Showing posts with label Strapping Young Lad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strapping Young Lad. Show all posts

Wednesday 12 December 2018

Strapping Young Lad "The New Black" (2006)


Its been a real pleasure to dive back into the SYL discography. Its been over a decade since I last binged through their records and now we arrive at the final chapter. Despite having a vivid memory of getting this album and listening to it on a work break, not much of the music has stuck in my mind bar a few songs. In a similar way to their Self Titled release, The New Black doesn't come close to the apex of City. Its essentially a Devin Townsend record shaken up with many spices of aggression and occasional comedic measures. Arriving straight of the back of Alien I suspect this record had much to do with filling contract obligations as Devin decided to disband the group in co-ordination with its release and their final tour as a band.

The record gets off to a roaring start with fast paced tracks. You Suck sets a tone for comedy that makes many returns as the premise of the song revolves around saying a band "fucking sucks". Typical Devin humor! The New Black has a slightly withdrawn approach, a fun yet aggressive template with plenty of stomping guitar grooves and frantic, intricate drumming that can go full pelt on the listener or focus on the musicality. The records crisp production strips back the wall of sound feel even though its a fairly bolstered sound, a collection of overwhelming collisions of noise where everything is dialed up get through but despite this, the record just feels lighter and that is probably due to its meandering second half where the moods expand.

In the first we have Wrong Side, a very domineering tack with its heavy synth presence and with Dev's soaring clean vocals it launches itself into Ziltoid territory which he was working on at the time. With Far Beyond Metal we have a studio version of an old live song from No Sleep To Bedtime. Its an anthem, fit for headbanging and giggles! After that the side of Devin we hear more in the solo material comes to light. Almost Again being a keen example, it sounds like Holgen had to really ramp up the drumming patterns to make it feel at home. One can hear the disproportion in balance as Dev's glorious singing pulls it in another direction. When he does erupts with roaring screams Holgen gets frenetic trying to match the increase in intensity, its quite impressive to hear him keep up.

Compared to the rest of their discography this feels like a clear ending point as Dev's other musical directions strongly influence the lengthy thirteen tracks. Its also a great example of how inspiration can be channeled through different aesthetics and approaches as many moments are interchangeable to differing intensities from the all guns blazing mentality SYL usually have. The big point to make is the obvious directional shifts don't detract from quality and give the album a depth in variety others don't. It also has a fair few unleashing of the signature mania where the music gets so loud you can hear the frequencies drown each other out in the wake of massive sub drops. Its a fine note to sign off an amazing journey on.

Favorite Tracks: Antiproduct, Wrong Side, Far Beyond Metal, Fucker, Almost Again, The New Black

Rating: 7/10

Sunday 2 December 2018

Strapping Young Lad "SYL" (2003)


Needing an outlet to vent his post-911 emotions and anger, the Canadian musician reunited the band after a four year hiatus. The resulting SYL, effectively self titled, is the most notably akin to Devin Townend's solo records. Its heavy on the electronics in a layered sense as many guitar riffs are backed by beams of bright synth erupting through the wall of sound. With a lack of Industrial grit and maniacal energy, bar an explosive dose on Rape Song, it occasionally looses the unique Strapping vibe as some guitar sections feel interchangeable with other extreme bands. That's not put the record down, its solid from start to end and a delightful exercise in heavy heavy's sake. The problem is its extremities are not up to par with the likes of City and Alien.

It does however rattle off a timeless classic with Aftermath, a song that strips back groove to its simplest form and hammers it out in repeating cycles of amplified intensity. Its pounding, tribal, primitive and when breaking away from its obnoxious guitar chugging, goes full throttle on blast beats and wall of sound ecstasy. The following Devour is another riot of feverish excess that boasts its own obnoxious one note "breakdown" riff in its mid section. It starts out steady, misleading us as with its temperament before being unleashed. A lot of the record doesn't quite reach thees fiery peaks but it is certainty a wild ride and full of foaming anger.

Across its duration Dev explores a pallet of ideas, ranging from big, dense walls of chorals both blinding and uplifting. His vocals often come of a bit raspy as his delivery shifts. When the guitar is most naked is when the record feels a little to regular for this band and there are a couple of riffs that perk my ears, sounding akin to some techniques and riffing styles heard years later in the Deathcore scene. Its probably just a resemblance Ive picked up on but it makes me wonder about SYLs impact on future musicians as this was their first "commercial success" breaking into billboard record sales charts... only barely. With so much to say about their classic records this one lives in the shadows a little, not managing to match up all of the time.

Rating: 7/10
Favorite Tracks: Dire, Aftermath, Devour, Force Fed

Wednesday 28 November 2018

Strapping Young Lad "No Sleep Till Bedtime" (1998)


I thought I might pass this record by as I often do with live albums but seeing the the additional two tracks left over from Heavy As A Really Thing, I figured why not? Pretty swiftly was I reminded of how brilliant live recordings can be. It kicks off on a sweet note as Devin sings us into the madness with a choral arrangement to lead into the opening two from City. Its as vibrant and vivid as the studio records. The guitars, drums, bass and vocals have an exuberant energy, making a ferocious racket! Their performance is swell and behind them a dense layer of synths and industrial aesthetics seem firmly intact, probably the same tracks lifted from the studio. Its hard to imagine that level of nuance and required cohesion working in the live setting.

Our god Devin Townsend's singing is phenomenal. Now a lone voice without production magic at his aid, his fierce screams, leaping roars, soaring cries and immaculate clean singing feels both immediate and necessary as the performance drags you into the heart of the emotional experience he draws from. As the show progresses Devin never tires and between songs when talking to the crowd his comedic nature and ridicule of the spectacle shows fondly with humorous lines and jokes for the crowd. Its most so on Far Beyond Metal, a track from The New Black I forgot used to be a live only track. It is the least Lad sounding of all but clearly more suited for them than his solo material and a vessel for his cheese.

After a riveting seven songs it ends with that song as the tape runs out. A fade out without talk of goodbyes and audience cheers is a bummer but it would been more of a shame to of ruled out the release of this excellent live set. To fill the void Japan and Centipede revere their heads as songs clearly a peg lower on the frenetic, chaotic scale that Dev rammed to the max with the first SYL record. Both are sprawling atmospheric types that subvert their bombastic riffs and sustain a sense of heightened atmosphere. Centipede is the chunkier of the two with a bigger guitar presence and moments of elevated intensity but they both suffer from poor quality as static and peak clipping plagues the crowded moments. Its not too much of a bother, so overall its a really great listen for any SYL fan! Shame the live show was cut short.

Rating: 7/10

Thursday 15 November 2018

Strapping Young Lad "City" (1997)


With their first step a machination of musical extremity was haphazardly birthed and with the next it was mastered. Strapping Young Lad's and Devin's debut album Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing was an embryonic folly, glowing in the light of retrospection and with this next stride Devin Townsend recruits old time band mates Jed Simon and Byron Stroud alongside Metal veteran, beastly drummer and essential component of the SYL chaos, Gene Hoglan. Their first effort as a cohesive unit was defined as "the heaviest record of all time". Despite many bands attempts to further extremify Metal aesthetics, none have brought with it the pure ecstasy of a truly emphatic emotional experience. In my opinion, the heaviest album claim still holds up to this day.

Opening with Velvet Kevorkian and All Hail The New Flesh, City quickly establishes its grandiose sense of self exaggeration and drastic emotional need. With the wobbling of dense electronic noises between Dev screams of intent, the thick wall of sound aesthetic makes itself known before the song kicks in with an absolutely punishing flurry of sound that Dev emerges from with a triumphant roar. Gleams of colorful light burst and tidal grooves erupt from guitars, crushing riffs through punishing distortions. The song elevates these aspects with Devin soaring his stunning voice high above as the music peaks into the heavens before collapsing from above into more over the top sonic guitar grooves. Its all stunning but the pure emotion in the voice of our Canadian genius is something never to be forgotten.

"Well gentlemen, a great amount of money has been invested into this project and we can't allow it fail". We have heard soaring melodic beauty dancing through duality with the primitive powers of groove and with Oh My Fucking God we descend into the madness of the latter. Dev takes all the extreme ideas of Death, Thrash Metal and Grindcore and throws them in the trash can, unleashing his trump card. Led by spurts of maniacal, schizophrenic screaming over hyperactive fretwork we are swiftly led to the mid track mania of over bloated industrial noise dispensing itself into every crevasse of space as all the instruments ramp up into a tornado of utter madness. Through the insanity Dev's nutty, deranged "la la lala" singing just peaks the madness with a cherry on top of this frothing cake of non-directional fury.

The madness isn't over yet! Detox returns to the opening formula of vocally led melodic soaring as Dev cries for his wishes of sleep. Bouncing back and forth with jugular grooves the song hides a trick up its sleeve as when you think it can't get any better he unleashes a rip roaring, pop sensible power chord riff that peaks another sense of emotional purity emanating through the vocal chords. Its a gracious moment. Home Nucleonics sounds like a race of a cliff. More berserk guitar riffs rival up against the unrelenting feet of the beast Hoglan. The song fires through its arsenal of neck snapping riffs like a drill, whilst smothered itself willingly in industrial dissonance.

With its finest of extremities unleashed, the rest of the runtime gets to mature in various directions. AAA dials back the over the top nature, teasing it with its build up of suspense, letting the band show the building blocks of their sound. Great riffs, stunning screams, still with a dense web of electronic noise and powerful drumming, it draws that line it the sand to prove both the music and aesthetic at play is brilliance. Underneath The Waves has a more traditional metallic tone at first but Dev once again fires up the sparks with his neurotic, demented singing that swiftly ramps up the musical energy to the SYL elevation. The synths get more involved in the wall of sound here, a fitting tone to passionate screams from a tiring soul.

Room 429 is the track to make a separation from all heard before. A theatrical approach is taken by the group to create a circus of distant dread that lets some less exhausting ideas flourish. It does sound like the perfect stage for Dev to unleash his humor but fortunately he steers from any cheese. City closes with Spirituality, a slow morphing of atmosphere that sounds like a Post-Metal approach to the wielding density of this Industrial soundscape. Slow chugging stomps of guitars march through apocalyptic soundscapes of warfare as electronic synths let off like missile strikes. A couple of minutes in the song attempts to turn pace with vocals and sludgy grooves. It slowly builds, unable to unleash as the steady march confines it to being a sign off song. Its a really fantastic note to end a remarkable record on.

My passion and enthusiasm for this record is obvious. I only hope a reader could find this connection too. Of the best of the best, City has held up over the years as an unending source of adrenaline release and deep emotional resonance. Its such a dense sounding record that its masterful manipulation of sound waves has me forever engaged with that textural space between all the obvious. There is so much going on it can sound fresh with every listen. Devin Townsend is an utter genius and even under the guise of over the top Metal extremity can he make it truly meaningful. All that's left to be said is Strapping Young Lad rocks my hairy anus!

Rating: 10/10

Tuesday 13 November 2018

Strapping Young Lad "Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing" (1995)


At the time it was musical genius Devin Townsend first solo release under the Strapping Young Lad moniker that would go on to become a fully functioning band by their sophomore album City. I'm astonished as to how far Strapping Young Lad has slipped from my mind, its been over a decade ago since I last binged on them. Its understandable how this embryonic sounding debut has drifted the furthest but Ive had a fantastic time rediscovering these oldies and the calamity of good and bad it is.

Reading into its backstory as the first Dev album, I discovered that it was born out of frustration with working for the likes of other musicians, Steve Vai and The Wildhearts. Devin wanted to write his own music and only Century Media would offer him a five album deal on the condition of making extreme music. The result is this mesmerizing, botched brew of angular ideas that would fail to capture anyone's attention, barely selling any units before future releases would bring retroactive attention to it.

Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing has all the hallmarks of an SYL record. An over the top wall of sound aesthetic. Stomping, slamming, brutal chugging guitars. Fierce and frantic screams, coupled manic roars and the occasional soaring of Devs clean range. Frequently synths wail in to further the thickness. Its a fusion of Death, Thrash and Industrial that has got all the right ingredients but its preparation and cooking is a botched brew. Its hard to praise at its surface but given a few spins there is plenty that's enjoyable and many familiar riffs, lyrics and moments reworked for later songs.

The production is sloppy and chaotic at best, the wall of sound comes together not through craft or design. Its slapped together with deliberate volume wars that more often that not find some haphazard cohesion. Distortion guitars often falter into choppy thuds of sound that loose sense of notation and become like a percussive instrument. Its mostly the ideas that lay themselves bare. When the guitars, drums or screams are being extremified its all to obvious. A majority of these moments tend to not lead anywhere but further into a sprawl of chaotic ideas. It even extending to a cheesy 80s synth beat on Cod Metal King but most his ideas will be heard with far greater execution on following projects.

These criticisms were more apparent at first glance but if you try to love something you often find reasons. Given how much I adore Devin's music it was all to easy to hear the links with whats to come. For a first timer tuning in it will be a much harder task. I'm a sucker for these songs, there is objective criticism all over yet through it I always hear something worthy of charm. Perhaps Drizzlehell is an exception. I really don't get along with that one. Otherwise its all fun, it has a mood, persona and strange vibrations that occasionally descend one into maniacal listening.

Favorite Tracks: SYL, In The Rainy Season, Happy Camper, Critic, Filler
Rating: 7/10

Wednesday 7 November 2018

Strapping Young Lad "Alien" (2005)


Brainchild of musical genius Devin Townsend and emotional vent for his negativity and aggression, SYL stands alone as a vessel of extremity that other bands simply can't come close to. He is known as Hevy Devy with good reason, this is his domain where heavy goes above and beyond the sonic expectations of the time. His groundbreaking record City still holds up today and deserves its merit as one of the heaviest records of all time. Pioneering a modernized wall of sound production for Metal music, Devin has not just peaked the aesthetic approach but his unique personality and niche for composition emanates through the music. It puts him into that unchallenged place in the hearts of listeners. Alien is the only other SYL record to give City a run for its money and births one of Metal's best ever songs with a truly epic fusion of sing along hooks and monstrous grooves on Love.

Alien is a sonic experience, a whirlwind of fire and fury channeled through rhythmic grooves, exaggerated in the calamity of instruments howling together. If Dev has a partner in crime its Gene Hoglan. His distinctly jolting playing from behind the drum kit reinforces every strike and rhythm with endless flashes of dexterous rolls, hammering out maddening intricate patterns from atypical beats. He is a perfect complement to Devin's wall of sound approach, as its dirty crunching distortion guitars slam up against pounding baselines and a haze of industrial electronic sounds buried in the loudness. Its all propelled onward by slick pedals thumping in more electricity to the overflowing mess. I'm in awe of Hoglans machine like drumming.

The songwriting is prodigal. There is tandem between aesthetic and music, both extreme in nature, which can easily leave a record lopsided but the frustration and passion in Dev's immediate roars and blunt language, cries of "I hate myself" and the shrieking "fuck you" of Shitstorm mirrors all the emotional immediacy. Right as his scream burns every ounce of feeling, a sonic flood of high pitched synths fill the space as its the textural experience ascends. The path these songs take are sublime, fast turns through soaring heights into dizzying plummets cohesively following a narrative while bringing about an arsenal of unique riffs. When its applied in a more palatable sense with a formulaic song structure and a catchy hook you get the brilliance of Love.

With clattering drums,a scattering of subtle industrial noises and cutting synths the guitar plays a very centralized roll as the instrument pulling it all together. At times thick distortions play power chord arrangements but most impressively is the ramping up of production to extrapolate dense, gurgling chugs from palm muted picked grooves. In time with the guitars direction it can take on Djent like tones as Dev throws in obnoxious riffs that relish in the simplistic pleasures of absurd, over emphasized bends and open string chugs. Its a true head banging delight as its stamina charges through fields of unrelenting madness over and over again.

Alien kicks of with a racket. Front loading its most absurd, attention grabbing songs to then lead us though a more melodic pass for lack of a better word with Love and Shine. We Ride goes all out crazy with a battering of hard grinding riffs to unleash an unusual solo, clearly taking a different approach to the lead guitar that grows into the song. Then Possessions hits another climax with Devin deploying stunning infectious sections and continually upping the anti on them. In those two songs I feel like we hear more of the Dev you might expect on a solo project, except the music is extremified. Two Weeks give us a breather with a gorgeous, exotic and peaceful instrumental, it breaks the flow and the last two songs step in directions that don't quite come full circle.

With every listen I feel like its the type of record that needs to go out with a bang. There is no denying how utterly fantastic this record is and I am humbled to spoiled by rediscovering it. SYL will always be a favorite but with such a sea of music to drown in its amazing how much time can pass distant from music that's truly riveting. Strapping Young Lad where a huge deal growing up and I feel it is only right to do the rounds on their back catalog and cover a couple of records I never quite got to grips with. Looking forward to it. Can never get enough of the genius Devin Townsend!

Favorite Tracks: Skeksis, Shitstorm, Love, Shine, Possessions, Two Weaks
Rating: 9.5/10