Order of Magnitude: Empath Live Volume 1

Devin Townsend is one of the best live artists working today. His on stage banter is fun, his energy is always high, and most of the songs sound surprisingly better live. So it should come as no shock that I find this new live release to be tremendous.

The set-list is a great mix of established classics (War!, Deadhead, Kingdom, Lucky Animals), some of his new material off of Empath, and a couple underrated gems that have not been performed live often (Gato, Heaven Send, Coast). This tour was during the release and promotion of Empath, his unique solo release, so his backing band is comprised of some faces we have not seen before. This new group brings a lot of energy and fun to the show. Ché Aimee Dorval from his side project Casualties of Cool is actually the biggest surprise here. Her energy and vocal talents really compliment and improve the majority of the songs she appears on.

As a live show, the crowd has lots of energy and is in high spirits. The production is fantastic, with the lights and projections in the back offering fun visualizations to the songs. The band actually has some wardrobe changes throughout, so there is a lot to see here. A++ for the video experience of this show. It is engaging and a lot of fun.

The musical performance is top notch but the most fun is actually from the tweaks that have been made to a few of the songs. The first being 'Heaven Send' seemingly ending with Devin going on a bit of a stream of consciousness digression until the band returns full force into the song cutting him off. This is really cool. Lucky Animals features Ché covering most of the vocal duties, and because of this it has become my favorite rendition of the song. The last and most impactful to me is the stripped down Spirits Will Collide. It is incredibly beautiful. As a show closer it is unforgettable.

Now after all of this praise why haven't I gone with a full 100% score? Well, the negative is that some of the banter can interrupt the flow of the songs. For instance, on Why? Devin throws out some 'balls' jabs during the song and on re-listen it messes with the flow of it. The same goes for the 'jumping up and down with a hand on your head' moment from the same song. These are fun live moments that are cool to see on the DVD, but playing it back as just audio is a slight interruption to an otherwise fantastic rendition of the music.

Overall this is another strong release from Hevy Devy. His live releases are becoming my favorite parts of his ever expanding catalog. He is a one-of-a-kind artist and it's always a pleasure to experience him in the live domain.