Addicted (Devin Townsend Project album)
Addicted is the twelfth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the second album in the Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released on November 17, 2009, on Townsend's independent 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. Background. "Addicted" is the second of seven 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 Anneke  van Giersbergen, former singer of Dutch band The Gathering. Brian Waddell and Ryan Van Poederooyen of the former Devin Townsend Band play bass and drums, respectively, while Mark Cimino plays guitar alongside Townsend. Recording for the album began May 6, 2009. The next album in the series is "Deconstruction", which was released on June 20, 2011. 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 "" (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. "Universe in a Ball!" was played in open B, "Hyperdrive!" in open C (to accommodate the vocal range of van Giersbergen, as opposed to the version of "Hyperdrive" that appeared on the album "Ziltoid the Omniscient" which was recorded in C), 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" and "Accelerated Evolution". The InsideOut releases are sold in a slipcase bearing Smith's Devin Townsend Project logo.