Progressive metal act Devin Townsend has announced a new live album Order of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1, which is set to be released on October 23. This recording was made during Townsend’s performance in London, UK last December, in the midst of his fall 2019 tour in support of his latest studio album Empath.

This tour was the first volume intended as part of a three volume tour, however the latter tours were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Townsend will now be hosting a by request set for Saturday, September 5 at 1 p.m. PST, with tickets available here.

The live band for this recordings includes guitarists Mike Keneally of Dethklok and Markus Reuter of Stick Men,  drummer Morgan Agren of Kaipa, bassist Nathan Navarro, keyboard player Diego Tejeida of Haken and guitarist/vocalist Ché Aimee Dorval. There are also backing vocals from Arabella Packford and Samantha and Anne Preis. Unlike previous tours, Townsend decided to use a backing band filled with professional musicians.

Agren, Keneally and Navarro teamed up with Townsend on a massive live stream jam session, while Dorval is a frequent collaborator of Townsend’s, making up one half of Casualties of Cool and teaming up for a cover with the performer earlier this year.

“The whole objective was that I wanted to make that statement: This is by the seat our pants,” Townsend said in a press statement. “Because it’s important to me to represent this hyper anal-retentive music that I’ve made over the years, but in a human way. Rather than it just being, ‘Well, here it is, perfectly done.'”

Townsend announced a couple of weeks ago that he was working on a new “stream of consciousness” project titled Lightwork. This follows his release of the three separate improvisational ambient guitar pieces he made earlier this year, which run around an hour each. The performer also had an expansive Quarantine series. Empath was named our best album of 2019.

Order of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1 track list

1. Borderlands
2. Evermore
3. War
4. Sprite
5. Gigpig Jam
6. Coast
7. Gato
8. Heavens End
9. Ain’t Never Gonna Win
10. Deadhead
11. Why?
12. Lucky Animals
13. Castaway/Genesis
14. Spirits Will Collide
15. Disco Inferno
16. Kingdom

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat