Ocean Machine: Biomech

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Ocean Machine: Biomech
Studio album by
Devin Townsend
ReleasedJuly 21, 1997
RecordedSeptember – December 1996
Studio
  • The Factory (Vancouver)
  • Slack (Vancouver)
  • Shithole Headquarters (Burnaby)
  • Musibelios (Málaga)
Genre
Length73:52
LabelHevyDevy
ProducerDevin Townsend
Devin Townsend chronology
Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics
(1996) 		Ocean Machine: Biomech
(1997) 		Infinity
(1998)
Devin Townsend overall chronology
City
(1997) 		Ocean Machine: Biomech
(1997) 		No Sleep 'till Bedtime
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Ocean Machine: Biomech is the second studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, originally released as Biomech under the name Ocean Machine. The album was released in July 1997 via Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.

Background

Material for Ocean Machine: Biomech had been around since the time Devin Townsend was touring with

Two. Due to Townsend's discontent with the sound, in September 1996, he took the recorded material with producer Daniel Bergstrand to Málaga, Spain, to re-record the guitars, drums, and re-amp the bass. Torrential rains were storming the seacoast of Spain at that time, which prevented them from taking any decent recording of the drums. As a result, the sample for the snare drum on the album is actually taken straight from the beginning of "Sad but True" by Metallica. Due to Townsend's constant dispute with the studio owner, who kept kicking him out of the studio every afternoon to party with his friends, one of them being then rising movie star Antonio Banderas, Townsend then refused to pay the studio bill, which resulted in him being denied access to the master tape by the studio owner. Frustrated by that, Townsend eventually decided to sneak in the studio with Bergstrand at 3 A.M. to make a copy of the master tape, accidentally leaving out the song Ocean Machines there, thus the song exists only in demo quality.[2][3]

Music

Ocean Machine: Biomech featured a mix of hard rock, ambient, and progressive metal.[4] The album was the follow-up to the critically acclaimed[5] City by Townsend's extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. Townsend viewed Strapping Young Lad as a "little project" that he considered a "parody" and not the intended focus of his music, but lamented that Ocean Machine, which he described as "the music that was really close to me," was largely dismissed upon its release.[6]

The album opens with a reciting of a poem from 19th century English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Track 7, "Voices in the Fan," ends with an excerpt of the madrigal "Giovane donna il suo bel volto in specchio" from the 16th-century cycle

Orlande de Lassus.[7]

Many of the songs on Ocean Machine: Biomech have become live staples during Townsend's career; however, "The Death of Music" did not make its live debut until April 2015.[8]

The album is specifically referenced in the demo "Ocean Machines" from Ass-Sordid Demos and "Resolve" from

Sky Blue. "The Death of Music" reuses the chorus of bonus track "Japan" from the first SYL album Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (also released as a bonus on No Sleep 'till Bedtime
).

Release

Ocean Machine: Biomech was released in July 1997. When Townsend was unable to get the album picked up by a record label, he founded his own independent record label, HevyDevy Records, to release his solo material.

Sony
.

The album sold 12,000 copies in Japan in its first week of release.[9] Although musically straying from Townsend's extreme metal work in Strapping Young Lad, Ocean Machine: Biomech was met with favorable reviews. Metal Hammer praised it as a "concept album akin to the sensuality and escapism of Pink Floyd, [as] Devin lyrically and musically explores real and not particularly uplifting topics such as death, isolation, and depression."[10] Noise Level Critical wrote that "anyone who heard the [Steve] Vai album Sex & Religion will know that Townsend's voice is top-notch, with the ability to go from aggressive bark, to high-pitched wail, to soft emotional whisper in the space of one song."[11]

On 17 March 2017 a complete live playthrough was made at

Ancient Roman Theatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, recorded and featured on the band's third live album
, released on July 6, 2018, via Inside Out Music.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Devin Townsend

No.TitleLength
1."Seventh Wave"6:50
2."Life"4:31
3."Night"4:45
4."Hide Nowhere"5:00
5."Sister"2:48
6."3 A.M."1:56
7."Voices in the Fan"4:39
8."Greetings"2:53
9."Regulator"5:06
10."Funeral"8:06
11."Bastard"
  • "Not One of My Better Days"
  • "The Girl from Blue City"
10:17
12."The Death of Music"12:15
13."Thing Beyond Things"4:47
Total length:73:53

Personnel

  • Devin Townsend – vocals, guitar, keyboards, production, mixing, editing
  • JR Harder – bass
  • Marty Chapman – drums
  • Chris Valagao – backing vocals
  • John Morgan
    – keyboards, samples, engineering
  • Matteo Caratozzolo – editing
  • Tim Oberthier – engineering
  • Sheldon Zaharko – engineering
  • Daniel Bergstrand – recording, mixing
  • Victor Morden – mixing assistance
  • Masa Noda – photography
  • Daniel Collins – artwork

References

  1. ^ "Ocean Machine/Biomech [MVP Japan] - Devin Townsend". AllMusic.
  2. ^ "Devin Townsend's Ocean Machine: the story behind a cult 90s metal classic". Louder Sound. Archived from the original on 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  3. ^ "Devin Townsend Podcast #1: Ocean Machine". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  4. ^ G., Mike (September 2003). "The Devin Townsend Band: No Holds Barred." Metal Maniacs.
  5. ^ See Strapping Young Lad and Devin Townsend for a thorough discussion of the album's acclaim.
  6. ^ a b Jimzilla (Summer 2003). "Strapping Young Lad: Devin Townsend." Throat Culture.
  7. ^ "Devin Townsend – Ocean Machine: Biomech (2000, CD)". Discogs. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  8. ^ "Devin Townsend Project Concert Setlist at O2 Academy Bournemouth, Bournemouth on April 11, 2015". Setlist.fm. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  9. ^ "Strapping Young Lad > News Archive 1997". Far Beyond Metal. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  10. ^ Metal Hammer (Hevydevy Records: Ocean Machine reviews Archived 2007-08-06 at the Wayback Machine).
  11. ^ Noise Level Critical. (Hevydevy Records: Ocean Machine reviews Archived 2007-08-06 at the Wayback Machine)

External links

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