Devin Townsend has released a new solo album. The British Columbia-born polymath will PowerNerd on October 25th via Century Media.

After 2022 Lightworkthe 11-song PowerNerd contains music that Townsend wrote in as many days – an artistic decision that, as he reveals, he made consciously.

He explains: “I thought, ‘I’ve spent so much time thinking about every aspect of my work – what would happen if I didn’t do this?’ Maybe then I’d have the opportunity to be a little more direct with what I’m trying to do. I really wanted to see if I could break through some of these detours.”

However, the album’s lyrics were written and refined over a “much longer period of time” and form a narrative of strength and healing. The album’s title track, which you can hear below alongside an expectedly humorous video, is by Hatebreed singer Jamey Jasta.

“I would say a power nerd is someone who has a tendency that society deems weak or worthless, whether it’s empathy or isolation or introversion, and they turn that into some kind of personal strength,” Townsend explains the LP’s title. “It’s like, ‘OK, yeah, I’m sensitive about this, that and that, but man, I’m going to get through this! I’m going to do things with that sensitivity that’s rooted in strength.'”

PowerNerd is also the first of a trilogy of albums by Townsend. A work entitled The Mothwhich the artist had already teased, is said to be the “orchestral, exaggerated, dark and uncomfortable” second piece of the trilogy, while a finale entitled Axolotl will be loaded with “extraterrestrial weirdness.”

PowerNerd:

1. PowerNerd
2. Falling apart
3. Ankle breaker
4. Gratitude
5. Dreams of Light
6. Ubelia
7. Jainism
8. Younger Lover
9. Glacier
10.Goodbye
11. Ruby Red Quaker