The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra Color Vinyl Edition

After releasing four solo albums under the name Devin Townsend, each with a different recording lineup, Townsend decided in 2002 to assemble a permanent band for his solo material. He formed the Devin Townsend Band, consisting of Brian Waddell on guitar, Mike Young on bass, Ryan Van Poederooyen on drums, and Dave Young on keyboards. The newly formed group released their first album, Accelerated Evolution, in March 2003. The group recorded and toured for the album while Townsend's extreme metal project, Strapping Young Lad, were doing the same for their third release, Strapping Young Lad. At the end of a whirlwind year, Townsend began working on Strapping Young Lad's fourth album, Alien, in March 2004. Feeling that Strapping Young Lad did not live up to expectations, Townsend decided to take the next album to a new extreme. To prepare for Alien, Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder. "I think that as an artist, in order for me to get to the next plateau, I kind of feel the need to explore things and sometimes that exploration leads you to places that are a little crazy," he explained. "And Alien was no exception with that." Shortly after the release of Alien in March 2005, Townsend began putting together the next Devin Townsend Band record with the working title Human, intended as the more "pleasant" counterpart to Alien. The album was ultimately entitled Synchestra, and was "basically a record about coming back down to earth after being in space with Alien for a while," according to Townsend. Synchestra was primarily recorded and mixed by Townsend at his home studio, the Devlab. Van Poederooyen's drums were recorded at Armoury Studios in Vancouver, BC. Mike Young's bass recording, and the album's final mixing, took place at Hipposonic Studios in Vancouver. The album was engineered by Shaun Thingvold, who had also worked for Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory.