639. Devin Townsend Project / Ghost. 2011. 0.5/5

About ten years ago my wife went out and bought a double CD called Open Space: The Classic Chillout Album, which was exactly as the title suggested. It contains about 40 songs that all sound exactly the same, in supposedly calming nature which is meant to be enjoyed in a relaxed, quiet atmosphere to help the listener to 'chill out'. Quite honestly, it is up there with some of the worst albums it has ever been my misfortune to have to listen to. It is possibly even more vile than those champions of crap, Echobrain and Lulu.

The reason I bring this up is because when I first put on Ghost I thought I had inadvertently put on Open Space: The Classic Chillout Album by mistake.

Ghost is an exercise by Devin Townsend to complete a four album stint which apparently showcases the four parts of his personality or some such crap. So do you describe this album as his soft and sensitive side, or his boring as shit, crap, lobotomised side? How harsh in judgement can you be? Quite clearly, this album is not to my taste in music, and despite the fact that it is a part of a quadrilogy of set styles, should I be bagging it? Well... yes, I can. Because if Iron Maiden came out and did this album, I would be roasting them. If Metallica came out and did this album, well, I guess we'd all shrug our shoulders and just expect it.

There is no question that the quality of the playing and production is top notch. That has never been in question in Devin's work. But I can't swallow this bile. Obviously there are any number of people who will enjoy this album, many of them who would have nothing to do with Devin's other work. If you are into new age or ambient music, this may in fact be your Abbey Road. But as a conclusion to his Project, it is even more disconcerting than what has come before it.