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It's a starless night. The sky is as black as pitch and the moon shines high in the sky.
At a certain point, something catches your eye.....a tiny dot approaching at an ever-increasing speed, ever-increasing, ever-increasing.....until a huge spaceship lands ten meters away from you. The hatch opens and from that enormous intergalactic vehicle coming from who knows where emerges.......E.T.!!!!! No, kidding aside, only four shady characters can come out of that damn spaceship: the Strapping Young Lad.
Even though they don't have pointed ears, green skin, and enormous transparent eyes (but they're close), one can't help but wonder if the group led by the crazy (and horrendous!!!) Devin Townsend hasn't landed from some distant planet in some interplanetary galaxy where the rules of our world have all been overturned. The question becomes more than legitimate if we then set out to listen to the band's latest effort: Alien.
Self-defined by the band as "Chaos Metal", SYL's musical proposal is the most original, crazy, and energetic that currently exists in the now saturated extreme scene.
Alien, in particular, represents the complete maturation of the band's sound, further developing the narrative that Townsend had started with the fantastic City in 1997.
This latest work is not an easily assimilable album; it requires many listens to be fully understood and to appreciate every little detail: the impression, however, is of an album that is meticulously crafted at all levels, with painstaking attention to every detail. The tracks are constructed with a "dual soul," alternating the classic phases of pure sonic (and verbal too, here the fucks are plentiful) violence with slowdowns and openings, stunningly supported, as always, by Gene Hoglan's drums (the atomic clock, as written in the booklet), which once again manages to surpass himself in terms of speed, without taking anything away from the creativity of his rhythms.
Small details, we were saying...yes, because alongside the usual aggression, small arrangements, openings, and inserts are added that give a great depth to the ensemble of songs. Because if the unreserved aggression of Imperial kicks things off, then each track holds surprises, like the vocal polyphonies and marimba (!!!) in Skeksis, the children's choirs in Shitstorm and Possessions... little things that enrich and lend effectiveness to the music, making the assault less unreserved, but more effective and targeted. There are also more melodic episodes, like the beautiful Love? and Two Weeks, which even flaunts acoustic guitars and Pink Floyd-esque atmospheres.
When I first listened to this album, I was absolutely impressed: there are few bands like Strapping Young Lad, and even fewer like Devin Townsend, the "Frank Zappa of metal," the living proof that heavy metal is not just music for semi-angry adolescents with blinders on. After the release of Alien, it will be difficult for SYL not to repeat themselves or change direction, but who knows what these aliens from so far away will still have in store for us in the years to come.
The future of metal is all in those eleven songs.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Imperial (02:17)
WE HAVE RETURNED
FOREVER'S INVENTION
THE TWO BECAME ONE
TILL WE COLLIDE
TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
TILL WE COLLIDE...OH...
Further...further...FURTHER!!!
NOW is the TIME we DELIVER!!!
...SING and BE HEARD!
NOW!!! by the PROPHECY of the fucking weak
that fucking wept...
WE SHALL BE HEARD!!!
03 Shitstorm (04:22)
YOU BASTARD!!!
Know, know, KNOW
I HATE YOU!!!
EVERYTHING...everything, EVERYTHING...
is WRONG!!!
And I don't want to fight...
Because I don't know what's
WRONG or RIGHT
But I'll do ANYTHING just to get some
FUCKING sleep tonight...
And I can't even EAT
And I can't even FUCKING PISS!!!
All I've been doing is thinking about
GOD and DEATH InFiNiTy!!!!!
Sleep little baby, don't you cry...little baby...
NOW
You'll fucking listen to me...Everyone of you in my
MOTHERFUCKING LIFE;
All I've been looking for is an excuse to
feel this way...
...and now I know...
HA!
I KNOW!!!
I'm in control of the infinite mind,
And I control infinite Power
When?!?!?!?
EVERY BLACK MINUTE
And self-control is something I've learned...
But don't think I won't do it,
Don't you EVER forget;
If you want crazy...
IF YOU AWNT FUCKING CRAZY...
I'll SHOW YOU HOW TO BE CRAZY
FUCK YOU!!!!
LADIES!!!
All this time I thought you wanted me to be
like YOU
...you don't want me to BE LIKE YOU,
now you'll sing for ME!
Baby!!! Little baby, little baby...YEAH!!!
Aw, FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!
KNOW...KNOW...KNOW...
I FUCKING HATE MYSELF
EVERYTHING...EVERYTHING...EVERYTHING
about this is FUCKD!!!
Now it's
SCIENCE!!!
SCIENCE!!!
SCIENCE!!!
...and...
MATH!!!
MATH!!!
MATH!!!
07 Possessions (04:12)
I want your HEART
Your SOUL...
...and your MIND
You'll give me TRUST
...Your body,
Then you're mine!
...And being HUMAN
...is FUCKED as it is.
With all these questions
Of FAITH, and of...KIDS!!!
So what do you wanna do now baby???
...Do you wanna have a fucking BABY!?
NO!!!!!!!!
Whoa no...God no...
Whoa no...God...
GIVE IT AWAY (Goddamn I need it...)
GIVE IT AWAY (Goddamn I need it...)
GIVE IT AWAY (Goddamn I need it...)
GIVE IT AWAY, GIVE IT AWAY, GO!!!
GIVE IT AWAY (Goddamn I need it...)
GIVE IT AWAY (Goddamn I need it...)
GIVE IT AWAY (Goddamn I need it...)
GIVE IT AWAY, GIVE IT AWAY, ALL!!!
GET AWAY (Goddamn I need to...)
GET AWAY (Goddamn I need to...)
GET AWAY (Goddamn I need to...)
GET AWAY, GET AWAY, GO!!!
GET AWAY (Goddamn we need to...)
GET AWAY (Goddamn we need to...)
GET AWAY (Goddamn we need to...)
GET INTO THE CAR AND DRIVE!!!
Far!!! Far!!! Far!!! Far!!!
Vacation, procreation, sterilization,
DISNEYLAND!!!
...should we do it?
...d'ya wanna DO IT?!?!?!?!
I'll protect you...
Mommy!!!
Children and money and family and DEATH and
TAXES and CAREER
And PICKET FENCES
...JUST GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!
TAKE IT!!!
FUCK IT ALL!!!
[Chorus]
HERE IT COMES!!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEAH!
10 Zen (05:02)
Oh, did you think that I was KIDDING???
Oh, DID YOU THINK THAT I WAS???
Oh, too late, too late...
Aw, TOO LATE MOTHERFUCKRE!!!
MUST REMEMBER TO KEEP BOTH FEET ON THE GROUND
EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE IS TURNING ROUND
Then... we're the only ones
We're GODS, not demons
ZEN
ZEN
Zen...on the way I'm feeling
Zen...on the way we're feeling
On we go...we're waiting now...
Are you looking at me?!?
...Why do you keep looking at me?!?
...am I not merciful?
YES!!! we're the only ones
We're GODS AND DEMONS
ZEN
ZEN
Zen...on the way I'm feeling
Zen...on the way we're feeling
Zen...on the way I'm feeling
Zen...on the way we're feeling
Connect now and emerge.
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By 100x100 HELL
All these qualities can be found on a CD like "Alien". Total ferocity packed into 10 songs.
This CD leaves one speechless, sure to impress anyone who listens to it.
