I can't believe that almost everyone on this forum dislikes the Physicist record. Lyrically and musically it is totally solid from start to finish. I remember hearing the "I'm ready to go- I feel it" bit of 'Victim' for the first time ever and nearly having a cardiac arrest from the sheer brutality of it. How good is 'Death', 'Complex', 'Namaste', 'Kingdom'! All Devy classics. Physicist = Awesome!

Maybe this should be in the Physicist section but no one ever looks there anymore

Physicist is indeed an amazing album, although, if you peruse the Physicist forum, you'll find that a good many people on this forum do like the album.

Yes. Physicist rules.

Yeah, not everyone on here dislikes it. It truly holds a special place for me, just like all of Dev's albums.

I think that appearances decieve, since we all like physicist, but many of us (not me, I'm a Physicist nutjob) like the other albums a little bit more. Or maybe appearances decieve?

Actually, I don't think there are so many people who really dislike Physicist. Guess it's just not as ambitious as OM, Infinity or Terria - which doesn't make me think of Physicist as inferior, it's just a matter of taste and the majority here seems to prefer albums that got kinda different vibe...

And, as far as I'm concerned, I think it combines lots of Devy's strength and is just an amazing album. If it's really overlooked - which I doubt - then it's not because it doesn't deserve more attention, it's just that Dev's other albums are also timeless pieces of art, which maybe seem to appeal to more listeners (ok, now I mentioned it twice...)

I think the quality of Physicist is oft questioned due to the fact that it is highly derivative of Strapping Young Lad - albeit presented in a cleaner, less inexorable fashion (Dev himself compared this album to Coke Light).

Ocean Machine was an tranquil, epic opus, the antithesis to the bitterly angry, concise City. Infinity was a finely crafted masterwork. Terria was a despondent monolith of an album. Each Devin album (especially the two records prior to Physicist) is a milestone - Physicist just seems like 'another album' for Townsend.

I can wholly understand almost any criticism levelled at Physicist, but I personally love it. It's a bracing, compelling piece of work - and it's thoroughly exhilirating too.

i really like this album too, it has many standout tracks (namaste,victim,material,kingdom,the complex,planet rain), but it doesnt get as much playtime for me since im usually playing the other albums

Fuzzycyst roaks

I think the quality of Physicist is oft questioned due to the fact that it is highly derivative of Strapping Young Lad - albeit presented in a cleaner, less inexorable fashion (Dev himself compared this album to Coke Light).

Ocean Machine was an tranquil, epic opus, the antithesis to the bitterly angry, concise City. Infinity was a finely crafted masterwork. Terria was a despondent monolith of an album. Each Devin album (especially the two records prior to Physicist) is a milestone - Physicist just seems like 'another album' for Townsend.

I can wholly understand almost any criticism levelled at Physicist, but I personally love it. It's a bracing, compelling piece of work - and it's thoroughly exhilirating too.

You said it.

Physicist has in many ways a lot more in common with SYL than DTB, the line up for phycisist was the same as SYL too. This could explain why on this forum, its not as close to some peoples hearts as OM or AE for example. Personally i think its the dogs balls, it sounds glorious! I love it!

I actuallu postponed buying Physicist for a while (stupid me) because I had heard some people say that it wasn't up to par with Devin's other material. Once I finally did order and listen to it, I immediately found that I disagreed completely. Physicist is fantastic.

And Jupiter is THE most underrated Devin song ever. It's such a rockin track!

And Jupiter is THE most underrated Devin song ever. It's such a rockin track!

Absolutely agree with you there. It seems to be very unpopular.

Well, I think most people don't like Jupiter because Devin itself doesn't like it. The standard consumer-culture; 'if someone that important doesn't like it, than it must be shit'.
I think Physicist is a great record, it's the first Devin record I ever bought and heard. But I was never really impressed with the drumming, yeah of course it's tight and fast, but really almost the same on every track, except for Planet Rain, which is my favorite track of the record.
Before I knew Devin I was a huge Fear Factory fan, so ofcourse I liked Physicist because of the aggressiveness versus the melodic and clean vocals in some choruses. But then I bought Terria, Ocean Machine and Infinity, and thought: wait a minute, this guy is a brilliant musician, and not just another metalsinger. Anywho, where I'm going with this is that every record from Devin Townsend is different and not comparable to eachother, so this makes Physicist unique on it's own. Sure it's not as progressive as the others, but why should it be? A few things which are really unbelievable good on this record are the creativity, for example, who the fuck thinks up a guitar tuning like AAAEAE? It sounds amazing, and you have to be really creative and secure to start messing with such a tuning and even recording with it. I know he did it before on AAA from SYL, but a whole record? .... wow.
Second of all... listen carefully to Devin's vocals. It's known to all of us that he has an unbelievable good scream, but on this record it's really obvious that he has his voice completely under control. It's all high screams from beginning to end, and he doesn't lose it once.

It may not be the most technical record, or even the most interesting record of all times, but it has some great elements, which his other records do not have, and vica versa.
... and in the end, what does it all matter anyway? It's all a matter of taste.