Devin Townsend, the singer, is bizarre and prolific and utterly talented. Talents ranging from the real heavy metal of Strapping Young Lad to the weirdly comical concept album Ziltoid the Omniscient to this operatic, progressive rock that utilizes not just Townsend’s impressive vocals, but also female singer Anneke van Giersbergen. This particular album, Addicted!, is a favorite of mine, but this song in particular features everything I love about it in one song.

I should also note, as an aside: I had the luck*** of seeing The Devin Townsend Project perform live a few years ago, and I’ve never been to a concert where the front man comes out on stage during the sound check, tinkers around, interacts with fans in the theatre, and then when the lights go down and the concert starts? It was like someone flipped a freaking switch: this man was on, the kind of on that makes you understand what makes someone a performer at heart, and Devin Townsend? Is a fantastic performer (and musician, because seriously, the breadth of his stuff and his range and his talent is amazing to me. Music Literature professors of the future should take note of him. He’s that kind of impressive).

So here’s “Numbered!” I promise, for this coming off of a progressive rock album, it’s not that hard. Believe me, once you get to the chorus, you’ll know what I mean. Oh, and this isn’t a video, just a still, so you can push play and listen while you do something else. 🙂

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Sound off below!

Reminder: Music Monday is about the music, not the videos. Videos are just the medium I’m using to share the music, and some videos aren’t actually videos at all. Enjoy the songs, but if YouTube forces you to watch some sort of advertisement before you can get to the music, please be patient.

*** = I say luck because I’m still shocked he actually performed within driving distance for me.