Transcendent Kingdom Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canada

Devin Garrett Townsend was born on May 5, 1972 in the city of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The city is about a half hour drive southeast of downtown Vancouver, the city shown in the photograph. Devin actually released a song with the title "Canada" on his solo album "Terria", which was released on November 6, 2001. Devin often pokes fun at his own Canadian heritage during live concerts.

Answer: Steve Vai

Steve Vai is an American guitarist who at one time worked with late musician Frank Zappa (1940-1993). In 1993, Steve Vai released the album "Sex & Religion", which featured Devin Townsend as the vocalist. One of the album's songs "Still My Bleeding Heart", was played live during an episode of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", where some R-rated shenanigans allegedly occurred backstage.

In 1994, Steve Vai won a Grammy award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for his version of the Frank Zappa song "Sofa", hence the photograph.

Answer: Strapping Young Lad

Devin Townsend formed the industrial heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad in 1994. The band was based out of Vancouver, Canada and consisted of backing guitarist Jed Simon, bassist Bryan Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan (aka The Atomic Clock). The band's first album, "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing", was released on April 4, 1995. Strapping Young Lad went on hiatus from 1999-2002 and went into another hiatus in 2006. Gene Hoglan would later become part of the fictional band Dethklok, from the Cartoon Network "Adult Swim" series, "Metalocalypse".

The picture is taken from an American stamp design featuring Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, two strapping young lads.

Answer: Physicist

Devin Townsend would begin his solo career in 1996 withe the release of the rock opera album "Punky Brüster - Cooked on Phonics". Devin Townsend's fourth solo album "Physicist" was released on June 26, 2000 and features the original version of the song "Kingdom".

Despite being labeled as a solo album, the other band members from Strapping Young Lad are credited to have contributed to the music on "Physicist". The photo features a portrait of famous English scientist Sir Isaac Newton who developed the three fundamental laws of motion.

Answer: Anneke van Giersbergen

The song "Kingdom" was remixed for the album "Epicloud", which was released by the Devin Townsend Project on September 18, 2012. The remix version of the song features Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen as the backing vocalist. Anneke has been a frequent presence in Devin Townsend's music since she was first featured on the album "Synchestra" in 2006. Anneke was once the lead singer of the Dutch band The Gathering.

The photograph depicts one of the many canals in the city of Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands.

Answer: Ziltoid the Omniscient

The album "Ziltoid the Omniscient" was released on May 27, 2007. It is a comedic rock opera album that centers around an alien puppet named Ziltoid, who invades the Earth in order to obtain the universe's "Ultimate Cup of Coffee". The songs of this album are generally space themed and tell a unique story involving mankind's attempt at thwarting Ziltoid's invasion.

As with many of Devin Townsend's albums, nearly all of the music (guitars, vocals, drums, etc.) was performed and mixed by Devin himself.

Answer: "Deconstruction" and "Ghost"

The albums "Deconstruction" and "Ghost" were both released on June 20, 2011. Musically, the two albums are complete opposites of one another. "Deconstruction" consists of aggressive songs that fans of Strapping Young Lad would be more familiar with. "Ghost" on the other hand consists of soft ambient music that someone might play to help them fall asleep.

The albums seem to represent Devin's struggle with drugs and alcohol with "Deconstruction" representing his anger fueled pre-sober personality and "Ghost" representing his mellow post-sober personality.

Answer: Casualties of Cool

"Casualties of Cool" is a duet album featuring Devin Townsend and fellow Canadian musician Che Aimee Dorval that was released on May 14, 2014. The album is listed as being in the country rock genre rather than the hard rock/heavy metal genre. Che Aimee Dorval had previously contributed to the Devin Townsend Project album "Ki", which was released in 2009.

The photograph features an old cathedral style radio. The album cover for "Casualties of Cool" depicts a similar looking radio sitting in the middle of a pile of dust smoking as if it was burnt out.

Answer: Chris Jericho

The album "Z²" was released by the Devin Townsend Project on October 27, 2014. The album combines two album concepts into a single release. One part of "Z²" is called "Sky Blue" and mainly consists of emotionally powerful songs. The second part is named "Dark Matters" and is a rock opera that is a sequel to "Ziltoid the Omniscient". Former WWE wrestler and fellow Canadian Chris Jericho voiced the character Captain Spectacular in between the songs on the "Dark Matters" portion of "Z²".

The photo depicts the ruined walls of the ancient Biblical city of Jericho located in the West Bank of Palestine/Israel.

Answer: Equinox

"Transcendence" was released by the Devin Townsend Project on September 9, 2016. The album features the songs "Failure", "Higher", "Secret Sciences" and "Stormbending" among others. Devin Townsend recorded a music video for the song "Stormbending", which can be viewed on YouTube.

He also released a remix of the song "Truth" with this album, which was previously released on the album "Infinity" in 1998. The photograph depicts the Earth during an equinox. The song "Equinox" was a demo song released by Devin Townsend in 2020 as part of his Quarantine Project on YouTube.