(30:23; DarWin) After the first two albums were completed, DarWin, Simon Phillips and Matt Bissonette realised that if they stripped the albums back to just the acoustic and orchestral elements, they had something quite different indeed. Phillips set to undertaking new mixes with the exact same instruments and tracks from the earlier recordings, while Matt also recorded two new solo versions of “Slowly Melting” and “One Horizon” with just his voice and bass. The former is one of the highlights of this release, recorded as a live take with vocals and bass parts at the same time, the combination of the reverb on his vocals and the atmosphere provided by the highly sustained bass notes makes for something quite special indeed. As with the second album, this is considerably shorter than the debut, at only 35 minutes, and was actually originally available as part of a limited edition deluxe release of ‘Darwin 2’ but earlier this year it was released as an album in its own right and to b...

(108:58; InsideOut Music) I can still remember when I first heard ‘Infinity’ back in 1998: it just blew my mind and from there on I was a huge fan of Townsend and whatever project he was involved with. I vividly remember taking a carload of developers from Hayes to Bristol to see some depots and stores in operation, and blasting ‘Physicist’ at full volume both ways – it was my car and I got to choose the music. One thing about Townsend is that he is so naturally curious and wanting to push boundaries that one is never sure quite what one is going to get, and the one time I saw him in concert as a bombastic over the top quartet I was somewhat disappointed. However, when it came to ‘Retinal Circus’ I was in awe and it is a concert I still love playing. Mind you, that was a special gig in many ways, with incredible musicians, a choir, backing tapes, loads of antics on stage, and the one and only Anneke van Giersbergen. Fast forward to 2019, and he had decided he wanted to do something...

(60:53; InsideOut Music) Devin Townsend is currently working on new material, and due to a lack of touring possibilities and encounters with fans on the road he has decided to release   a series of live albums, quarantine albums, and other projects to keep people interested. This release is the first in what is called ‘The Devolution Series’ and is a remixed and remastered version of the ‘Live in Leeds’ show that was originally on the ‘Empath’ Ultimate Edition. Here we find Devin in his absolute element, playing his songs in a stripped-down style, plenty of reverb on the voice and picked acoustic guitar. It is a low-key set, allowing Devin to easily interact with his audience who are obviously all hardcore fans wanting to hear well-known songs in a somewhat different fashion. Devin points out that the material is generally first written on acoustic, so it must go through multiple changes before finally making it to an album, as this sounds nothing like the wall of sound I general...