Devin began his musical career in 1993 whilst he was writing and performing some of his own material. He impressed a number of record labels and other music contemporaries who invited him on tours with them. Although Townsend was happy with his musical career at the time, he felt he needed to cut ties from the labels to achieve musical clarity and a sense of originality that he believed was lacking when recording under constraint.

A year later he began to record under the name Strapping Young Lad, little did he know he had begun one of Canada's most successful metal bands of the time. His first release under this album was written and performed entirely by Devin before he recruited some more Vancouver musicians to support him. The band enjoyed chart success internationally and toured the globe as a band until 2007 when Townsend disbanded the band in order to focus on his solo career.

This would seem like a foolish error by SYL's loyal fan base, however Townsend's solo career went from strength to strength there after, helped by what he learned whilst playing as part of the band. He toned down the aggression of SYL and developed a more melodic sound to his solo releases. He enjoyed commercial and critical success as a solo artist, his 2014 release 'Z²' is his highest charting release to date peaking within the top 100 of the US billboard charts and #16 on the US Indie charts.