The Puzzle / Snuggles

The Puzzle / Snuggles is an experimental two-part work on which Devin Townsend departs greatly from mainstream heavy metal and freely explores fragments of sound and emotion. Combining two contrasting works, it has the air of a sketchbook that gives direct form to the sound ideas in his head, rather than a normal album. On one side, The Puzzle unfolds fragmentary sound collage and chaotic soundscape, with free imagination unbound from regular song structure swirling through. On the other, Snuggles centers on a calm, ambient expanse, an enveloping, quiet, meditative air drifting over it. Intensity and repose are presented as two poles. Though a work of extremely personal placement, apart from the line of his signature albums, it is precisely within that freedom that the source of Devin Townsend’s creativity can be glimpsed. Including the background of its making, it is an intriguing record reflecting his experimental spirit and his inexhaustible curiosity toward sound itself — a work not to be missed for understanding his many-sided nature.