Strapping Young Lad - SYL
Century Media
Extreme Death / Thrash Metal
10 songs (39'01)
Release year: 2003
Strapping Young Lad, Century Media
Reviewed by Marty
Devin Townsend is sure one very versatile guy. This heavy metal chameleon from the Great White North (Canada) got his big break playing and singing on Steve Vai's Sex and Religion album and subsequent tour back in 1993. Bent on punishing the masses of the world with his brand of sonic mayhem, Strapping Young Lad was created in 1994. Their debut album, Heavy As A Real Heavy Thing was unleashed in 1995 to widespread acclaim. Two years later, they followed it up with the critically acclaimed City which resulted in lots of live shows and tours. Two shows in Melbourne Australia were recorded and released as the band's first (and only) live album, No Sleep Till Bedtime in 1998. After that, Devin released a series of solo albums, Infinity, Terria and The Physicist, all having a wide variety of styles from aggressive thrash metal to a more progressive metal with atmospheric qualities. These albums proved that besides screaming his guts out for Strapping Young Lad (there are reports of him actually passing out in the studio while recording / screaming an SYL album), he can actually sing. Besides his solo work, he is also involved in the Ocean Machine project. It's been a few years since the last "spawning" of a Strapping Young Lad album and if you're a fan, this one was well worth the wait.

Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, Devin and company, which includes Gene Hoglan on drums, Jed Simon on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass, have delivered another terribly twisted, chaotic and very heavy album full of heavy metal taken to the extremes. In response to Devin's anger about the events of September 11th, 2001 and the overall global chaos in recent years, he has chosen to vent his fury and rage in a way that he does best, assaulting our ears with some of the most extreme metal that this reviewer has ever heard. All of the band members are, for the first time, involved in the writing process and Devin claims that the band is now a "democracy". Regardless, his demented and very sinister style is all over this album. He sounds like a man possessed!

If you like heavy "doom" style riffs, flurries of break-neck speed riffing and machine gun style double bass drumming all topped off with a demonic screaming Death Metal style vocal delivery, look no further than this album. Somewhere in the mayhem that are actually real "songs", there are influences from bands like Slayer and Celtic Frost as far as the speed and aggression. Some of the riffing has a classic older Anthrax feel but overall, most of the album has a classic Death Metal sound and comparisons can be made to bands like Children Of Bodom and In Flames with some of the "melodies" and occasional use of keyboards (hell...even choirs are used in some parts!!). There's a few instances where Devin tones down his vocal style a bit and some tracks feature some very cool abrupt and reckless tempo changes taking the listener through some wild musical interludes.

I like to think of this album as a form of "controlled chaos". There's really no better way to describe it. I also think that there's a certain tongue-in-cheek attitude by the band and that it's not supposed to be taken too seriously. It's almost like he set out to make the most chaotic, heavy and aggressive album he could possibly make. I think he certainly has succeeded! My only complaints with this album are that for one, after 5 or 6 songs, it all starts to sound like a barrage of indescernible sound and secondly, there's many instances where these extremely fast riff/double bass flurries tend to get a little monotonous. Too much of this lessens the impact that these sections were meant to impart on the listener.

You really have to be in the mood for an album like this, it's not something you could listen to all the time. If you're ever in need of an outlet or are just generally pissed off at the world, this album could be just the ticket to help you find "salvation". Pure metal mayhem............

Killing Songs :
Consequences, Relentless and Aftermath
Marty quoted 82 / 100
Aleksie quoted 89 / 100
Other albums by Strapping Young Lad that we have reviewed:
Strapping Young Lad - Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing reviewed by Kyle and quoted 85 / 100
Strapping Young Lad - City reviewed by James and quoted CLASSIC
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black reviewed by Kayla and quoted 93 / 100
Strapping Young Lad - Alien reviewed by Aaron and quoted 98 / 100
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