(Hevy Devy) www.hevydevy.com
"Take a bow you deserve it, eat shit you've earned it, life would be so much better if you did not exist..."
Devin Townsend is back pushing the frontiers of metal way past the breaking point, (again) almost to the point in which it almost becomes Zappa-like in his approach toward music.He knows the rules to music so well he can do just about anything he wants with it, like a sculpture working on clay. Mold that fucker into what ever shape he wants ,makes sure the airbubbles are out of it so that it does not explode in the kiln ,and wala! Another masterpiece. Everything this guy does amazes me, aside from a few lull moments here and there, but that's expected. Aside from that, his albums are a musical journey every time,right from the get go with his first SYL album "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing", right on though the classic "City" on onto the vaudeville-like "Infinity" (which, in itself, is a trip through a mind of a man who is having a mental breakdown), onto "Physist", which is more like pop speedmetal, and is one of the most underrated albums I've ever heard, almost the surpassing STY. I'm kinda surprised that he just didn't call that one Strapping Young Lad and cut right to the chase, but noooooooooooo.. right from there into the new age, but not quite. Terria. The album that leaves the impression that his mindset has found an enlightenment to the lunacy and madness of the world around him and the ability to channel that through music and let you know exactly what he is thinking at that moment.
Townsend said in many interviews he was going to keep Strapping Young Lad on the back burner until he was inspired to write a angry, rage filled album that surpasses his first 2 efforts. This CD was inspired by the world trade center terrorists attack and what is to come of the world after that, and even if it not quite as good as City it's definately up there with one of the best releases this year, so far. Right from the get go with the first song "Dire" with it's 'oh shit, its the end'-tinged keyboard choir behind a pounding accented beginning, harking images in your head of that day when the towers were smoking to a shocked world reeling from the cruelty of using a religious ideal to do something so horrid that it will change the world for a hell lot worse forever and send everything spiraling downhill like it is now, with certain leaders using it as a way of getting their own plans and agendas underway rather than seeing the big picture and the damage it will do to further generations to come worldwide. "Relentless" is one of the best songs SYL has to offer so far, lives right up to it's title, and the album progresses at a geometric rate right up till it's last song "Bring on the Young", a cryptic one about the powers that be using the youth to do their dirty work in the name of country and religion, and using that influence to send them to the meatgrinder.
Say a prayer folks, it's going to get real ugly out there, and here is a CD that lashes out at the lunacy of a world gone awry with flailing arms yelling "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO THE MOTHER EARTH I LOVE YOU FUCKS!!!" Nuff said.