Devin Townsend will release his highly anticipated Empath album on March 29. In a new documentary video about the record’s creation, Townsend expresses guilt about dissolving the Devin Townsend Project in order to pursue his first solo album since 2014’s Z2: Dark Matters.

The Devin Townsend Project had one of the most meaningful runs of the 2010s, releasing five of their seven studio albums this decade. Pieces like Epicloud and Transcendence brought a blissful joy to brutal music, demonstrating Townsend’s unique ability to walk a tightrope between opposite sides of the sonic spectrum.

“Leaving DTP and everything was really challenging for a number of reasons,” Devin tells Canadian musician Mike Zimmer. “As an empathetic person, I hate the idea of hurting people. Everybody’s got their hopes up and we’ve got a cool thing rolling and then I pull the rug out, similar to what I did with Strapping [Young Lad]. I’ve spent a certain amount of time thinking about that and whether or not that’s like a self-sabotage thing or whatever.”

Townsend continues, “What it is that I have to say, what it is that I’m trying to say… it’s worth trying to get it right. Both Strapping and DTP weren’t right. They were really great, both of them, but it wasn’t right. Maybe I’m deluded in thinking there is such a thing as ‘right.’ All the things about my life that, professionally, made sense up to this point just no longer make sense. I’m sorry guys, but that’s just how it is and I have to pursue that, right?”

“I’m so concerned about what other people think of my decisions that I second-guess things that I intuitively know I should do. Fortunately, I always do it … Even when I don’t understand why I should do it.”

Check out Devin Townsend’s Empath update in the clip above.

See Devin Townsend in the Best Metal Album of Each Year Since 1970

More From KZCD-FM