The Moth is, as described by Devin Townsend himself, his “life’s work”. For over a decade, it’s existed as an inarticulable idea, put into motion six years ago with the aid of the North Netherlands’ Orchestra and Choir to achieve its impossible scope. From there, the undertaking only gets more huge with each new detail added. Townsend relearned the fundamental philosophies of orchestration. Recordings were tracked in studios across ten countries and three different continents, comprising hundreds of layers of multi-tracked recordings. The creative labour behind The Moth makes it impossible not to admire, at the very least
The result is exactly what you’d expect from prog-metal’s most proficient perfectionist—perfect. Objectively speaking, anyway. For comfortably over an hour, The Moth is a feast for the ears with basically unparalleled showings from all involved. It’s closer to an opera in that way (not just when it gets all Gilbert & Sullivan on The Mothers). This is meticulously devised to fit the scale of life’s journey and the inner conflicts and revelations that arise along the way. Those themes have birthed many a prog classic—Yes’ Close To The Edge; Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway; some little album called The Wall—but The Moth seems to aim to eclipse all of them in sheer spectacle and import. With that immensity, it’s borderline supernatural that Townsend has done as well as he has. He’s inviting comparisons to tentpole works in progressive music as a whole, not just in his typically metallic sector of it.
But try as it might, The Moth, as a whole,just can’t quite be held in that esteem. More than anything, it’s most reminiscent of the second disc of Nightwish’s Human :||: Nature, a full orchestral suite intended as part of the core album experience, not just an extra. It’s huge and epic in a way that achieves more from its intent, rather than what it does as an album. To that end, The Moth can feel as though it’s trying to keep itself propped up, like a soundtrack or score looking to thrive independently when a visual accompaniment would be that much more enriching. Especially in its shorter instrumental pieces, that’d be ideal for added context. Compare that to how The Wall doesn’t need the movie to be excellent, and it starts making more sense.
That said, The Moth is not a wasted endeavour, by any means. It may earn its comparisons to Human :||: Nature’s second side, but that’s far from all it is; it’s still really good all on its own. It can’t be overstated how much of a compositional feat it is, but crucially, there can be more than only that. Unlike many of its kind, The Moth has Townsend’s eccentricity at the helm to negate how aloof and austere projects like this can be. The rarity of a bad swing or creative decision from him (the fart noise that opens Orion notwithstanding) only compounds that.
Naturally, Townsend is really throwing himself in with his own contributions, too. This is a real vocal showcase from him as he commits to the operatic grandeur of the thing, performed with purpose but not to a self-serious extent. The female vocalists who work as his foil are similarly great, but on Townsend’s pet project, the oxygen might as well all be funnelled towards him. His tunefulness on a song like Home At Night is wonderful and crystalline, but you know the real showstoppers when you hear them. A Proxy For God has Townsend dive into the storm of strings, horns and choral spectres, made even grander with his maniacal, brimstone-laced vamping on The Big Snit. Even if neither are among The Moth’s behemoths with regards to runtime (A Proxy For God doesn’t even reach a minute-and-a-half), they rank high among its best.
That’s another point in the album’s favour, too—even as this grand, sweeping piece, a lot of which need the whole thing to work, there are still standouts and singular, working songs. These are where you’ll find Townsend’s brilliant touch that’s a lot more commonplace across his work. War Beyond Worlds is full power-prog opulence; later, Stained Hearts is a shard of shining, glorious prog-pop. Best of all is Covered By Causes, sporting eight minutes that it uses as an excellent display of the airy, arranged richness this style can flourish at. When The Moth impresses, it does so to no end, with very little to deem an outright failure or bad idea. Of the 24 tracks, the only substantive disappointment is Lexin, gurgling and stumbling by, unware of the perfect majesty of composition next to it in either direction.
It doesn’t feel too great a misstep in the grand scheme of things. The Moth is so big and tightly knit that it almost can’t be derailed like that; it’s like that’s a part of Townsend’s plan. And while the triumph of its creation arguably resonates more than the album on its own, that can’t be discounted in any way. For a huge, almost impossibly bombastic work as this, the process matters. It’s why, even though it’s not one built for a casual spin all that often, The Moth really does feel like a creative pinnacle for Townsend. What was once seen as an impossible task to complete is now out there in the world, realised as well as it could ever possibly be in this form.
For fans of: Nightwish, Ayreon, Haken
‘The Moth’ by Devin Townsend is released on 29th May on InsideOutMusic / HevyDevy Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
