''Infinity'' is the third solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the first released under his real name. The album was released in October 1998 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.

Background

After the completion of Strapping Young Lad's extreme metal album ''City (Strapping Young Lad album), City'' and his solo progressive rock release ''Ocean Machine: Biomech'', Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat," he explained, "life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In 1997, he checked himself into a mental-health hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from; he felt his disorder "gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping's ''City'' record and Ocean Machine's ''Biomech''." After being discharged from the hospital, Townsend found that "everything just clicked" and he was able to write his third solo album, ''Infinity'', which he described as "the parent project" of ''City'' and ''Biomech''. Townsend returned to the studio, accompanied by drummer Gene Hoglan, to work on the album, on which Townsend played most of the instruments. During the recording sessions, Devin slept on the studio floor. Devin has claimed Infinity was partly inspired by experimentation with LSD and other psychedelic drugs. A music video was made for the song "Christeen".

Music

The first two minutes of the track "OM" have occasionally been played live as an intro of sorts to other songs, and were demoed for inclusion on ''Addicted (Devin Townsend Project album), Addicted'' (later appearing on ''Contain Us''). The "Infinite Waltz" section of "Processional" was later used as the outro to "The Mighty Masturbator" from ''Deconstruction (Devin Townsend Project album), Deconstruction''. The track "Truth" was re-recorded for Transcendence (Devin Townsend Project album), Transcendence, the seventh studio album by the Devin Townsend Project. "OM" was played live in its entirety in 2017 at the Ancient Roman Theater in Plovdiv. The entirety of the album was played in sequence, along with outtakes Om, Sit in the Mountain, and Processional, in a ticketed live stream concert on February 5 2022 as part of the Quarantine Concert Series.

Release

''Infinity'' was released in October 1998 on Townsend's independent label, HevyDevy Records. It was distributed in Canada by HevyDevy, in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment, Sony, and in Europe initially by USG Records and later on by InsideOut Music, InsideOut and with three bonus tracks.

Track listing

The InsideOut Music, InsideOut release of ''Infinity'' had different titles for several tracks; these are listed in parentheses. The InsideOut release of ''Infinity'' also contained three bonus tracks. The original track listing intended for ''Infinity'' was different from its final release. Due to the record label's time restraints, Townsend could not finish some of the tracks. These were later included on the ''Christeen + Four Demos'' EP. The original track list was:

Personnel

Music

* Devin Townsend – human voice, vocals, guitar, bass guitar, bass, electronic keyboard, keyboards, programming * Gene Hoglan – drum kit, drums * Christian Olde Wolbers – double bass, upright bass * Andy Codrington – trombone * Erin Townsend, Lyn Townsend, Dave Townsend, Naomi, Tanya Evans, Lara Uthoff, Chris Valagao, Brad Jackson, Jennifer Lewis – additional vocals * Jamie Meyer - piano solo (track 3)

Production

* Devin Townsend – production, recording, engineering, mixing, digital editing, digital assembly * Mark Gordon – bass engineering * Matteo Caratozzolo – assistance, digital editing * Mark Gordon – assistance * Byron Stroud – assistance * Marty Schwartz – assistance * Ross Gale – assistance * Ramon Donati – assistance * Scott Ternan – assistance * Pete Wonsiak – mixing, additional recording * Matteo Caratozzolo – additional recording * Jennifer Lewis – digital editing * Jamie Meyer – digital assembly * Brett Anthony – digital assembly * Greg Reely – mastering * Tracy Turner – management

Artwork

* Mille Thorsen – layout and design * Aaron Mason – photography

Chart performance

References

External links

''Infinity''
(HevyDevy Records)
''Infinity''
(InsideOut Music) {{Authority control Devin Townsend albums 1998 albums Inside Out Music albums Albums produced by Devin Townsend