Fans would be surprised to know that Empath, Devin Townsend’s upcoming album, was initially planned to be a pop record. In an appearance on the Talk Toomey podcast, the Canadian musician who also belongs to the metal band Strapping Young Lad, shared how he was talked out of this idea by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger. Townsend also expanded on his friendship with Kroeger, who is also featured on the record, and how his “contribution to the record was one that can’t be understated for [Townsend], for a number of reasons.”

Theprp.com reports about Townsend’s podcast appearance, which included some of his words about Nickelback’s controversial status and how they are a band that is “clearly divisive” and gets a lot of hate even though they have had great success.

Primarily because here’s a guy who’s had phenomenal success doing a type of music and being in a band that is clearly divisive—there’s a lot of people that hate that band and hate him.

His friendship with Kroeger blossomed after some exchanges over text, which resulted in Kroeger inviting him over to his place to hang out and talk.

But we started this conversation and he said ‘when you get back to town, come over to my house, we can spend a day hanging out.’ And I think because of the level of success that he is at compared to mine—you can’t compare the two—so in a way there’s no competition with it. There’s not like I have anything to prove with this guy.

Regarding Empath, Townsend initially wanted to put out a “sellout” pop record because he was just too “exhausted”, in which Kroeger expressed that it was just the wrong move. Thankfully for Kroeger, Townsend was pushed to “go the opposite direction and make something that’s uncompromised.” Townsend also included some words of gratitude for Kroeger, stating:

So had it not been for Chad, I think that I could have been very tempted to make a record that pissed on the whole career arc, to be honest, and I feel like I owe him a debt of gratitude to a certain extent.

Empath is hyped up to be one of Townsend’s most eclectic and unconventional works to date, which is set for a March 29 release. With the premiering of a uniquely psychedelic music video for his single, “Genesis,” Townsend has already provided fans with a preview of exactly what is to come.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat