Addicted (album)

***Addicted*** is the twelfth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, second entry in the *Contain Us* quadrology, and the second of six albums in the Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released on November 17, 2009, on Townsend's record label HevyDevy Records. The album was written and produced by Townsend, and features Ryan Van Poederooyen, Brian Waddell, Mark Cimino, and Anneke van Giersbergen.

## Hevydevy.com description

> *Addicted was a record that was made as a conscious effort to be absurdly positive, and even at the time, I was aware that it was almost deludedly so. I knew that the cornerstone of the project would be Deconstruction, the album that was written as an effort to confront myself and my hang ups about heavy music, religion, sex and those sorts of things. So Addicted served as a kind of 'opening act' for Deconstruction… I liked to think of it as the curtains that hid the Deconstruction show were closed, and Addicted was playing in front of it to get people’s attention. I had found through all the change and the process that there were certain people in my life that were turning into very dependable friends and cornerstones to bounce things off of musically and otherwise, and I invited them to play on the album. I have always been interested in female vocals (as I prefer them to male) and as luck would have it during the recording of Addicted, Anneke Van Giersbergen sent me an unsolicited mail with an attached video of her singing 'Hyperdrive' from Ziltoid. Being a long-time fan of hers, I figured I would take the bull by the horns and ask her if she was interested in singing on the album, and she agreed. The music on Addicted is shiny, easy, and very positive, but again…(especially in relationship to Epicloud), it’s almost deludedly so… there’s no true acknowledgement of the ills of the world, and as such tends to be (for me) an exhausting experience. However, this is THE WHOLE INTENTION of Addicted, and is why it's named what it is. The idea that you can get addicted to anything, experience, optimism, drugs, whatever… and the breaking of the cycle in Ki leads to the confrontation that the addictive nature in personality ultimately just covers up an inability (or rather the fear) of dealing with the roots of the cause. This made sense, except for the question remained: 'If you're willing to confront these things…how do you know what is a fear versus a projection' how do you know if you're lying or deluding yourself?...'*
>
>

## Background

*Addicted* is the second of six albums in the Devin Townsend Project series, each featuring a different lineup and theme. *Addicted* was written and produced by Townsend. The album features vocals by Townsend along with van Giersbergen, a former member of Dutch experimental rock/metal band The Gathering. Waddell and Van Poederooyen of the former Devin Townsend Band play bass and drums, respectively, while old friend Cimino plays guitar alongside Townsend. Recording for the album began May 6, 2009.

## Music

According to Townsend, *Addicted* is an album of "melodic" and "danceable" music but is "much heavier" than his previous albums. Townsend has compared the album's songwriting to his more accessible songs, such as "Life" from *Ocean Machine: Biomech* (1997), "Stagnant" from *Terria* (2001), and "Material" from *Physicist* (2000). The album's production style was directly influenced by Nickelback's 2008 album *Dark Horse*. Townsend has quipped that "some parts of it sound like Meshuggah, some parts of it sound like Boney M." *Addicted* includes a new version of the song "Hyperdrive" from Townsend's album *Ziltoid the Omniscient* (2007), with lead vocals by van Giersbergen, who has performed a cover of the song with her former band Agua de Annique. "Resolve!" was "directly influenced by The Wildhearts" and it bears a resemblance to "Vanilla Radio" from *The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed*. Unlike Townsend's previous albums, which were usually in open C tuning, most of the songs on *Addicted* were played in open B tuning, also used for select songs on the previous album *Ki*. "Universe in a Ball!" is played in open B♭, "Hyperdrive!" in open C♯ (to accommodate the vocal range of van Giersbergen, a half step up from the original version), and "Ih-Ah!" and "The Way Home!" in open C.

## Release and artwork

*Addicted* was released on Townsend's independent record label HevyDevy Records on November 17, 2009, through their website. Pre-orders went on sale October 6, 2009, with special-edition packages through Century Media's CM Distro website. The album was released on November 13, 2009, in Germany, November 16, 2009, in the rest of Europe, and November 17, 2009, in North America by InsideOut Music. It was released in Japan through Marquee/Avalon on December 16, 2009.

The album features art by Travis Smith, who created the album art for Townsend's previous albums *Terria*, *Accelerated Evolution*, and *Ki*. The InsideOut releases are sold in a slipcase bearing Smith's Devin Townsend Project logo.

## Track listing

All songs written by Devin Townsend, except where noted.

1. "Addicted!" (5:37)
2. "Universe in a Ball!" (4:09)
3. "Bend It Like Bender!" (3:37)
4. "Supercrush!" (5:13)
5. "Hyperdrive!" (3:36)
6. "Resolve!" (3:12)
7. "Ih-Ah!" (3:45)
8. "The Way Home!" (3:14) [Townsend, Waddell]
9. "Numbered!" (4:55)
10. "Awake!!" (9:44)

## Personnel

### Musicians

* Devin Townsend – vocals, guitar, keyboards, programming, production, mixing
* Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums
* Brian Waddell – bass
* Mark Cimino – guitar

### Additional personnel

* Anneke van Giersbergen – additional vocals, lead vocals on "Supercrush!", "Hyperdrive!", "Resolve!" and "Numbered!"
* Dave Young – additional keyboards
* Susanne Richter – additional vocals on "Ih-Ah!"
* Rob Cunningham, Hugh Gilmartin, John Rafferty, Brian Johnson, Steve Lobmeier; Dev, Beav, Ryan and Mark – gang vocals
* Travis Smith – art

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Devin Townsend Project: *Addicted* North American release date announced
2. ↑ Devin Townsend to return this summer with 'Ki'
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Genghis - Podcast #80 – Idol
4. ↑ Raush video interview with Devin Townsend, Toazted
5. ↑ *Addicted* liner notes
6. ↑ Addicted Exclusive Specially Priced Pre-Order Packages Now Available
7. ↑ Devin Townsend Project – Addicted (German)
8. ↑ Devin Townsend Project – Addicted
9. ↑ アディクテッド/デヴィン・タウンゼンド・プロジェクト
10. ↑ Travis Smith artwork