Watch The Seventh Wave
"O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
Like clouds they shape themselves and go."
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
Like clouds they shape themselves and go."
— "Seventh Wave"note
Ocean Machine: Biomech is the second studio album by Devin Townsend, originally released as Biomech under the name Ocean Machine. A huge departure from the Industrial Metal of Strapping Young Lad and Punk Rock of Punky Bruster: Cooked On Phonics, it leaned more towards the Progressive Metal that he would become famous for years later. Many fans consider it to be Devin's best album as well as one of the greatest metal albums ever made.
The album was played live in it's entirety for the first time at the Ancient Roman Theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 2018 as a celebration of it's 20-year anniversary. This performance served as the basis for a live release that same year. It was later played in a virtual concert in May of 2021.
Tracklist:
- "Seventh Wave" (6:50)
- "Life" (4:31)
- "Night" (4:45)
- "Hide Nowhere" (5:00)
- "Sister" (2:48)
- "3 A.M." (1:56)
- "Voices in the Fan" (4:39)
- "Greetings" (2:53)
- "Regulator" (5:06)
- "Funeral" (8:06)
- "Bastard (Not One of My Better Days / The Girl from Blue City)" (10:17)
- "The Death of Music" (12:15)
- "Thing Beyond Things (Bonus Track)" (4:47)
Line-up
- Devin Townsend: Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
- JR Harder: Bass
- Marty Chapman: Drums
"So This One's For The Life, This One's For The Trope In The Rain."
- Cherubic Choir: Heard at the end of "Voices in the Fan".
- Epic Rocking: "Seventh Wave" (6:50), "Funeral" (8:06), "Bastard" (10:17) and "The Death of Music" (12:15).
- Grief Song: "Funeral" was written in response to the senseless murder of one of Devin's classmates. "He was killed walking home by a group of kids that wanted his hat," Devin said. It's one of Devin's oldest songs and helped get him a record deal. "Life" was also partially about this.
- It Always Rains at Funerals: "Funeral", appropriately enough."This one's for the funeral in the rain"
- Last Note Nightmare: The infamous scream at the end of "Thing Beyond Things". Even the 2018 live performance included it.
- Lighter and Softer: While it can be pretty heavy at times, it's certainly nowhere near as heavy as Devin's Strapping Young Lad albums.
- Limited Lyrics Song:
- "Sister" is just repetitions of "sister" and something indistinct transcribed by some as "nothing I could do."
- "Regulator" has little more than "I'm regulated / regulator" and "Odd times and all / no meantime at all."
- Miniscule Rocking: "3 A.M." (1:56)
- Precision F-Strike: Devin gives the only use of "fuck" on the album in "Bastard", in contrast to him freely dropping the Cluster F-Bomb with Strapping Young Lad."To all the hopeful ones
Nobody gives a fuck what you're got." - What Happened to the Mouse?: Devin obviously went on to have a long and successful career after this album, but the other two members? Nope. Marty Chapman apparently continued playing with local bands in Winnipeg until his death in 2014, whereas JR Harder simply vanished without a trace and wasn't seen again until 2017 when he joined Devin onstage to play the album in its entirety for the twentieth anniversary. The reason for his disappearance is due to him developing multiple sclerosis, forcing him into early retirement. This is evidenced by him having to sit down throughout his 2017 performance.
