Music / Deconstruction (2011)

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Deconstruction is an album by Progressive Metal musician Devin Townsend. It is the third installment in his Devin Townsend Project album series and was released simultaneously with the fourth installment, Ghost, on June 20, 2011. It is a Concept Album about a man's search for the true nature of reality.

Musically, this album shows Townsend at his most chaotic since breaking up Strapping Young Lad in 2007, featuring more prominent extreme metal elements than his usual latter-day work. It also features a guest vocalist on almost every track.

Track list:

1. "Praise the Lowered" (featuring Paul Kuhr) (6:02)
2. "Stand" (featuring Mikael Akerfeldt) (9:36)
3. "Juular" (featuring Ihsahn) (3:46)
4. "Planet of the Apes" (featuring Tommy Giles Rogers) (10:59)
5. "Sumeria" (featuring Joe Duplantier and Paul Masvidal) (6:37)
6. "The Mighty Masturbator" (featuring Greg Puciato) (16:28)
7. "Pandemic" (featuring Floor Jansen) (3:29)
8. "Deconstruction" (featuring Oderus Urungus) (9:27)
9. "Poltergeist" (4:25)

You could take a trope and deconstruct it to its source:

• Album Closure: "Poltergeist" begins with "Let's finish this"
• All for Nothing: The protagonist's journey to find the true nature of reality is rendered pointless because what he was looking turned out to be a cheeseburger, which he wouldn't eat because he's a vegetarian.
• Call-Back: "Planet of the Apes" briefly alludes to "Awake!!" relatively close to the end.
• Concept Album: About a man's obsession with finding the true nature of reality.
• Darker and Edgier: This is one of the heaviest DTP albums and easily the most extreme, to the point of being the closest thing to a Strapping Young Lad album Devin Townsend has released since breaking up the band. Downplayed as it's also the campiest, along with the Dark Matters half of Z2.
• End of an Age: Not for Devin Townsend, but for Mikael Akerfeldt. "Stand" was the last studio track to feature his death growl for over a decade.
• Epic Rocking: All of the even-numbered tracks are considerably longer than the odd-numbered one, with special mention going to "The Mighty Masturbator" (16:28).
• Fading into the Next Song: "Stand" fades in from the end of "Praise the Lowered"
• Foreshadowing: The protagonist's MacGuffin being a cheeseburger:
  • "Planet of the Apes" uses Burger King's "have it your way" slogan in its chorus.
  • This spoken part from the beginning of the title track:
    "At the end of the day, you know at the end of the day, anything, a benign object of any sort, you could take anything, you could take a cheeseburger and deconstruct it to its source." ["Cheeseburger" echoes]
• Fully Absorbed Finale: The climax of "The Mighty Masturbator" is this for Ziltoid the Omniscient, with Ziltoid having found his own life's purpose as he reveals himself to be the title character. Ziltoid's next music appearance is a completely different story in an Alternate Continuity.
• The Hedonist: The protagonist resorts to sex and drugs while trying to find the true nature of reality.
• Heroic Wannabe: A character in "The Mighty Masturbator":
  "You don't even know!
  Oh I'm real good at that
  savin' the world thing there.
  Oh yeah, oh yaah I know I'm ready,
  I got my special savin' the world boots on!"
• Intentionally Awkward Title: "The Mighty Masturbator" is an obvious clue to the hedonistic themes of the album. It being the longest track by far only adds to the awkwardness.
• Irony: The protagonist will go all out in hedonism when searching for the true nature of reality, but, despite it all, he is still a vegetarian and refuses to eat a cheeseburger upon being told that doing so would reveal the secrets of the universe.
• Ode to Food: The title track provides an in-universe example for the cheeseburger.
  "Oh glorious cheeseburger, we bow to thee, the secrets of the universe are between the buns!"
• Reconstruction: Despite what the title suggests, this album is more of a reconstruction than a deconstruction. It shows that Devin Townsend is still capable of making extreme metal without losing his mind or turning to drugs after one breakdown too many led to him disbanding Strapping Young Lad.
• Song Style Shift: "The Mighty Masturbator" is the most pronounced example on the album. It starts as progressive metal, has a lengthy electronic midsection, returns to progressive metal, and climaxes with carnival music.
• Special Guest: All tracks except the last feature a guest vocalist (two on "Sumeria") alongside Devin. The title track also features a guitar solo from Fredrik Thordendal.
• Wham Line: The protagonist is revealed the source of the secrets of the universe, but there is one small issue:
  "But I don't eat the cheeseburgers guys, I'm a vegi-ma-tarian!"