Devin Townsend has announced Empath – The Ultimate Edition, due for release on 5th June via Inside Out Music.
The new version of the 2019 record contains the original album plus bonus discs across two CDs and two Blu-Ray discs. The first Blu-Ray contains the 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Townsend himself, with visuals for the full record, plus a stereo visualiser. The second features bonus material, including Acoustically Inclined – Live in Leeds, a recording from his April 2019 acoustic tour including Love?, Deadhead, Thing Beyond Things and more. It also features the Empath documentary, a ‘Genesis 5.1 Mixing Lesson’, a full album commentary and more, displayed inside an art-book which contains liner notes and images from the making of the record.
“On a technical level, I guess I have always been dissatisfied with the basic ‘stereo’ format in which the type of music I make gets presented in,” he comments on the new 5.1 surround sound mix. “Whether its headphones, computer speakers, stereos (or basically anything currently), I have had to figure out ways to get the work to function through TWO speakers. I hear things in a particularly orchestrated way, and with the amount of information that typically gets recorded per song, the result has been the dubious ‘wall of sound’ that I keep ending up with. But my intention has never been to make an oppressive experience, but rather something that is immersive and vast.
“Making it work in two speakers just simply doesn’t quite work for the vision. Although I’ve managed to get the point across, (to varying degrees), things always have to compromise to make it all fit. Making the drums speak at the same time as orchestra, cymbals, guitars, choirs, synths etc.…all with my voice on top, ends up with every conceivable frequency fighting for breathing space between those two speakers. Therefore, I asked the powers that be in my business world, to tolerate one more ‘kick at the can’ when it came to Empath. I wanted to attempt a surround mix and follow the original vision of it being an immersive, multimedia experience for people in the ways I could best achieve at this stage. And although it’s still pretty ‘dense’, with four more sources for the sound to come from, I feel its significantly closer to the original vision here.”
Pre-order Empath – The Ultimate Edition HERE.
See Devin Townsend live at one of the following dates:
June
Thu 4th – SOLVESBORG, SE – Sweden Rock Festival
Fri 5th – Sun 7th – NÜRNBERG, DE – Rock Im Park
Fri 5th – Sun 7th – MENDIG, DE – Rock Am Ring
Tue 9th – BRATISLAVA, SK – Majestic Music Club
Wed 10th – KRAKOW, PL – Mystic Festival
Thu 11th – NICKELSDORF, AT – Nova Rock
Sat 13th – BUCHAREST, RO – The Roman Arenas
Sun 14th – SOFIA, BG – Mixtape 5
Mon 15th – BUDAPEST, HU – A38
Thu 18th – COPENHAGEN, DK – Copenhell
Sat 20th – DESSEL, BE – Graspop Metal Meeting
Sun 21st – CLISSON, FR – Hellfest
Tue 23rd – ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE, LU – Rockhall (co-headline with Meshuggah)
Wed 24th – ZURICH, CH – Xtra (co-headline with Meshuggah)
Sun 28th – HELSINKI, FI – Tuska
July
Wed 29th – TOLMIN, SI – MetalDays
Thu 30th – WACKEN, DE – Wacken Open Air
August
Wed 5th – JAROMER, CZ – Brutal Assault Festival
Fri 7th – WALTON-ON-TRENT, UK – Bloodstock Open Air
Sun 9th – LEEUWARDEN, NL – Into The Grave
Wed 12th – DINKELSBUHL, DE – Summer Breeze
