Empath

Prolific Canadian prog weirdo Devin Townsend has tackled everything over his long career from New Age to industrial death metal (no embarrassing rap album attempts, thankfully) and in this magnum opus he cracks open his skull and spills everything out onto one glorious Technicolor canvas. It’s a lot to take in, and in the hands of a lesser artist it could all spin out of control. Townsend makes it feel organic – why WOULDN’T beatific singing lead directly into blast beats? Something this wild shouldn’t also feel this emotionally cathartic.