Epicloud

Epicloud
Studio album by Devin Townsend Project
Released	September 18, 2012[1]
Recorded	March 2012 – May 2012
Genre	Progressive rock, experimental rock, progressive metal, alternative rock, hard rock, new-age
Length	49:52
Label	HevyDevy
Producer	Devin Townsend
Devin Townsend Project chronology
By a Thread – Live in London 2011 (2012) Epicloud (2012) Z² (2014)
Devin Townsend chronology
By a Thread – Live in London 2011 (2012) Epicloud (2012) The Retinal Circus (2013)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[2]
Allmusic	[3]
Blistering	[4]
Sputnikmusic	3.0/5[5]

Epicloud is the fifteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the fifth album in the Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released on September 18, 2012, in North America, and September 24, 2012, in Europe, through his independent record label HevyDevy Records and InsideOut Music.^[6]

Background

In an interview with Soundwave TV, Townsend stated about how Epicloud was conceived, "In this sort of process of writing that I've discovered that I guess I'm capable of now, with a sober frame of mind, part of that is just not second-guessing it, so if I write something like that, I just do it, and just finish it."

He continued, "Over the past couple of years, I thought, 'OK, I've gotta write this next 'Ziltoid' thing; I'm inspired to make this epic space opera and, like, really overdo it, and make it really dark.' And so I sat down to write, but every time I went to write, I'd write some poppy hard rock thing. And I was like, 'OK, we'll get that one out of the way and then I'll write 'Ziltoid'.' And I got it out of the way and I'd go write 'Ziltoid'. And I'd write another one. So I'm thinking, 'OK, it's pretty obvious to me that I've got this that wants to come out before that.'"

Regarding the musical direction of Epicloud, Townsend told Noisecreep, "Over the course of the full record, there's sort of new agey stuff, jazzy stuff, really heavy stuff. We basically cover the gamut. Epicloud is the first record that I felt confident enough to include all those things on one record so it goes between melodic hard rock to schizophrenic heavy metal to country to really ambient stuff and it's all in one place. I'm using a gospel choir, a string section and a horn section for this one as well."

When discussing the name of the album, Townsend stated that the title is a double entendre. The first meaning was inspired by the many plane journeys he and the band took whilst on tour, when Townsend noted how cool he thought it was that they were above the clouds, 'epi-cloud', while the second comes from the musical content of the album itself, 'epic-loud'.^[7]

On the topic of his decision to re-record "Kingdom", a song from his Physicist album, which came out in 2000 on Townsend's label HevyDevy Records, Townsend said, "We re-did 'Kingdom' because it's a live set staple, and so much better now than the Physicist recording."^[8]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Devin Townsend except where noted. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Effervescent!"	0:44
2.	"True North"	3:53
3.	"Lucky Animals"	3:21
4.	"Liberation" (written by Townsend and Ryan Van Poederooyen)	3:21
5.	"Where We Belong"	4:27
6.	"Save Our Now" (based on a structure written by Rob Swire)	4:08
7.	"Kingdom"	5:29
8.	"Divine"	3:17
9.	"Grace" (written by Townsend and Van Poederooyen)	6:09
10.	"More!"	4:05
11.	"Lessons"	1:07
12.	"Hold On"	3:57
13.	"Angel"	5:54
14.	"Epicloud" (vinyl bonus track)	6:07
15.	"Cry Forever" (iTunes bonus track)	4:00
16.	"Take My Ego" (iTunes bonus track)	6:22
Total length:		66:21

Epiclouder (deluxe edition disc 2)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Believe" (demo)	4:05
2.	"Happy Birthday" (demo)	4:36
3.	"Quietus" (demo)	5:34
4.	"Heatwave" (demo)	3:36
5.	"Love Tonight" (demo)	4:49
6.	"The Mind WASP" (demo)	4:40
7.	"Woah No!" (demo)	4:11
8.	"Love and Marriage" (demo)	4:02
9.	"Socialization" (demo)	7:18
10.	"Little Pig" (demo)	4:53
Total length:		47:44

Personnel

• Devin Townsend – guitars, vocals, keyboards
• Anneke van Giersbergen – vocals
• Ryan Van Poederooyen – drums
• Brian Waddell – bass
• Dave Young – guitars,^[9] additional keyboards

Production

• Devin Townsend – mixing, engineering
• Anthony Clarkson – artwork

Charts

Chart	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10]	169
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[11]	115
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[12]	88
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[13]	8
French Albums (SNEP)[14]	96
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15]	87
Scottish Albums (OCC)[16]	54
UK Albums (OCC)[17]	61
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[18]	4
US Billboard 200[19]	105
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[20]	26
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[21]	5
US Top Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22]	1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[23]	38

References

1. Harris, Chris (July 6, 2012). "Devin Townsend's Epicloud: Full Details Revealed". Gunshy Assassin. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
2. Westland, Raymond (September 2012). "Epicloud Review". About.com. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
3. Jurek, Thom (October 2012). "Epicloud - Devin Townsend,Devin Townsend Project". Allmusic. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
4. Gehlke, David (2012). "Blistering.com Review: Devin Townsend Project - Epicloud". Blistering. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
5. Tan, Irving (September 15, 2012). "Review: The Devin Townsend Project - Epicloud". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
6. "DEVIN TOWNSEND Reveals More 'Epicloud' Details". Blistering. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
7. "Devin Townsend - Guitar Clinic". YouTube. November 7, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
8. "DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT: Audio Samples Of Entire 'Epicloud' Album". Blabbermouth.net. August 3, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
9. Young, Dave (March 21, 2012). "davetheyoung: Epic two day session tracking...". Twitter. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
10. "Ultratop.be – Devin Townsend Project – Epicloud" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
11. "Ultratop.be – Devin Townsend Project – Epicloud" (in French). Hung Medien.
12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Devin Townsend Project – Epicloud" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
13. "Devin Townsend Project: Epicloud" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
14. "Lescharts.com – Devin Townsend Project – Epicloud". Hung Medien.
15. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
16. "2012-09-30 Top 40 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company.
17. "Devin Townsend Project | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
18. "20120930 Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40 | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
19. "Devin Townsend – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Devin Townsend.
20. "Devin Townsend – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for Devin Townsend.
21. "Devin Townsend – Chart history" Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums for Devin Townsend.
22. "Devin Townsend – Chart history" Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums for Devin Townsend.
23. "Devin Townsend – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Devin Townsend.