Canadian vocalist/guitarist/producer DEVIN TOWNSEND is featured in a new interview with Metal Assault's Andrew Bansal. An excerpt follows:

Q: These are exciting times for your fans, because you have a new album coming out very soon. You were done with the four-album series last year. So, would you say this a new beginning for you, musically?

A: "I’d say Epicloud is a summary, in all honesty. I think every record is a new beginning for me, in its own way, and a summary in its own way I suppose. But I think the last four records that I’ve done, Ki, Addicted, Deconstruction and Ghost, they were so full of this sort of existential searching.

I was trying to figure out what had entailed in order for me to do what I do. Every record is a reaction to the one before, so Ghost was a reaction to Deconstruction, and that one’s a reaction to Addicted, and onwards. But when I finished the four, I totally intended to just sit down and start writing a symphony that I’ve been planning for many years, and a new Ziltoid record. But I found that ultimately, the theme of the Ziltoid record didn’t appeal to me. It just seemed like so much work. It seemed like so much emotional work that I had already just put in to finish Deconstruction and Ghost.

When I sat down with the guitar, like I always do when I write, I just let my hands go wherever they want to. They didn’t want to do Ziltoid. My whole nature was tired of that sort of complication. And so, without any second guessing, I kept writing these simple, positive DEF LEPPARD-style songs for Epicloud. It lead into the fact that this is where I want to go right now, and it started to become obvious to me that it was a summary of what had happened. If the existential searching was what the four records prior to this were about, Epicloud is mainly about the fact that I’ve over it. I’ve learnt what I needed to learn from the four records of the Devin Townsend Project, and I have no desire to keep spinning those wheels.

When I felt like I discovered about my own artistic nature through Deconstruction, through Ghost. I certainly listened to this nature, and I wasn’t about to bang my head against that wheel. It was very obvious to me that the chaos and the progressive nature of these last four records led me to thinking that there really is no point to life. There’s no key that you get handed when you manage to get to a certain level artistically, and ultimately the point of life for me is the relationship I have, not only with my friends and family but also with my environment and the universe in general.

The stumbling point for that has always been religion, and how that just kind of sucks it up every step of the way. You should feel like the choices that you make in life lead you to making the choice to be positive, and not to be that inherent anger in your soul, definitely my soul. But when I came to that conclusion, I decided that I want to make something that is in a sense a celebration of the parts of humanity that I still have faith in, and make a conscious effort to make something that’s positive, use the whole gospel choir and all this shit, to make a proclamation of that sort of energy, and if that means it’s a definition of what I’m doing to do for the rest of my life and career, absolutely not.

I’m 25 records into this shit! Despite every record that I’ve done, the one thing that I’ve been afraid to do more than anything else, is to make something really simple, something that’s really accessible. As a result of making progressive metal for the majority of my career, it’s almost like that’s the one no-no. You can do records about coffee drinking alien puppets but certainly don’t make it obvious to anybody that you have an affinity for pop music or Def Leppard or any of that stuff. So allowing myself to get over that hurdle, I said ‘Fuck it. Here you go.’ Here is an epic loud record. And then from here, there might well be “Casualties Of Cool” which is this unbelievably uncommercial country record, and then there’s going to be a completely preposterous symphony. So I would say for the people who listen to what I do, here’s something. Take it or leave it, but I love it, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. It summarizes what I’ve learnt in my mind by doing those past four records."

Read the full interview here.

Due out September 18th in North America and September 24th in Europe, Townsend's new Epicloud album boasts 13 light-hearted, hook laden tracks featuring once again, guest vocal appearances by ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN.

Epicloud will be available in the following formats: standard CD jewel case, limited edition digipack with bonus CD, double vinyl gatefold with the exclusive bonus track, 'Epicloud' (release date TBA), and digital download on iTunes with two exclusive bonus tracks, 'Cry Forever' (demo) and 'Take My Ego' (demo). In addition, fans can now pre-order the album on CM Distro and receive an exclusive bundle that includes a DTP teddy bear (limited to 500) and immediate download of the single, 'Lucky Animals'.

Check out a new review for Epicloud here. Samples for all the tracks on Epicloud can be heard below: