Released simultaneously with the exquisitely delicate _Ghost_, _Deconstruction_ represents one quarter of the publicly detoxed Devin Townsend Project, which also includes the sober grooving _Ki_ and Abba-meets-Leppard power pop of _Addicted_. Should a person wish to create _Deconstruction_ from scratch (not recommended), the sonic recipe would include chopping up the other three DTP releases, grating a liberal amount of SYL fury over it, and tossing the resulting Dev-salad with a thick dressing of every band in your collection with more progressive tendencies. Plus the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. And a full Dutch choir.

The combined effect is a 48-ring circus stuffed under a single tent, starring every thought that's crossed every Vancouverite mind since the turn of the millennium. Throughout the proceedings, Townsend steals shamelessly from himself (quotes and references from multiple older works pepper this new one) and from his peers (skipping from the first seconds of "Planet of the Apes" to "Sumeria" might convince a person this is a mixtape of Meshuggah and Gojira tracks). Of course, Townsend avoids cynical (see what I did there?) comparisons by including contributions from members of the very bands he plunders, a prog metal honor roll longer than some bands' setlists.

In 2009, Townsend reported to Decibel writer J. Bennett that _Deconstruction_ was "not a very fun record, lyrically", but what's really no fun is trying to pick apart said lyrics and draw some kind of thematic relationship to the bloated, flatulent Scylla masquerading here as music. The audience is left with the horrifying impression that form fucked function, without ever asking if function enjoyed it. And seriously, how can a record that once bore the working title _Deconstruction of a Cheeseburger_ (quote from title track: "The secrets of the universe are between the buns...") not be fun?

The inevitable question: how well does it all hold together? Dunno yet. I've only listened to it twenty or so times, and something new drops into place each spin. Get back to me after a hundred or so more. Honestly, though, I'm scared shitless that "getting it" might involve losing corporeal cohesion, and how does one bang one's astral head?