Physicist (album)

Physicist is the third solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in June 2000 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.

Physicist is distinguished from the rest of Townsend's solo portfolio for the crossing of the style of his work in Strapping Young Lad with elements that had been explored in Biomech and Infinity. Notably, the line-up of musicians featured on this album is identical to that of Strapping Young Lad.

Background

Physicist took several years to come to fruition. Townsend had previously played with Metallica's then-bassist Jason Newsted, in a short-lived thrash metal project called IR8. After the creation of an IR8 demo tape, Townsend and Jason Newsted began work on a new project called Fizzicist, which they claimed would be "heavier than Strapping Young Lad". When the IR8 tape was leaked, Newsted's Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich learned of the project. Hetfield was "fucking pissed" that Newsted was playing outside the band, and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects.

Unable to continue working with Newsted, Townsend instead wrote the album himself, calling it Physicist. Townsend assembled his bandmates from his extreme metal side project Strapping Young Lad. This was the only time this lineup was featured on one of Townsend's solo albums.<ref...
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