Over a decade in the making, The Moth, Canadian metal maverick Devin Townsend‘s ambitious, orchestral metal opus is due to see the light of day on 29th May through InsideOutMusic.
Townsend’s built a career on distinct creative worlds. Heavy records, atmospheric detours, character driven releases, each with its own logic and weather system. And yet, The Moth is said to be different. It arrives without a pre-existing template, not as a pivot for novelty’s sake, but as a culmination: a project conceived from the beginning as orchestral, choral, and theatrical in scope, its scale intended to underline the emotional transformation at the heart of the concept.
The Moth began as a vague vision over ten years ago, existing in the back of Townsend’s mind as his “life’s work”. Then, some six years ago, after an acoustic show in Amsterdam, he was approached by the head of the North Netherlands’ Orchestra and Choir with an offer: bring orchestral grandeur to Devin’s extensive discography.
His response was immediate, and telling. If those forces were going to be assembled, he wanted to spend them on something new: this original work that had been circling him for years, waiting for a door to open. That was the moment The Moth stopped being an idea and began to become a reality.
“The Moth is a loose story following someone who realises that old patterns of behaviour are no longer serving them,” explained Townsend. “By digging in and sitting with themselves, an internal conflict is revealed, one they may have been resisting or unconsciously rationalising for years, and ‘Enter The City’ comes towards the beginning of that story arc.”
‘Enter The City’ is the first single released from this 24 track record, accompanied by a video created by Studio Sparks you can watch below at RAMzine. Townsend has now also released a visualizer for ‘Enter The City (The Afterlife)’, an alternate version of the track featured on the deluxe edition of The Moth, which strips away the full band to focus purely on the choir and orchestra.
The deluxe edition includes these ‘Afterlife’ versions of all tracks from the album, and Townsend was candid about what inspired them.
“‘The Moth’ is big. It’s really really big. You can take basically any element of the recording and I feel it stands alone,” said Townsend. “The whole thing together, especially when I feel the levels are all at their proper volumes, can feel like a soundtrack to a nervous breakdown.
“The NNO (North Netherlands National Choir and Orchestra) had been practicing their parts for quite a while before I came in with the band. They had not heard the final version, in which a full orchestra and choir are almost ‘trivialized’ by the onslaught of information (by design, by the way…) so while in rehearsal, I felt a palpable sigh of relief from the choir when I proposed doing a ‘reduction’ of ‘The Moth’: only choir and orchestra.
“So that’s what you are hearing here. I hope it gives you some insight to the depths of this recording, and frankly: the NNO had no business being as amazing as they are for a weirdo like me, and I will forever be grateful to everyone involved in making it happen. They guided me through my insecurities and put such passion into what they did, that not presenting their naked work to the audience seems a crime.
“Thank you to everyone involved and I hope you enjoy this take on ‘The Moth’.”
“The most obvious metaphor for change within the concept of this project was a moth: from caterpillar to an entirely different creature. One so drawn to the light that it burns itself away,” said Townsend. “What remains is immutable. Only the spirit.”
In addition to the main album, The Moth: The Afterlife highlights the grandeur of the orchestra and choir, in what might be considered a purer version of The Moth experience. The Moth: The War is a recording of the live musical debut that took place in March 2025 in The Netherlands, showcasing the raw emotion of performing The Moth for the very first time.
The full track listing is as follows: ‘Semi-prologue’, ‘War Beyond Words’, ‘The Moth’, ‘Ode To My Eye’, ‘Enter The City’, ‘Covered By Causes’, ‘Lexin’, ‘Runaways’, ‘A Proxy For God’, ‘The Mothers’, ‘Orion’, ‘Stay There’, ‘Home At Night’, ‘Intermission’, ‘Lexin Returns’, ‘The Clergy’, ‘Prepare For War’, ‘The Big Snit’, ‘Silver Princess’, ‘A Life in Review’, ‘Metamorphosis’, ‘Stained Hearts’, ‘Let Go’ and ‘We Don’t Deserve Dogs’.
Alongside the North Netherlands Orchestra & Choir and orchestrators Joseph Stevenson and Niels Bye Nielsen, long time Devin Townsend band members Darby Todd, Mike Keneally and James Leach played a huge part, as well as guests including Steve Vai, Anneke van Giersbergen, Lynn Wu (Ou), and artists Travis Smith & Eliran Kantor, plus key creative consultation from Mike St-Jean. The technical teams included co-mixer Chris Edrich, recording engineers Ben Searles & Jacob Hermann, Atmos mixer Ron Searles, mastering engineer Troy Glessner, choirs in various countries throughout the world, and peripheral individuals “that helped land this behemoth of a plane”.
