According to an interview with Townsend, the album is a concept album focused around a man who is obsessed with finding the true nature of reality. In the process of this journey, he goes to Hell and meets the devil. The devil shows him the secrets of the universe, presenting a cheeseburger to him. However, being a vegetarian, the man cannot eat the cheeseburger, rendering his attempts at working out the true nature of reality pointless. The album is chaotic in nature and has elements which are prominently humorous, which is a radical departure from Townsend's more recent work. Townsend Read more on Last.fm.
Devin Townsend is weird, but it’s an endearing weird; not teen-movie-endearing-weird where it’s unintentional and lovable, but abrasively weird to where it feels that you must pick a side. That’s disclaimer #1.
“Deconstruction” is, overall, a sort of symphonic, industrial metal album that manages to keep you guessing the entire time. In most cases, you’re greeted with some sort of shockingly abrupt shift of either tempo, aggression, or lyrical theme. This caustic songwriting appears to fit the overall idea of the album enough to make it understandable in its context, which is rare enough these days, but it’s also thought-out enough to guide the songs into some great riffs and memorable sections. At times, songs overstay their welcome, but tend to have some redeeming qualities just when the thought occurs. The lineup of guest musicians and vocalists is stellar and the production quality is noticeably good. Overall, “Deconstruction” is an enjoyable mind-boggle with one exception.
And, this is disclaimer #2. The sixteen-minute-long sixth track is as embarrassingly awkward as its title. I want to give Devin the intellectual credit of saying that I realize the track is intentionally cumbersome, but even if I did, it wouldn’t make the song itself any better. It’s painful, really. For your own sake, skip this track instead of holding out for sixteen minutes that it will surprise you with its resolution.