Devin Townsend (Canada) - The Moth (Live With Noord Nederlands Orkest) (2025) (Video)
Band Bio
Devin Townsend is a Canadian musician who at 30 years old, has a long and colourful history. Chosen by guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, a 19 year old Devin performed vocals and guitar opposite Vai on his album Sex & Religion and accompanying world tour. This exposure led to offers from prominent musicians world-wide. Stints with Jason Newsted of Metallica, industrial band Front Line Assembly, the Wildhearts in England and appearances on several tribute records gave Devin the confidence in 1995 to release his first album himself under the name Strapping Young Lad.
The first Strapping Young Lad CD gained attention for having a distinctive sound and brought metal to a new level of heaviness. Devin produced, sang and played most of the instruments on the first album, Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing. Two albums followed: the highly acclaimed City which added veteran metal drummer Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death) and band members Jed Simon and Byron Stroud, then No Sleep Till Bedtime recorded live in Australia (Century Media Records).
Following the desire to experiment musically and frustrated by the limitations of being signed to a label, in 1997 Devin decided to begin his own label called HevyDevy Records. His first solo release, Ocean Machine, won rave reviews for its epic, lush, prog-hard-rock-ambient compositions and began to establish Devin as a strong creative force on the metal scene. Infinity followed in 1998 with a collection of songs inspired by Broadway musicals and exhibited Devin's talent for composition as well as voice and musicianship. The year 2000 came with the release of Physicist which has been described as "speed-metal pop songs" and reflected the confusion and anticipation of the millennium. His sixth album, Terria, a highly characterized and blend of ambient and progressive metal - self-introspection at its most honest. Now hard at work on a new album, with a new group of musicians, the 'Devin Townsend Band' is a collection of futuristic pop metal thatis not afraid to be sensitive - emphasis on heavy.
While very different in style, each album follows a theme inspired by life and documents his emotional state at that phase in his life, like a musical diary that gives you an insight into the many facets of one man's personality. With his unique approach and creativity, Devin stands poised to establish himself as one of the most prolific, innovative, and extraordinary musicians in the metal genre.
As well as his own projects, Devin is making himself known as a world class Producer Engineer by producing all of the fore mentioned albums, as well as records by Soilwork (Natural Born Chaos - Nuclear Blast Records), December, (The Lament Configuration - Earache Records), Lamb Of God (Metal Blade Records), Stuck Mojo, (Pigwalk - Century Media Records) as well as many unsigned up and coming acts.
Band Members
Devin Townsend - Vocals, Guitar
Lynne Wu - Vocals
Mike Keneally - Keyboards
Pete Rinaldi - Guitar
Darby Todd - Drums
James Leach - Bass
With:
- The North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
- Choir
For this latest project Devin Townsend has teamed up with the Noord Nederlands Orkest and composed "The Moth", a "rock opera" he has been working on for years, which represents his lifelong ambition. "The Moth" tells the story of the human experience from birth to death, comparable to the transformation of a caterpillar into a moth. It symbolizes the human quest for meaning and offers perspectives on the fear of death through analogy and narrative. Ever since Townsend witnessed large musicals such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Phantom Of The Opera" in the 1970s, he has seen this project as his calling.
"The Moth" has been in the making for over a decade, and Townsend has been building towards it for 30 years. Now, he has shared the stage at De Oosterpoort in Groningen with no less than seventy musicians from the Noord Nederlands Orkest, a sixty-member choir, and his own band, which includes Mike Keneally, Joseph Stephenson, Darby Todd and James Leach.
Set List
Note: As of time of upload, there's no official track list. However, Reddit lead me to a track list taken from a screenshot during the Devin Townsend's The Lighthouse Studio Tour at the timestamp between 1:20 - 1:47. Devin had the track list on a clipboard titled "Moth" hanging on the wall. This may not be the official finalized track list.
Act I:
01. Intro Ethereal Moth
02. War Beyond Wars
03. Ode To My Eye
04. Lexin
05. Covered By Causes
06. Jovial Circle Queen
07. The Arrival (Angry Triangle Queen)
08. Orion
09. Home At Night
Interregnum (Intermission)
10. Dreampeace Forest
Act II:
11. Intro: Lexin
12. Sadism II
13. The Golem
14. Airship
15. Final Battle / Epiphany
16. Metamorphosis / Ascension
17. Stained Hearts
18. Dreampeace Choir
/ XBTT (1) by Dejavu
This may not be the official finalized track list.
