show to his fans via an online stream.