Customer Reviews

Heavy As a Really Heavy Thing

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For over ten years now, Strapping Young Lad's debut was as stripped as can be. "Eh" production quality, only 9 songs that stretched only seconds shy of 40 minutes long, and a photo-heavy booklet that included NO lyrics whatsoever (something that annoys me more than anything else with CDs). Granted, it was a GOOD album, but these things left much to be desired.

And now, this has emerged.

This is exactly what this album needed. The production has been remastered, giving the album a lot more punch to its heaviness - and with a band like Strapping Young Lad, heaviness is a MUST. There are four bonus tracks, making the album over 56 minutes long now! And best of all, THERE ARE LYRICS NOW! And not just lyrics to all the songs, but even to the bonus tracks (a rare thing in and of itself with special editions of albums)! There's also a enhanced video clip for "S.Y.L.," which is a nice bonus. What a deal! There's also a really nice introduction from Devin Townsend in the booklet, telling the story of SYL's inception and the coming-about of this album in a manner that is as funny as it is informative.

About the bonus tracks: the first of them is the hilariously goofy and heavy "Satan's Ice Cream Truck," with a silly vocal performance, tasty crunch-riffs in the choruses, and a bizarre guitar solo that would sound better in a polka group. "Japan" is epic-feeling, with choruses composed of soaring vocals and waves of riffs, feeling more like something off of CITY or SYL. "Monday" is previously unreleased (well, officially anyway), and is a nice industrial-tinged piece, with Devin making a great singing-turning-into-screaming performance over a building storm of melodic riffs, very reminiscent of his Ocean Machine work. "Exciter" is recorded to sound like it was recorded live (or maybe it really *was* live?), a refreshing cover of the famous Judas Priest song (I never really cared for it until now).

I've found a whole new appreciation for this album. SYL have always been a great and unusual metal band, even way back in "the day." Any shortcomings you might have once thought HEAVY... had are gone: buy this, and listen to the album as it should have been!

Before the utter masterpieces "City" and "SYL," there was this rampaging slab of industrial-metal madness from the great Devin Townsend. It was here that Devin began to establish himself as metal's answer to Mike Patton, in terms of both vocal prowess and musical diversity. This may be a metal album, but it also shows the early signs of Devin's genre-bending tendencies. Like most great albums, it not only exemplifies its genre but also busts conventions to create something truly unique.

The sound of "HAARHT" can best be described as a sort of barely controlled insanity, with equal parts aggression and catchiness combined to form one of the most potent sounds in recent history. The opening one-two punch of "S.Y.L." and "In The Rainy Season" is a perfect summation of Strapping Young Lad's musical mission. Both songs reach a grindcore-esque level of speed and intensity, but if you listen closely enough you can hear melodies emerging from the sonic carnage, making things go down just a bit easier.

From there, the album branches out in some surprising directions, but it manages to remain firmly rooted in metal at the same time. Devin's voice is all over the map here, ranging from ear-piercing shrieks to fearsome death howls to something that actually bears some resemblance to singing. And in the grand tradition of Fear Factory and Ministry, samples and industrial beats are used often enough to make the album interesting, but not so much that they become tiresome or distracting.

Perhaps most importantly, "HAARHT" provides convincing evidence of the demented songwriting genius that would only become more apparent on SYL's subsequent albums. "Goat" slows things way down from the first two songs, but doesn't soften the album up one bit; the slower tempo merely serves to drive the steamrolling heaviness into you even harder. The Ministry-style "Cod Metal King" actually shows an admirable grasp of dynamics, moving from mid-tempo and subdued (by Devin's standards, anyway) to all-out headbanging fury without warning. "The Filler-Sweet City Jesus" has one of the most addictive guitar riffs in history, hands down. "Happy Camper (Carpe B.U.M.)" and "Drizzlehell" are quite possibly the most manical compositions in Devin's catalog, propelled by harsh vocals and vicious grooves that make the mirrors in my car vibrate (or maybe I just need new tires).

Metal lovers everywhere definitely owe a debt to Devin Townsend. Along with Meshuggah, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Soilent Green, and a few other bands, Strapping Young Lad are ensuring that the genre stays intriguing as it moves into the new millenium. If you consider yourself any kind of metal fan, you need this album. And if you don't like it, you're lame.

Before Ocean Machine, before City or Terria or Alien, there was this - Devin Townsend's first small twisted masterpiece. The seeds of all those other works can be heard here, although this album is much more.. I guess 'crude' would be a good word. Heavy... is the sound of a brilliant headbanger's mind being let completely loose for the first time to produce what it will with no restraints or straitjackets. (Scared? Good.) It's not just extreme metal or industrial or hardcore or thrash. The genre's cliches are gleefully undermined, twisted, embraced and lampooned all at once to make a refreshingly wacky pile of heavy-metal slop.

We go all over the map, from slow-and-heavy to hyper-and-REALLY-heavy, from pure straightforward guitar squawk to synths and techno-beat loops, from shrieking to singing to goofy growling and back to shrieking again, from the savage fury of "Critic" to the almost childish silliness of "Satan's Ice Cream Truck." No metal stone is unturned. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wince in pain, your eardrums will bleed. Sure it's less cohesive and refined than anything else under the SYL name, but I wouldn't hold that against this disc. Its head-spinning disjointedness is what makes Heavy unique among the catalog, and it's got a wild abandon that the others (for all their psychotic lethalness) inevitably lose.

This is essential for fans of metal in any or all forms. Nutty, crazy, ferocious, bizarre, silly, punishing, brutal - you may not like all of it, but this is one album that leaves a mark (or perhaps a second-degree burn scar) like no other.

Ever heard that Steve Vai album several years back with the freaky vocalist who sounded very different than others in the genre? Well this would be his own band & WHOA is it freaky! This mosh masterpiece is one of those albums that comes along every now & then that just absolutely SMASHES you like a diesel crushes a small mammal! My personal favorites are S.Y.L. which chorus' rage with "I F#%*ING HATE YOU!!! (repeat with furious intensity 8x) A song that from what I can tell, (no lyric sheets : ( ) is about the evils of the Corporate world. (i.e. using people, favoritism, facist uniformity, backstabbing, etc.) The other is DEFINITLY "Happy Camper". This song is so insane & ferociuos that I literally just sat there staring at the speakers like "DA------MMM!" So, if you're angry that Metallica sucks now & maybe you're wanting to vent because you're chasing that dream/nightmare of climbing the corporate ladder (good luck) buy this album, sit down in your lazy-boy, and let the soothing sounds of Devin & Strapping Young Lad ease your anxieties & bring your stress level down a bit with their brand of Metal Core/Industrial/Grind mayhem! Enjoy.

If you're looking for something heavy and full of hate and humor with good meaningful lyrics this is it. Buy it. Now. The whole cd is a masterpiece, with not a single slow song. It only slows down a bit on Goat and the hidden track (Satan's Ice Cream Truck) which is just humor. But the first song (SYL) and the fifth (Happy Camper) pulverize you into a mushy pulp as your brain is pounded by the most intense music ever heard. I'd reccomend this cd for anyone who is looking for something heavy as a really heavy thing.

strapping young lad has to be one of the best bands i have ever heard. so diverse musically that nearly every song sounds different. deven townsend is truly a genius. as heavy as a really heavy thing is a smorgasboard of hardcore,speed metal,techno, and even toutches on death and black metal at times. its music for everyone! all at the same time! this is a really great cd.s.y.l.,goat,skin me, and drizzlehell, stand out among the rest, although the entire cd is completely awesome. you gotta hear this one, its a monument in new music.

I've been listening to this disc for what's approaching ten years now and I feel ashamed that I've taken this long to put a review out here for you folks.

As a number of reviewers have mentioned, Devin Townsend got his start with Steve Vai playing back-up guitar, but he eventually grew wearisome of Vai's band and bored with what he was doing. Influenced by bands such as Fear Factory and other cyber-metal acts, Devin decided to start up his own industrial metal band, aptly named "Strapping Young Lad". This is the first release by that band back in 1995. And indeed, "strapping" doesn't even begin to describe its sound.

This debut is one of the best of its kind, and the variety of approaches presented here is fantastic. Anything from slower brooding songs like "Goat" to incredibly insane, blistering pieces like "Happy Camper (Carpe B.U.M.)", this disc has it all for those interested in some of the heaviest stuff available in the industrial/cyber metal scene.

My personal fave off this disc would have to be "Critic", and I also must comment that the hilarious bonus track "Satan's Ice Cream Truck" (you've got to love the slide-whistle!) was the song I used to close every radio show I did while living in Nashville, TN. Check this band out if you're into the heavy. You WON'T be disappointed.

this album is the total mayhem. it is very heavy, dark and crazy. the band combines death metal, grindcore and industrial to a very satisfying cd. the lyrics fit the music perfect, they are just as insane. this cd is the absolut anti-mainstream album. that's why it'll never attract a larger group of people. you have to be in the mood for this monster, but when you are there is nothing better.

For a freshman effort, this is one for the books. Along with a hardcore metal edge mixed with a twisted sense of humor, this is definately a keeper. Pure, honest, and gut wrenching as they come. Can't wait to get the next CDs.

Everyone else has said all that can really be said about this disk. But I would like to point out one more little tid-bit about this heavy little beast... the disk is now celebrating it's 1o anniversery of raising the metal bar and still crushing 99% of the bands out there... Their new release "Alien" is a fitting capstone and just proves that Devin is still the craziest and most pissed off man in North America. Get this album, get them all and fall in love.