In my mind the story is divided into three pieces, from ZTO to N9, Planet Smasher alone, and then Color Your World ->
In the first part Ziltoid is dealing with humans, then comes Planet smasher and then Ziltoid is speaking with the Creator from himself and everything. Booklet tries to keep it in one part, but I can't really get one picture of ZTO to my mind, I get three separate.

Still, Ziltoid is fantastic album, music and lyrics are deep in many ways, and it rocks in musical way!

The metaphorical / serious parts of the album are much more well done than the actual literal story, I think, but sometimes the metaphors aren't well connected with the story, either... I assume we're all talking "Color Your World" and especially "The Greys" (best song ever!) which really has no particular connection to the character "Ziltoid".

Long live the Rock Opera! Ziltoid gave me the itch to find more in the genre, and imagine my surprise when I discovered The Human Equation also had Dev singing on it. I hope he does more, because Dev has made listening to music quite a bit more entertaining for me.

And as far as Ziltoid not sitting well with some people, try to think of the album more as ear candy... yummy, but causes cavities.

After a year of listening Ziltoid, it's still something fresh to me and it's a very cheering album.

It will stand a longer test of time... no doubts about it.

It has something from the oldest science fiction movies with funny looking aliens. You can't copy that atmosphere...

How is Ziltoid sitting with me now? Well up until about a month ago, I wasn't really listening that much to it. I liked Ziltoidia Attaxx and Planet Smasher, but it wasn't among my favourites. Now however, I keep listening to it over and over, it's so fantastic, it's definitely in my top 5 albums evar. And imagine the entire Ziltoid album being played live, I mean, it would be awesome to hear songs like Regulator and Pixillate etc but imagining Ziltoid live gives me the chills.

Stil gets regular spins during my shift

I still dig it alot, and i one of the few that didn't really get into Synchestra.

Me too. I love Ziltoid but amn't mad about Synchestra. For some reason Synchestra hadn't much longevity and I still haven't tired of The 'toid.

The metaphorical / serious parts of the album are much more well done than the actual literal story, I think, but sometimes the metaphors aren't well connected with the story, either... I assume we're all talking "Color Your World" and especially "The Greys" (best song ever!) which really has no particular connection to the character "Ziltoid".

I'm going to have to disagree, but I do have reasons. =D

Strangely, I feel that it's secretly like Devin's career. Each character has a big reflection on his life, I think. I'm kind of working with half ideas and thoughts I'm still struggling to put together, and probably totally wrong about.

I agree that the album is, rather like one story, three little ones. That works well in my head. I see it as "Ziltoid, The Rise, fall and fall." At first, he gets it all his own way. He kicks some ass, shreds some solos, humans worship him. Very reminiscent of the SYL era, eh? Explodes in, big, over the top, cheesy, and everyone bows down because, let's face it, alot of us wanted something like this to come along. "Huzzah," we would say "Something like this has come along."

Then, he meets the Planet Smasher. To me, the Planet Smasher symbolises a loss of control, a break down of all this power that kept Ziltoid so confident. He wants Herman to do something, Herman doesn't want to, and swats him out of the sky. Suddenly, Ziltoid seeks help, to get away. End of Strapping Young Lad, seeking some external and internal help.

Then we have these more melodic, beautiful songs, with some heaviness to them still, very much like the work Devin producees away and outside of SYL. I know, of course, that Devin was making his solo stuff at the same time as SYL, but this to me represents the flip side of everything. The very raw, emotional side of Devin, less balls to the wall and more inspiring, I suppose. (for me, at least.) And then, of course, he wakes up, and it was all a dream...

This is how I hear the album. It probably isn't relevant to anyone else, but I suppose to me, Ziltoid is Devin. He came in big and powerful, and then things got to big too quickly, and he had to get away from it. Which is all fair enough. To me, that is what the Ziltoid album is about.

Ah well! What do you lot think? xD

Maybe I'm cheating here because I only recently even heard of Devin Townsend. But as for Ziltoid - I love it! I'm finding some of Devin's stuff slightly harder to get into, which is my fault because I've not given it enough of a chance, but Ziltoid struck an immediate chord. I'm not even into metal as a genre (more of a rocker than a metal-head) but his voice is so amazing I have to put the emphasis on the first syllable of amazing and pause between it and the second syllable. A-maz-ing. There's nothing I don't like about the album. And I think maybe for some people it's a good way of getting into some of his more complex, more serious work....I'll get back to you on that when I can really speak from experience. I think he's a phenomal artist anyway, and one who's somewhat underappreciated from what I've seen.

Hope my sigs not too long.....

Maybe I'm cheating here because I only recently even heard of Devin Townsend. But as for Ziltoid - I love it! I'm finding some of Devin's stuff slightly harder to get into, which is my fault because I've not given it enough of a chance, but Ziltoid struck an immediate chord. I'm not even into metal as a genre (more of a rocker than a metal-head) but his voice is so amazing I have to put the emphasis on the first syllable of amazing and pause between it and the second syllable. A-maz-ing. There's nothing I don't like about the album. And I think maybe for some people it's a good way of getting into some of his more complex, more serious work....I'll get back to you on that when I can really speak from experience. I think he's a phenomal artist anyway, and one who's somewhat underappreciated from what I've seen.

Hope my sigs not too long.....

HAHAHA THAT IS AWESOME! The sig, that is. I laughed hard Try putting them next to eachother horizontally somehow, would be slightly better :p

Hmm- my skills with BB Code are not the best - but I agree with you and give it my best shot.

still love it, it gets regular use as my driving CD.. especially when there`s lots of motorway!

I've never liked Ziltoid and never will because of the drumkit from hell. The rhythm lacks the nuances of a human being which just leaves it all flat on my ears.

That said, Dev does a pretty good job of programming what a drummer might play compared to other stuff I've heard and things I've done myself. Although on occasion he gets carried away and programs some crazy mathematical pattern no drummer alive would play (and most couldn't play).

But yeah, lack of feeling on the drums kills some great riffs that are on there.

And on the subject of cheesiness - everything Dev has done in his own name is musically cheesy. It's great, but cheesy as hell, ziltoid is just even cheesier cos it has puppets.

I've never liked Ziltoid and never will because of the drumkit from hell. The rhythm lacks the nuances of a human being which just leaves it all flat on my ears.

That said, Dev does a pretty good job of programming what a drummer might play compared to other stuff I've heard and things I've done myself. Although on occasion he gets carried away and programs some crazy mathematical pattern no drummer alive would play (and most couldn't play).

But yeah, lack of feeling on the drums kills some great riffs that are on there.

And on the subject of cheesiness - everything Dev has done in his own name is musically cheesy. It's great, but cheesy as hell, ziltoid is just even cheesier cos it has puppets.

I dissagree.