Empath (album)

***Empath*** is the eighteenth studio album by Canadian metal musician Devin Townsend, released on his own label HevyDevy Records on March 29, 2019. It is his

first solo album since *Dark Matters*, which was a part of the 2014 double album *Z²*, and his first release to act solely as a solo album since 2007's *Ziltoid the Omniscient*..

## Production

On January 31, 2018, Townsend announced on his Facebook page that he was taking a break from the Devin Townsend Project, which had been his main project since 2008. This would make *Empath* Townsend's first release to act solely as a solo album since 2007's *Ziltoid the Omniscient*. The *Empath* project was first mentioned in a tweet from January 1, 2017, and officially announced two years later, along with its release date, on January 15, 2019, when work on the album had already been completed.

A statement on his official Facebook page stated about the origins of the album:

> On this album Devin has decided to see what would happen if all the styles that make up his current interests were finally represented in one place. To finally shake the fear of expectation, and just do what it is he was meant to do creatively, EMPATH, true to the name, is about allowing the audience a feeling for a variety of musical emotions. The musical dynamics represented on this single album are broad, challenging, and immense. To approach this sort of work with a long history of what makes heavy music ‘heavy’, allows this to be done with a type of power rarely heard."
>
>

It was also described as "A bold statement with massive production values and dynamic, uncompromised musicality. This is a statement about not only pursuing creative freedom in a conservative scene, but also trying to show that heavy music is truly a valid musical tool." Guest performers include former Frank Zappa collaborators Mike Keneally, Morgan Ågren and Steve Vai, as well as Samus Paulicelli from Decrepit Birth, Anup Sastry, Chad Kroeger, Townsend's regular collaborator Anneke van Giersbergen, Ché Aimee Dorval (who had worked with Townsend on *Casualties of Cool*), Elliot Desgagnés from Beneath the Massacre, and Ryan Dahle.

A series of documentary videos detailing the making of *Empath* has been released on YouTube.

On February 22, 2019, the first single from the album, "Genesis", was released. A corresponding video was also debuted that complemented the song's intricate style. On March 15, 2019, a second single titled "Evermore" was released; an accompanying music video was made for the single, which features a 2D animated cat flying through space.

## Release

*Empath* was released on March 29, 2019. Editions include:

* a limited 2-CD digipak with a disc of bonus material,
* a gatefold 180g 2-LP vinyl + CD + LP booklet edition and
* a 4 CD Edition with samples and a recording of a live show in Leeds

## Track Listing

**Empath: disc 1**

1. Castaway (2:28)
2. Genesis (6:05)
3. Spirits Will Collide (4:39)
4. Evermore (5:30)
5. Sprite (6:37)
6. Hear Me (6:30)
7. Why? (4:59)
8. Borderlands (11:02)
9. Requiem (2:46)
10. Singularity (23:33)

* I. Adrift (5:00)
* I. I am I (3:29)
* III. There Be Monsters (4:37)
* IV. Curious Gods (3:08)
* V. Silicon Scientists (2:55)
* VI. Here Comes The Sun! (4:23)

###### Total Run Time: 74:08

**Empath: Deluxe Edition**

* 2xCD Digipak
* includes an additional 10 demo tracks

**Empath: Ultimate Edition**

* 2xCD
* 2xBlu-Ray Artbook

## Heavydevy.com

I have been ‘holding it up to the light’ for the whole process in hope that the effort and difficulty that went into this project ultimately helps people.

My career has spanned several decades and I have been trying to work through the phases that present themselves in order to learn more about myself. I knew that Empath was on the horizon several years back when I became restless in my musical world and began to feel a pull towards something uncompromising. I felt a need to confront a fear of myself on some level if I was ever going to be able to progress as an artist. The result is this album you hold in your hands, and it was a heck of an experience bringing to completion. It is not an easy listen, but I hope my reasons for doing it are clear. It was about taking it all apart and laying it out for myself to take stock of.

I needed to explore a lot of avenues, and it took me to some frightening places. By the end of the process though, the resolution that came from ‘going there’ proved to me that I had become capable of moving past it.

The theme of Empath was always about going into that fear – the uncertainty of life and ‘middle age’ – then confronting it and coming out the other side of it with some sort of realization. Although life is not easy, it can be within us to rise to those occasions that are demanded of us and I wanted to write something that represented many angles of life with an overarching theme that ultimately is one of hope in uncertain times.

In a world that is more divided than ever, Empath was written in order to participate in all those emotions that bubbled up over the past two years without judging them or letting them define the process. I feel that when we do so, we are more able to understand how others, different from us, may feel. Empathy is a trait that seems to be equated to weakness in this day and age, when ultimately it is the one thing that could help us understand each other.

Music, in my opinion, does not come from us individually. Maybe it comes from a collective pool of human experience, and artists ultimately have the job of pulling that from the ether, filtered through our own trip, and then simply trying to do a good job in representing it?

Regardless, I’m proud to be able to play for you all and hope my work in a small way does justice to the inspiration from the infinite source. I am humbled by it. Thank you to the countless people who help and support me on this journey, there’s no conceivable way I could do my part of this without friends, family, co-workers and the audience. It means so much to be able to participate in this and I do not take it for granted. Thank you again.

My intention with representing this music is only to help and honour. I hope you enjoy this and hope you may find some catharsis here. Please take care of yourself and let’s stick around… we can do this. Don’t give up.

With all my love and light

## Personnel

* Devin Townsend – lead vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, programming, production
* Nathan Navarro – bass ("Genesis", "Evermore", "Why?", "Borderlands")
* Morgan Ågren – drums ("Genesis", "Sprite", "Why?", "Borderlands", "Curious Gods", "Empath", "Summer")
* Samus Paulicelli (66samus) – drums ("Genesis", "Hear Me", "There Be Monsters", "Gulag", "Middle Aged Man", "Total Collapse")
* Anup Sastry – drums ("Genesis", "Spirits Will Collide", "Borderlands", "I Am I", "Silicon Scientists", "Here Comes the Sun!", "King", "The Waiting Kind")
* Elliot Desgagnés – additional vocals ("Genesis", "Spirits Will Collide", "Evermore", "Sprite", "There Be Monsters")
* Ché Aimee Dorval – additional vocals ("Genesis", "Borderlands")
* Anneke van Giersbergen – additional vocals ("Hear Me", "Here Comes the Sun", "King")
* Chad Kroeger – additional vocals ("Hear Me")
* Ryan Dahle – additional guitars ("Borderlands")
* Steve Vai – additional guitars ("Here Comes the Sun!")
* Elektra Women's Choir – choir
* Mike Keneally – music direction
* Adam "Nolly" Getgood – additional producer, engineering

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