✦✦✦✦ This is Devin Townsend at his most devy. More than ever, he imbues all of his music here with metal, but in oblique and non-ostentatious ways. Put another way, this album of progressive rock, electronica, choral music, and soundscapes just happens to treat the panoply of metal subgenres as source motifs.

★★★☆ This is a challenging double-length release, intended to be two albums in one, each one different in tone and scope. This is asking a lot for a First Listen, especially if (like me) you’re not already all-in with Devy. Worse, the first half album is farther away from what one might traditionally consider “metal” than the second, thereby confronting the uninitiated with the bigger challenges upfront.