Devin Townsend Update: Casualties of Cool Album Release and Ziltoid 2 Recording Session Both Happening in May 2014
MetalSucks shut down for the holidays but Devin Townsend sure didn’t. The man never shuts down — he’s a workhorse. So while it seems like things have been quiet in his camp over the past six months — he only put out ONE release, sheesh — the Devster’s actually been quiet busy machinating behind the scenes.
In a series of Tweets posted on December 30th that The PRP has been so kind as to collate for us, Devin revealed that he’ll be releasing the long-time-in-the-making record Casualties of Cool in May and he’ll be recording the long-awaited sequel to his Ziltoid album that month as well. Devy’s been teasing those albums for nearly two years and four years, respectively. Here’s the whole rant:
So since Epicloud, there’s been lots of activity, tours and projects, Retinal, Casualties etc really a lot to digest for myself and audience I went so hard with dTP that in a way, I began to just put in the time to promote myself. In a sense, you become a parody of yourself So I took some time to finish casualties and get my shit straight. Lots of band discussion, new jamspot, gear, everything overhauled…
And I began writing for z2 about 6 months ago. Between all the ideas, there’s close to 70 songs. Some are really good, but none are ‘it’ How do you not repeat yourself? How do you avoid being a caricature? How do I incorporate Ziltoid with what we’ve done and not just be silly
So life changes start again, acceptance of age has to happen, goals need to be set, discipline and routine. It’s bound to repeat unless… Unless you can instigate REAL change, not just fad stuff, but real change. The scary stuff. Where does it lie? Hmm… I’m proud to say that the ideas that are coming now are beginning to take the shape. The theme. It’s so exciting. We start recording in May
Dunno why I chose to vent like this, but I’m done now. Some great strides taken by band, label, management and us all. It’s going to be rad. Goodnight, and thanks again for allowing us to do this! It’s going to be so much fun guys, just wait! : )) Casualties Of Cool gets released in May by the way… It’s a bridge to the Z2 phase, really important one to me.
70 songs?? Holy bajesus. It’s great to hear that a musician of Townsend’s stature has the internal drive to keep pushing himself forward artistically instead of simply being content to rehash old ideas. I now look forward to Z2 even more than I already did.
No mention of whether Ghost 2 will still be released as the bonus disc to Casualties, as Devin previously announced, or any update on the “record of simple relaxation music” with flautist Kat Epple (who played on Ghost) he hinted at this September. But Devin’s like a whack-a-mole, you can’t keep him focused on just one project, so we’re sure those ideas will come back out of the hole before long.
