Physicist

***Physicist*** is the fourth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released on June 26, 2000, on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.

## Hevydevy.com description

> *The greatest gift I received from Infinity, (If I look at it that way) was the total, and colossal personal meltdown / failure that resulted from such a heightened sense of self importance. The humiliation I felt in the face of the many crass and narcissistic decisions I made during that period put me in a place that I wasn't sure how to bounce back from. At the time, my desire to return to the studio was overwhelming, though my motivation to exist in the same 'romantic studio gnome' frame of mind was nonexistent. I wanted to make a 'pop' flavoured metal album, that took the production cues from Def Leppard type sheen, and apply it to bleak, futuristic and cold music.*
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> *The writing was done haphazardly in my basement, after which I would present it took the guys in SYL who ultimately were waiting for me to work through my 'existential crisis' to get back on the road with Strapping. I felt unable to pull my shit together, as the experience with drugs had left me with an uneasy feeling about SYL in general, as if certain frames of mind I was in had proved to me that the music I made with SYL was ultimately very unhealthy for me and I needed to quit doing it. I used Physicist as a way of including the guys in the music again, but ultimately, that seemed to just confuse things more. The result was a record that came off more as 'SYL-Lite' by the fan base and critics alike. It allowed us as a band to go out on tour and play a combination of SYL and my solo stuff, but neither thing really had any emotional commitment from me in terms of deciding one over the other, and it ended up a dark and hostile time.*
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> *The production and mix were handled by Mike Plotnikoff, (who was a big shot Vancouver producer) that was absolutely the wrong mix for me. Most other things he had done sounded great, but ultimately, (primarily due to his involvement in just the drum track and mix, and my half-assed production at the time). The album is one of my least favourite statements I've made, primarily due to the sonic qualities of production and mix. I intend to slowly revisit some of the songs as I do like a good portion of the material, but I ultimately think it’s a gross sounding record.*
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## Background

*Physicist* took several years to come to fruition. Townsend had previously played with Metallica's then-bassist Jason Newsted in a short-lived thrash metal project called IR8. After the creation of an IR8 demo tape in 1994, Townsend and Newsted began work on a new project called *Fizzicist*, which they claimed would be "heavier than Strapping Young Lad." When the IR8 tape was leaked, Newsted's Metallica bandmates learned of the project. Hetfield was "fucking pissed" that Newsted was playing outside the band, and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects.[1]

Unable to continue working with Newsted, Townsend instead wrote the album himself, calling it *Physicist*. Townsend assembled his bandmates from his extreme metal project Strapping Young Lad. This was the only time this lineup in full was featured on one of Townsend's solo albums.[2]

Production-wise, the album is considered by Townsend to be poorly mixed, having become distraught during the process by having to re-record about half of the album and thus leaning heavily on Plotnikoff to mix it.

## Music

The album combines Townsend's pop-heavy progressive metal with more thrash metal influence from the SYL side. While songs like "Jupiter" are melody-heavy pop metal songs, "Death" is a chaotic and fast thrash song, "Devoid" approaches grindcore territory, and "Planet Rain" churns at more of a doom metal pace.

David Ballard of Revolver magazine described the album's sound as "a blend of summery melody and breathtaking brutality ... vaulting between Queen-like elegance and Dark Angel–like devastation."

## Release

*Physicist* was released in June 2000 on Townsend's independent label, HevyDevy Records. It is distributed in Canada by HevyDevy, in Japan by Sony with bonus, remastered demos from *Ass-Sordid Demos*, and in Europe and North America by InsideOut Music. The album was released on Enhanced CD format, with a commentary on the album by Townsend.

Back on Black, a division of Plastichead, released the album on limited grey vinyl in 2010. Side A has songs 1-5 while side B has 6-10; "Forgotten" is omitted.

A second vinyl version was issued by InsideOut in 2018 as part of the Eras II box set, remastering the album for vinyl and including "Forgotten" on the b-side; the sides thus run tracks 1-7 on A and 8-11 on B.

## Reception

*Physicist* received positive reviews, but is generally considered a low point in Townsend's career. Townsend himself considers it his worst album to date.[3] Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic argued that while *Physicist* is "a pretty good listen" on its own merit, it is "one of the weakest" albums in Townsend's catalogue. He felt the album "comes off as a restrained version of Strapping Young Lad with hints of [Townsend's] other projects thrown in", and that most of the tracks don't "seem to go anywhere".[4] In 2005 the album placed number 439 in Rock Hard Magazine's *The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time*.

Much of the criticism of *Physicist* stems from its poor production. Spencer, in his Sputnikmusic review, found the production "a little too reigned in" and "muddy". This was felt by the band as well; drummer Gene Hoglan and the rest were dissatisfied with the way the sound was mixed.[5]

## Track listing

All songs written by Devin Townsend unless otherwise noted.

1. "Namaste" (3:34)
2. "Victim" (3:15)
3. "Material" (2:47)
4. "Kingdom" (5:55)
5. "Death" (2:27) [Townsend, Hoglan]
6. "Devoid" (1:28)
7. "The Complex" (3:31) [Townsend, Hoglan]
8. "Irish Maiden" (2:45)
9. "Jupiter" (3:36)
10. "Planet Rain" (11:08)
11. "Forgotten" (5:59)
**Japanese bonus tracks**
12. "Man (Demo)" (5:12)
13. "Ocean Machines (Demo)" (8:24)
14. "Promise (Demo)" (5:26)

## Personnel

### Strapping Young Lad

* Devin Townsend – vocals, guitar, keyboards, production, engineering, arrangement
* Gene Hoglan – drums
* Byron Stroud – bass
* Jed Simon – guitar

### Background vocals

* Chris Valagao
* Marina Reid
* Sharon Parker
* Teresa Duke

### Production

* Mike Plotnikoff – mixing
* Chris Waddell – mastering
* Shaun Thingvold – engineering, digital editing
* Paul Silviera – engineering
* Matteo Caratozzolo – engineering
* Sawami Saito – assistance
* Roger Swan – assistance
* Tracy Turner – assistance, management
* Byron Stroud – assistance
* Seventh Wave Studios – CD enhancement

### Artwork

* Clint Nielsen – layout, artwork, logos
* Gary Hunter – 3-D logo rendering
* Gloria Fraser – photography
* Tania Rudy – photography

## External links

* *Physicist* (HevyDevy Records)
* *Physicist* (InsideOut Music)
* *Physicist* on Discogs

1. ↑ https://www.musicradar.com/news/devin-townsend-i-toured-for-11-months-last-year-and-the-band-i-dont-know-if-we-broke-even
2. ↑ https://www.insideoutshop.de/Item/Devin\_Townsend\_Project\_-\_Eras\_-\_Vinyl\_Collection\_Part\_II\_-Ltd-\_Deluxe\_black\_8LP\_Box\_Set-/16450