Devin Townsend is leaning into his nerdiest tendencies with his latest project. The prolific Canadian metal polymath has just revealed his new band, PowerNerd, and he’s previewing a forthcoming, self-titled album with a super-heroic theme song of the same name.
A press release explains that Townsend’s PowerNerd is pretty much pure Id, with the project’s 11-song album having been speedily written in just 11 days.
“I thought, ‘I’ve spent so much time overthinking every aspect of my work – what would happen if I didn’t?’” he explained in a statement. “Maybe I would have the opportunity to be a bit more direct with what it is that I’m trying to do. I really wanted to see if I could cut through some of the meandering.”
That energy translates, thus far, into album sneak preview “PowerNerd,” a thundering, speed-metal salvo that finds Townsend shredding solos and sharing time on the mic with Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta. The song has also been fit with a goofball vid starring Townsend as the titular PowerNerd, who altruistically helps people out with home repair and pet retrieval. You’ll find the zany clip up above.
Townsend has also given us a bit of backstory into who exactly PowerNerd is. Or, at least, what they represent.
He explains: “I would say that a powernerd would be somebody that has a tendency that society has deemed weak or not valuable, whether that’s empathy or being an insular person or an introvert, and turns that into a type of personal power. It’s like, ‘OK, yeah, I’m sensitive to this, that and the other thing, but man, I am going to pull through! I am going to do things with that sensitivity that are rooted in strength.’”
Townsend’s PowerNerd is further explained to present a mix of metal and synth balladry. The album arrives October 25 and can be pre-ordered here.
PowerNerd tracklisting:
PowerNerd
Falling Apart
Knuckledragger
Gratitude
Dreams of Light
Ubelia
Jainism
Younger Lover
Glacier
Goodbye
Ruby Quaker