Century Media
2005
Alien
About This Album
Never mind System of a Down's irresistibly quirky Serj Tankian. If any heavy metal musician were picked to represent the musically adept but incurably goofy spirit of Frank Zappa, it would probably be gifted lunatic Devin Townsend, whose prolific and eclectic output -- not to mention blackened sense of humor -- over the course of a steadily lengthening career continues to amaze and confuse in equal quantities. Through those years, Strapping Young Lad, while ostensibly a "group," has served as the most common laboratory for Townsend's wacky solo experiments, but word is, studio album number four, 2005's fittingly named Alien, is their first true band effort. This is somewhat rather hard to ascertain, but there's no disputing the additional claim about the album constituting an exercise in catharsis, nor the fact that few bands choose song titles as descriptive of their contents as SYL. To wit, "Imperial" comprises Scandinavian-flavored black metal of earth-scorching intensity, the nearly unpronounceable "Skeksis" contains a suitably schizophrenic and disorienting art rock-metal cacophony, and "Shitstorm" offers, well, a sh*tstorm of unprecedented madness, rife with giggle-inducing lyrics and a children's choir all crammed inside.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,6 and 8)

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