Tag Archive: Strapping Young Lad


Devin Townsend Project – Contain Us: A Project In Retrospect

Filed Under: Random Thoughts
Jan.26, 2012

Let me be clear, this isn’t a review. It easily could be, but I don’t want it to devolve into that. As I’m such a huge fan of this man’s work, I doubt I could convince people into thinking any review of a boxset containing 4 discs of music that I have already bought previously could be anything other than biased, so there’s really no two ways about this, and the sooner I get this out of the way the better.

I am for all intents and purposes a Devin Townsend fanboy—just look at the damn alias I chose for this site. I love pretty much all of music, his congeniality, his humor, and his down-to-Earth personality. With that said, I don’t love everything he’s done, and I will openly discuss the various works that have disappointed or felt lackluster to me, but yes, for the most part I am a fanboy. So it was only natural that I bought his magnum opus of a boxset, Contain Us. This monolith houses the last four releases from Devin Townsend, and is a shining reminder of all of the hard work and dedication he has put into his craft, not just with DTP, but throughout the entirety of his career. So yes, this is not a review, but a reflection on this project, and the all important pieces of music that have so heavily affected me over the past 3 years.

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Fellow Vinyl Collectors, Start Scraping Change Now: Massive 7XLP Strapping Young Lad Boxset Due Out Late 2012/Early 2013

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases
Jan.19, 2012

I’m one of those vinyl collecting dorks that spends more money than is reasonable buying up vinyl copies of albums. Vinyl is considerably more expensive, but I think it’s ultimately worth it; in this day in age when music is pushing into the digital realm, a large and tangible copy is an excellent collector’s item of sorts, like a trophy of the triumphs of music.

On that note, when you sit down to make a list of bands in metal that have absolutely triumphed and made the music scene a better place that it was when they began, I’d hope Strapping Young Lad would make it on a few lists out there. In celebration of the band’s acclaimed discography, the Finnish non-profit Blood Music are planning a huge 7xLP SYL box set release set to go on sale late 2012/early 2013. Here are the known details:

This monstrous limited edition 7xLP box set will contain *all five Strapping Young Lad full-lengths*; as well as *extra vinyl dedicated to the band’s non-album material*; plus other special, newly-created gifts [yet to be announced].

No price has been announced yet, but you can bet your ass it will probably destroy your wallet. I’d probably be more appreciative of individually released reissues (I’d get Alien and SYL in a heartbeat), but any effort to put more Devin to wax is okay by me.

As always, we’ll be sure to let you know when there’s a set release date and price.

- JR

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Czar – Vertical Mass Grave

Filed Under: Reviews
Dec.07, 2011

Czar

Vertical Mass Grave

01. Family Crest
02. Scarless
03. Cun
04. Diapers
05. Brunt
06. Tubman Guntletter
07. Writhe
08. Blodeuwedd
09. Spooling Down
10. Redeemer

[12/06/11]
[Crack Nation]

It wasn’t too long ago when I mentioned a band named Czar that I rated as a mind-bending mix of prog, post-metal and pissed off grindcore. I had no idea at the time that multiple bands share that name, but in retrospect it does make sense. How many one-word band names aren’t already taken?  Anyway, the post-grind band is based out of Tacoma, Washington and are definitely worth your time. However, today I must bring to your attention Chigago-based Czar and their debut record Vertical Mass Grave.

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Short But Sweet: Devin Townsend Performs Live Acoustic Version of Love?

Filed Under: Video
Nov.18, 2011

Well. Hole-ee-Shit. If I’m not mistaken this is the first time Devin Townsend has performed any Strapping Young Lad material since he cut his hair off back in 2007. Not only that but it’s a fucking acoustic version of his most famous SYL song.

I don’t have much else to say about this, but it sure is great to see Devin is finally feeling comfortable enough to delve into such a sordid section of his past

- EC

 

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Metal Injection Interviews The Almighty Devin Townsend And Namedrops Heavy Blog. My Week Has Been Made.

Filed Under: Interviews, Upcoming releases, Video
Jul.21, 2011


Click Here To Watch The Video

Devin Townsend is clearly the MVP of the year, what with two brilliant records being released, each one getting five star reviews here at Heavy Blog. It’s always enlightening when the man speaks. The dude is so humble, yet he is without a doubt one of the most influential figures in metal right now. Devin’s a class act, that’s for sure.

So Devin gave a pretty in-depth interview with Metal Injection, and there’s a few tid-bits that really stand out and get me all kinds of excited. You really should watch the whole interview, but here’s an outline of the awesomeness that lies within, just in case anyone out there happens to be at work and can’t spare the seventeen minutes:

  • Rob cites Heavy Blog Is Heavy in reference to how I managed to make miracles happen between Devin and Greg Puciato on Twitter. Thanks again, Rob!
  • Devin’s previously mentioned upcoming record Epicloud will be “heavy pop music” and will probably feature Anneke Van Giersbergen. Sounds an awful lot like the premise to Addicted, doesn’t it? A continuation of that sound would be more than welcome. 
  • Another Ziltoid record is still planned, in case you were wondering.
  • If we give Devy $120k, he’ll grow his hair out again. Part of me hopes he doesn’t raise the money.
  • Strapping Young Lad still not going to happen. No surprises there, and frankly, I’m okay with it.

Excellent! Be sure to check out the full interview above and catch Devin supporting Children of Bodom if you still can!

- JR

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Ambient Music And The Metal Minded: What Gives?

Filed Under: Random Thoughts
Jun.10, 2011

During one of my routine commutes this weekend, I had the newly acquired Ghost record by Devin Townsend Project on play in the car. During car trips, I usually play something a little more upbeat, fast, and heavy — but this time, the dulcet tones of flute and acoustic guitar ran through the car. Previously, my car featured the airtime of Ghost‘s pissed off oddball of a sibling Deconstruction. Where there was once chaos and insanity is now host to ambiance and serenity. This morning, I was listening to the soundtracks to one of my favorite video game series, Portal—specifically, Portal 2: Songs To Test By, an ambient electronic soundscape to… well… test to. That’s when it hit me; why do metal fans tend to enjoy ambient music? Once you stop and really think about it, it’s quite fascinating how commonplace this dichotomy is in the world of extreme music.

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Devin Townsend Project – Deconstruction

Filed Under: Reviews
Jun.03, 2011

Devin Townsend Project

Deconstruction

01. Praise the Lowered
02. Stand
03. Juular
04. Planet of the Apes
05. Sumeria
06. The Mighty Masturbator
07. Pandemic
08. Deconstruction
09. Poltergeist

[06/20/11]
[Inside Out Music]

Operatic, triumphant, and out of its fucking mind. That’s the perfect short description of the highly anticipated “heavy” installment of Devin Townsend’s four-part album series released under the Devin Townsend Project name. This is an amalgamation of what we’ve come to expect from Devin over the years. Deconstruction is an adventurous look inside of Devin’s mind that is quirky, honest, and his best work since Ziltoid the Omniscient, if not the best work he’s ever done period.

As expected, Deconstruction is huge in every sense of the word. There’s so much going on in the mix at times that it’s dizzying. Devin spared no expense in making this record sound the best that it possibly can, hiring a full choir and orchestra that pushes the album into the realm of epic symphonic metal. The quirky symphonic overtones makes Deconstruction feel grandiose throughout, sounding like a pissed off Danny Elfman score. We normally shy away from lengthy track-by-track reviews here on Heavy Blog Is Heavy, but honestly, this album demands it.

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Top Tunes of 2011…So Far: The Gein Edition

Filed Under: Lists!
May.25, 2011

 

It has been a while since I posted something. My power supply in my computer died a few weeks ago and I only got around to fixing it recently. To my dismay, all the news I had planned to post when I replaced it had been posted so I’ve had to do nothing but sit in silence. Regardless, I am back! Since all the writers seem to be hopping on this bandwagon and not wanting to seem like a dirty hipster I will provide my worthless opinion on my favorites of 2011. Without further ado:

10. Protest the Hero – Dunsel

Scurrilous was easily one of my most anticipated for this year after becoming a die hard Protest the Hero fan in 2009, clocking in probably 700 song plays for the band’s Fortress release alone. To (what seems like) everyone’s dismay, Scurrilous failed to meet the gold standard set by their previous release. Still, there are a few songs on the album that I consider some of their best work to date and this is one of them. “Dunsel” shows a progression in sound for Protest the Hero whilst retaining the flavor of Fortress. And c’mon: the ending is simply too good.

9. Origin – Expulsion of Fury

Origin kicks a lot of ass and their previous album, Antithesis, was probably one of the craziest records I’ve heard in a long time. Needless to say, the guys are at it again and there’s no doubt in my mind they’re going to slay with the new album. What makes this song good for me is that it’s pretty memorable. A lot of kick ass riffs packed into 3 minutes.

8. Obscura – A Transcendental Serenade

Much like Scurrilous, Obscura‘s Omnivium failed to meet the hype. It’s still a great record, but I think I was excited for it too much and as a result was rather disappointed with the outcome. Nevertheless, Obscura did deliver on one track and that is this one. It’s memorable, it’s instrumental and the vocoder section at the end is a chilling conclusion to this track. Oh and dat bass.

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From The Archive: Strapping Young Lad – SYL

Filed Under: Albums You Should Hear, Bands That Made Me Heavy, From the Archive
May.18, 2011

From The Archive

The discovery of a new band is always exciting. Will it be something you’ve heard countless times? An experience that leaves a bad taste in your mouth? Or is it a treat from which you cannot stop consuming? I wanted to take a trip back in time to reminisce about bands/albums that not only introduced me to heavy music, but kept me coming back for more…

From The Archive: Strapping Young Lad – SYL

Strapping Young Lad - SYL

With all the latest spins of the awesomeness that is Deconstruction, I couldn’t help but find myself gravitating back to this crazy Canadian’s other band, Strapping Young Lad. I believe it’s the fact that his soon to be released album, Deconstruction has a lot in common with what you would hear on a Strapping Young Lad album. It’s heavy on top of heavy. But wait, I seem to be getting ahead of myself. So lets go back a few years as my first introduction to Strapping Young Lad was with their debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. It took a bit of warming up to fully appreciate it, but once I did, I was a fan. And since then I’ve enjoyed all their albums as well as the progression this band went through with each one of those releases. But as I look back, I find myself always going to one album in particular, their 2003 full-length, SYL…

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First Thing’s First: LISTEN TO DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT’S SUMERIA

Filed Under: New music, Upcoming releases
May.06, 2011

Imagine Strapping Young Lad and any given Tim Burton movie score. You won’t have to because I know you hit play before you even started reading this. I don’t even know where to begin with this song, as there’s so much going on. Joe Duplantier (Gojira) and Paul Masvidal (Cynic) both contribute vocals, and they sound fantastic. There’s admittedly a TON of hype behind Deconstruction. So far, it’s all been warranted. What you’re hearing above is likely to be not only one of the greatest metal albums of the year, but of the 10′s. I may be getting ahead of myself, but JUST LISTEN TO THIS. FUCK.

The world will get a little brighter when this monster of an album drops June 20th. Gimme gimme.

- JR

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