Inside Out
2007
Ziltoid The Omniscient
About This Album
Ziltoid the Omniscient is a rock opera about Ziltoid, an alien who approaches Earth and asks for the planet's "ultimate cup of coffee." Finding it "fetid," he attacks. However, the narrative isn't highly evolved. The humans escape his clutches, Ziltoid suffers a number of setbacks (and resulting existential crises), and the end implies that it was all just a dream. But while Devin Townsend won't win any screenwriting awards, his production and songwriting are peerless. Like his other projects, including metal band Strapping Young Lad, this record carries Townsend's signatures -- bright melodies, heavy guitars, complex composition, clear production, and tongue-in-cheek grandeur. Townsend's work is consistently excellent, but here he fully taps his mad genius for an incredibly compelling experience. On this solo effort, he's responsible for all instruments, a fearsome array of singing voices, and programming "the Drumkit from Hell," a software drum set used on Meshuggah's Catch Thirty-Three. "By Your Command" recasts Pink Floyd as technical death metal; it's an eight-minute behemoth that morphs from pulverizing metal to rich vocal harmonies and luscious arpeggios, interspersed with cinematic dialogue.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 2,3,5,7 and 10)

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Disc 2

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