Customer Reviews

City

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

You've probably read many of the comments here - and in other places - regarding the brutal and extreme nature of the music found within this album. After hearing this album, it's hard to disagree.

So, what does the music sound like?

Try to imagine Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Al Jourgensen (Ministry) sharing their ideas during a studio session, while overindulging on ridiculously excessive amounts of fructose, caffeine, speed and any other chemical/stimulant you can think of. While they're at it, they decide to invite some musician friends over, who provide the speed and precision of thrash metal.

That's just another way of saying that mastermind Devin Townsend and company mix the outrageously noisy elements of industrial metal, with the thrashing guitars and pounding double bass drums of thrash metal -- while the "outrageously noisy" factor is pushed to the EXTREME. The music is loud and ultra-heavy, but probably not in the most organic sense, but in the sense (production-wise) that layers and layers of sound are piled together to create a dense, smothering, oceanic wall-of-sound. The occasional melody can be found buried underneath it's brittle surface.

While many metalheads love the excessive sonic violence of this disc, they should probably feel a little bit ashamed of themselves after they find out that this album - while loud, fierce and "heavy" - is pretty much spitting in the face of metal itself, while simultaneously laughing at it's many protagonists and followers (you've all been had!) Don't accept the noisy and ultra-aggressive factors of this disc at face value: these aspects - the blast beats, the (few) death growls, the incessant use of profanity, the aggression, and the apparent vitriolic nature -- are all metal clichés used to expose the genre for the silliness it is. I believe Devin Townsend is not above poking fun at himself as well, as he immerses himself in all of these metal trademarks. However, the album is so engrossingly fun, entertaining, silly, and yes, LOUD, these elements would seem to be obscured, unless serious attention is drawn toward finding this out.

The musicians are clearly talented, and at the end of the day, these elements will seem to be the most important to many listeners. Devin Townsend possesses an incredible vocal range, as well as being versatile. He can scream, while simultaneously being melodic, and drummer Gene Hoglan (Death) fires away on his drum kit with speed, power and precision. Witness the manic, slaughtering noise rockers of "All Hail The New Flesh," "Oh My F@#^%&g God" (the former being an uncharacteristically melodic noise-metal track), "Home Nucleonics" and "Underneath The Waves." I could care less for "Room 429," as it seems a bit out of context with the rest of the album.

Loud, suffocating, intense, fun, hilarious, ironic/sarcastic and clever. Fans of supercharged noise and aggression will eat this up. If this turns you off, well - you've been warned!

In the movie "Fight Club" there's a part where the main character is discussing how since joining Fight Club, the world becomes quieter, easier, more distant. After digesting this album, you will feel the same about music. Sonically, nothing can prepare you for the onslaught of Strapping Young Lad.

Everything about it is over the top--and it was meant to be that way. That's the charm about SYL, they unabashedly push the limits as far as they can, all the while chuckling to themselves at how ridiculous it all is. There are parts of this album that can only be described as walls of sound. You'll helplessly be exposed to riffs that rip so hard you feel your eardrum tearing, double bass faster than anything this side of black metal, and more screams than any pair of vocal cords should be able to handle.

The catch is, this album easily could have sucked. It could have been another self-indulgent chest-beating of a metal album if it weren't for the expert and brilliant performances by the band members. Devin Townsend, for anyone who hasn't heard his solo work, is a prodigious songwriter. Any of these songs could be toned down and stand on their own legs simply on melodic and harmonic value. Gene Hoglan is one of the most coveted drummers in the metal scene, and it's because his technique and execution is exquisite. The guitar riffs chug along perfectly, and the Townsend's ability behind the controls comes through to produce a sonic behemoth of an album that is truly one of the most unique contributions to metal in a long time.

My only warning to listeners is of a desensitization period. People who listen to SYL for the first time tend to brush it off as senseless noise, because that's how it sounds to them--I know, I couldn't handle them the first time I heard them. But with repeated listens, your ear begins to seperate the strands in that towering wall of sound pouring into you. Once you're converted, there's no going back. SYL fans are rabid, and there's a reason: once you join us, everything else you listen to just seems... calm. Welcome to aural homocide; godspeed.

...

Strapping Young Lad is metal at full-volume -- and I mean that figuratively, not literally (although that might depend on how loud you like it...). It is absolutely the heaviest music I have ever heard -- it's obscenely fast, loud, obnoxious, and suffocating in its density. Aurally speaking, I have heard heavier mixes and guitar tones and drum engineering, but SYL is more about the overall production and thick, rampageous delivery. It's just HEAVY. But with SYL, this is a good thing. Even with passages that are quite literally blasts of noise, it's surreally entertaining just because it's so damn crazy. Between Devin Townsend's demented screaming, the furious guitars of Townsend and Jed Simon, and the thunderous charge of Gene Hoglan's drums, there is barely any room for melody or toe-tapping. There's definitely room for brains, however -- the whole album is almost a satire where Townsend's caustic wit burlesques metal and all its clichés. Songs like "Oh My ... God" and "Home Nucleonics" are so ridiculous that if it isn't the psychotic music that catches your attention, the absurdity of it all probably will. Or it might even be the sheer speed with which Gene Hoglan can hit those drums. Yikes! There are a few moments where _City_ slows down a bit. "Spirituality" is a nightmarish, distorted mantra. "AAA" clomps and growls. "Room 429" is creepy like a stalker. Most of the album is just violently fast and brutal. But, like I said, this is a good thing. And remember, these guys aren't just wailing their instruments - Townsend's wicked mind has crafted these songs fastidiously and the band executes them with stunning precision.

Although I love this album in strange way, I don't really recommend it to anyone in specific. But if you read a few reviews, you'll know whether or not this is something you want to experience.

The music that absolute genius Devin Townsend composes sounds exactly like that. Devin opening the album with his white singing on "All Hail the New Flesh" conjures up images of the birth of a God. The unrelentless brutality of the rest of the album sounds like the soundtrack of the apocalypse. This is anger and brutality put to music.

This isn't your typical heavy music, it is metal that is unlike anything any other band has ever created. Layers and layers of noise are put on top of the guitars and screaming, with constant drumming that accelerates the already angry energy that the music creates.

I've listened to a lot of heavy music before, but this album produces feelings unlike any other. "Underneath the Waves"'s unrelenting anger gets your pulse jumping and your blood flowing, but "Room 429"'s melancholic feel brings you to new lows. Definitely depressing music as well as heavy, this album is so unique because of the amount of feeling that you get by listening to it. I can't remember loving music so much as when I listen to this album.

It is only barely forty minutes of music, but those forty are some of the most meaningful minutes I have ever experienced.

It is brutal, it is depressing, it most definitely is angry, it is the beginning and the end of the world. It is most definitely worth many times its price, as music this good is worth its weight in gold. I can't recommend this album enough, even to fans of not-so-heavy music.

Whoa! To say this album is heavy is a huge understatement. I've heard a lot of heavy bands in my time (Crytopsy, Nile, Meshuggah, Lamb of God), but this band is heavier than all of them, maybe all of them put together. The nearest thing I can compare it to is Meshuggah, only less experimental, and more just..lethal. I mean, this makes Meshuggah seem soft, almost, and that ain't easy to do. "Oh My F*cking God" (which, by pure coincidence, was the first thing that came to my mind when I first started listening to this) has got to be the fastest, hardest, most insane song I've ever heard. And believe me, to say any one song on here stands out as the heaviest is quite a feat. For those of you out there who think all the heaviest music is "just noise", well, you're wrong. These guys do fairly tehnical music, very impressive. I'm amazed they can make stuff this heavy and still keep their music sophisticated. The sound is sort of a combo of grindcore, industrial, and progressive metal, blended to perfection. Devin Townsend is a great guitarist and songwriter, and a pretty wicked vocalist. Gene Hoglan (the master!) pounds the you-know-what outta the drums like never before. It's a bit different, he's not doing the complex, prog.-style drumming that he did with Death, it's more like that of Ray Herrera, from Fear Factory, only like twice as fast (that's no small statement either). Listen to the songs "Home Nucleonics", or "All Hail the New Flesh". Just amazing! The only song I don't really like is "Room 429". It's kinda weird, and a ballad doesn't really fit on here anyway. All I can say is, if you like it heavy, you haven't heard nuthin' yet! This comes from someone who's heard lots of extreme stuff, I can't even imagine what this would sound like to someone who'd never anything heavier than Korn! If you like it heavy, buy this now..and maybe a helmet while you're at it!

Now all I gotta do is get some of Devin's solo stuff. Sounds interesting!

I've never listened to metal before, but was turned onto this album by a friend--a jazz musician, actually--who wanted to show a good example of "tightness", or a band's ability to play synchronously with eachother. I was blown away not only by the tightness, but the overall musical power.

This is a kind of music that lives somewhere higher up in the consciousness than other music. It's really closer to jazz in terms of how you have to be willing to listen with all your senses in order to get it. It's the heaviest thing I've ever heard, but more importantly, the musicality of it is amazing. Instead of orchestrating rhythm and melody, these guys orchestrate intensity. It's amazing how much more powerful it is than other industrial / metal music: it attacks the senses instead of the ears, hypnotizes while it overwhelms you. Rather like standing outside and watching a tornado: both beautiful and horrifying. There is none of the sloppiness and melodrama of other hard metal, these guys have a sense of humour. They can, too: they're good enough that they don't have to worry about being serious.

Strapping Young Lad are a band who have been at the forefront of my attention for some time now. Their unorthodox approach to extreme metal, innovative song structures, industrial sound effects and near-unrestrained brutality, all of it laced with an undeniable sense of irony make for a listen which is intriguing to say the least. With my eventual purchase of "City," I felt that perhaps they don't quite live up to the hype, but even so are well worthy of attention.

The first thing that comes to mind when "City" begins to play is of something unstoppable; a huge, blugeoning, aural juggernaut crushing everything in its path. The guttaral roar of the guitars, the utter devastation of drums churning out blastbeats, and Devin Townsend's manaical shrieks, all held together with an inhuman, steely, industrial undertone, makes for a huge, suffocating, monstrously heavy dirge. However, upon closer inspection the listener begins to distinguish between these layers of sound, revealing the inventive and unorthodox sonwriting.

The guitar work "City" has to offer is, at its heart, oriented towards industrial metal; guttaral and mechanical, in the vein of Fear Factory except more skillfully written. While not as technical as I like to hear in extreme metal - the absence of solos and dual guitar harmonies is noticable - its mechanical, inhuman tones, capable of turning on a dime and bludgeoning the listener with on/off riffage and immediate time changes is worthy of merit. Traces of groove can be found, and yes! Even melody is present in the epic chorus hooks on songs such as "All Hail The New Flesh" and "Underneath The Waves."

Much more immediately obvious however, is the drum work. My first reaction to this overwhelming wall of blasting was (pun intended) "oh my f**king god." Gene Holgan, who has quite clearly improved since his early days in Dark Angel, is a MONSTER. In terms of sheer speed, he is up there with the likes of Horgh, Trym, Inferno and Flo Mounier. Hevilly reliant upon the double bass peddle, china cymbals and larger toms, his brutal aural assault is enough to knock you out of you chair. Satisfyingly tight and heavy though it is, this unrelenting barrage has the tendency to overwhelm the guitar work at the points where it's REALLY going balls-to-the-wall. While this is mostly due to flawed production rather than songwriting, the drumming plays a large part in creating the inaccessible "wall of sound" effect on tracks such as "Home Nucleonics," "Detox" and most of all, "Oh My F**king God." This being said, Gene does synchronise remarkably well with the guitar work and is also capable of producing a sardonic, malevolent beat on the slower tracks like "AAA" and "Spirituality."

And then of course, you have Devin's vocals, possibly the most schizophrenic aspect of an already varied album. He operates mostly in higher a higher pitch, ranging from the almost-clean singing on the choruses of "Detox" and "Underneath The Waves" to grindcore-esque, banshee like howls. I am left slightly confused as to why more use of Devin's aforementioned singing vocals isn't made. Why? Because he's brilliant at it, giving the music a fluid, soaring quality you almost never hear in industrial metal. But then, beggars can't be choosers.

So, in conclusion: "City" is not an easy album to listen to. Music with so many layers - sometimes indistinguishable - played all at once at such speed and ferocity makes for something of an overwhelming experience. But take the time, get into it, and you have a rewarding album waiting for you. I have difficulty thinking of it as a real classic, but "City" is a worthy addition to any headbanger's collection.

In a previous review (was it 7/20/04.. can't remember, I deleted it) I was crying about how City wasn't heavy enough or whatever and how it didn't live up to my expectations.

Yeah, I can be an arse sometimes.

No, City isn't the heaviest album I've ever heard. Yes, Cryptopsy, Origin, Meshuggah are all heavier and more technical. Yes, the lyrics are still kinda dumb. And no, it doesn't much matter.

Put simply, this album tears booty throughout (Oh My F--king God may be the most appropriately titled song of all time). It's sheer rage personified.. brutal, noisy, dense, and yet it's put together seamlessly. Devin Townsend's kitchen-sink production style and varied songwriting results in a phenomenally deep album; each listen unravels new sounds and elements I missed previously. And Devin dethrones all in the vocal department, with a posessed scream that makes all those teenage fashion-core pu$$ies wish they stayed working at the supermarket. No solos, but with an attack this visceral it doesn't need them. Gene Hoglan's drumming is delivered at such levels of speed and precision that one wonders if he was given cybernetic replacment limbs. Incredible.

This may become one of my favorite metal albums ever. It's definitely up there, at any rate. Get it NOW.

To put it briefly: City slaughters. If thats exclusively what you're looking for, stop reading this review, because I can garauntee you'll love this CD.

Now, if that's not enough for you, I'll elaborate a bit. Strapping Young Land is a super-heavy industrial band fronted by none other than Vancouver's Devin Townsend. He lends his great guitarwork, godly (in a demonic sorta way) vocals and almost peerless songwriting skills. Also of note is Gene Hoglan on drums: He doesn't play immensely complex polyrhythms, but he drums amazingly quickly, and his precision is unrivaled: He sounds almost machine-like at times.

As for the CD itself, the first 30 minutes are a bloodbath. The first three songs has to constitute the most intense ten minutes of music I've ever heard. Not heaviest mind you, but most intense. "Oh My F***ing God" features hyper-speed vocals, "Home Nucleonics" is insanely tight and fast, and "All Hail the New Flesh" is one of the most godly HEAVY songs I've ever heard. After the first seven tracks, the CD slows down considerably for the closing ten minutes. "Room 429" is a cover, and shows a Devy more reminiscent of his solo work. It's slow(er), dark and brooding. The closing track, "Spirituality" is an creeping introverted heavy track that, while it isn't the most entertaining song on the cd, its one of the most powerful.

Overall, a crushing, pummeling industrial metal assault on the senses.... Which is remarkably entertaining. I heartily recommend it.

This record certainly isnt for the faint hearted. Anyone who doesnt feel particularly drawn towards a release which seems to drill into your brain, systematically destroy your conciousness and leave you breathless, drained and often literally foaming at the mouth should probably refrain from even reading this review.
Let me begin by admitting I am not a huge fan of this type of music. I was drawn into SYL via Townsend's less frantic, more prog-esque solo material. But this record really is something special, compelling where it bludgeons, intriguing where it is inexplicable.
Strapping Young Lad may be heavy enough to put practically any other band to shame, yet there is a definite sense of melody, structure and genius in Townsend's compositions which I found myself warming to extremely quickly.
The album houses massively angry and practically incoherent efforts like the rapid, brutal noise fest of 'Home Nucleonics' or the sample laden, super fast 'Oh My....God' which stands as probably the most extreme (in every sense of the word) song I have ever heard. Yet opener 'All hail the new flesh' and the presumably autobiographical 'Detox' contain real snatches of melody and beauty amongst the chaos. In fact, Devin takes time out on numbers like 'Room 429' and 'AAA' to actually prove he can sing. Elsewhere, 'Spirituality' is almost progressive extreme metal, a fairly confusing tag admittedly but a fairly unique song.
Despite the interesting features, the fact remains that this is an extremely harsh, violent, menacing and at times spite-ridden record. Devin is clearly very unhappy with much in our world, and the sheer rage and despair which he projects here is both astonishing and frightening.
An extremely solid record nonetheless. Fans of the genre should pick it up immediately. As for everyone else...SYL are well worth the time to investigate, even if their description seems repulsive. This is a fairly diverse effort and I would be loath to recommend anyone to stay away: its really a CD one must hear to believe, if you will forgive the cliche.
Well worth the time and money.