25. Nick Pollack Discusses The Devin Townsend Band, Accelerated Evolution

Send us Fan MailNick Pollack, the founder and president of Pitcher List (https://www.pitcherlist.com/), threw me a curve on this episode, sending me into the genre of progressive metal --  a world I had barely explored. He chose The Devin Townsend Band’s Accelerated Evolution as our album to discuss. We talked about Nick’s own history as a guitarist, how one bridges the gap between progressive rock and progressive metal, Townsend’s career as a solo artist and as a member of Strapping Young Lad and how we responded to each track on this album.In my haste to get to the discussion of this album, I completely forgot to mention the Pitcher List YouTube channel. You can find Nick’s videos right here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pitcher+list. I was also extremely remiss to not mention Nick’s outstanding podcast, Nick Pollack & Friends, especially since he was gracious enough to have me on as a guest recently. Check out all of the episodes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nick-pollack-friends-podcast/id1553698497.Also, my apologies to Strapping Young Lad and their fans for referring to them as “Strapping Young Lads.”Nick had recommended that we all check out Devin Townsend’s EMGtv performance of Kingdom, so here’s the link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nubJjB95VdY 0:58 Nick joins the show2:59 Nick’s journey as a guitarist6:47 The Five-Percent Rule8:10 Nick loves riffs9:22 Which guitarists are Nick’s favorites?13:39 What does Nick love about progressive metal?18:01 How Nick got into Devin Townsend19:23 Al has tried – and failed – to get into progressive metal Track-by-track breakdown24:33 Depth Charge31:48 Storm34:42 Random Analysis39:24 Deadhead42:57 Suicide47:52 Traveller53:05 Away55:59 Sunday Afternoon1:00:00 Slow Me Down 1:01:49 Nick recounts some of the experience of seeing Devin Townsend live1:03:59 How Al came to like Accelerated Evolution a lot more after repeated listensSupport the show