After "City" came out, it was announced that Devin was going to release OM, so I placed an order for it, not quite knowing what to expect (although I probably expected some sort of lighter version of SYL). What I heard was rather disappointing, due to these faulty expectations - but obviously not entirely, since I still buy everything the guy records (and releases)...
my first encounter of devin townsend came by accident on total rock radio a few years ago. there was this amazing spacey distant sounding guitar track playing that had me hooked from the first note.
i listened to it and couldn't wait to hear who the artist was. to my horror, i missed the DJ announcing who it was. i sent an e-mail to the radio station for info, but never got any reply.
about a year later, my mate from another fanclub (dream theater voicesuk) told me he was into this guy called devin townsend in a big way and recommended the album AE to me start off with. after a few months looking at the disc in HMV, i finally bought it. took it home and loved it staright away. the massive sound that was pounding out my speakers was awesome!!! i didn't know the names of the tracks or anything, then the first few notes from the 7th track came on and i knew straight away it was that track i had heard on that radio station ages ago. not for one minute did i believe that such a sound was capable from such a virtually unknown artist to me. i was hooked from there on.
i got mt a hold of the DT back catologue and shall i say, the rest is history.