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Ocean Machine: Biomech
Studio album by Devin Townsend
Released	July 21, 1997
Recorded	September 1996 – December 1996
Genre	Progressive metal
Length	73:52
Label	Hevydevy Records
Producer	Devin Townsend
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Sputnik Music link
Devin Townsend chronology
Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997) Infinity (1998)
Singles from Ocean Machine: Biomech
"Life" Released: 1997

Ocean Machine: Biomech is the debut studio album by Devin Townsend. It was originally released in Japan as Biomech under the moniker Ocean Machine, and was later reissued worldwide as Ocean Machine: Biomech bearing Devin Townsend's name instead. The album sold 12,000 copies in Japan throughout its first week.^[1]

Material for Ocean Machine: Biomech had been around since the time Devin Townsend was touring with Steve Vai in support of Sex and Religion. The album was recorded in studio around December 1995, but was delayed for release until late 1996. At that point in time, Townsend was unsatisfied with the original recordings prior to its release, whom then opted to re-record the album from scratch.^[2] The re-recordings were done at Townsend's home studio with instrumentation help from Marty Chapman, JR Harder, Chris Valagao of Zimmer's Hole, and John Morgan.

Although musically straying from Townsend's extreme metal work in Strapping Young Lad, Ocean Machine: Biomech was met with favorable reviews. Metal Hammer praised it as a "concept album akin to the sensuality and escapism of Pink Floyd, [as] Devin lyrically and musically explores real and not particularly uplifting topics such as death, isolation, and depression." Noise Level Critical wrote that "anyone who heard the [Steve] Vai album Sex and Religion will know that Townsend's voice is top-notch, with the ability to go from aggressive bark, to high-pitched wail, to soft emotional whisper in the space of one song."^[3]

1. "Seventh Wave" – 6:50
2. "Life" – 4:31
3. "Night" – 4:45
4. "Hide Nowhere" – 5:00
5. "Sister" – 2:48
6. "3 A.M." – 1:56
7. "Voices in the Fan" – 4:39
8. "Greetings" – 2:53
9. "Regulator" – 5:06
10. "Funeral" – 8:06
11. "Bastard" – 10:17
    • "1/Not One of My Better Days"
    • "2/The Girl from Blue City"
12. "The Death of Music" – 12:15
13. "Things Beyond Things" – 4:47

• The spoken word at the beginning of "Seventh Wave" is a quotation from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem, "In Memoriam A.H.H."^[4]

• Devin Townsend – vocals, guitar, keyboards, production, mixing
• JR Harder – bass
• Marty Chapman – drums
• Chris Valagao – backing vocals
• John Morgan – keyboards, samples
• Tim Oberthier – production
• Daniel Bergstrand – production, mixing

1. ^ Far Beyond Metal: Strapping Young Lad 1997 news archive
2. ^ Far Beyond Metal: Strapping Young Lad 1996 news archive
3. ^ Hevydevy Records: Ocean Machine reviews
4. ^ Hevydevy Records: Ocean Machine info

• Ocean Machine: Biomech at MusicBrainz