Check out the song "Wrong Side."

Check out the song "Wrong Side."

I don't agree. Actually, I've had a hard time getting into SYL as well, and I really disliked "Wrong Side" at first. I suggest you have a look at All Hail The New Flesh. It's their first song that really hooked me. Then, Skeksis, because it's the best song ever.

But seriously. I suggest All Hail The New Flesh, Force Fed, or Almost Again.

Skeksis I really do like. Most of Alien by this point. But I am having terrible difficulty getting into City or any of the others. I have the SYL album as well, and I like Bring On the Young and bits and pieces here and there, but something just seems missing in there.

Maybe it's just because I have serious difficulties relating to really angry music. Or really sad music. Maybe it's better if I hold off on that kind of darkening music while my life is still pretty peachy. I dunno.

I like Devy's work too much to ignore SYL, but I am having very serious difficulty finding his usual amazing songwriting in there...

Physicist. Every time. Dev wasn't kidding when he said it was Diet SYL. All the aggression with none of the anger. Physi is like beating up someone you really hate with a massive fluffy soft marshmallow jackhammer and finding it really really invigorating.

Failing that, try listening to the guitars in City, the rest of the music just envelops you and you get sucked in and it washes over you, it's beautiful.

It's all about access points

One of my favorite metal albums of all time.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Try "Detox" off "City"

OK, here's my take on listening to SYL.

Basically, I was introduced to the whole Devy world when I saw the video for Relentless on TV some years ago. It came right after a Children of Bodom video, and an Arch Enemy video. This was when Headbanger's Ball came back on, and in the beginning they played a bunch of european stuff with really skilled guitarists and dudes with long hair, which I really appreciate for metal bands (I was beyond sick of the nu-metal era, and this new dose of what seemed to be a throwback to how metal should be done was more than welcome in my book) But now of course, MTV once again found a way to make a good thing turn to crap, those cool european bands have either been exploited or ignored, and the American scene is lamer and more pathetic than ever.

But as I've said, Relentless came on AFTER these vids. And Relentless, as you may or may not know, is pretty much that one fucking note throughout the whole song!! Nevertheless, the leadman was bald and odd-looking, and had a voice that I've never heard before. It contrasted against the only thing I did not like about the CoB and Arch Enemy videos, which were the growl vocals.

So, I engraved it in my brain to keep an eye out for Strapping Young Lad the next time I hit the record store. And eventually, I landed my hands on SYL (the feather album), I don't need to go into detail here on how much I loved the album, or what I thought fell a little short, the point is, Strapping earned a spot on my top tier of favorite bands. And what's funny is that, packed next to the album booklet was one of those ads from the label that showcased other CDs in the catalog, and that's how I found out about Ocean Machine, Infinity, etc. So that, too, was something really new to me, a hardened, badass looking bald frontman to a crazy metal band, posing nude on one of his solo albums.

After that, I bought Ocean Machine and Accelerated Evolution, because that's all I could find in the section. Soon after, I found Terria. But, I had no luck finding anything else from Devin's solo stuff.

At one point in my life, I found myself working in a record store, the only thing that sucked about it was, it was a huge chain with corporate conditioning and presentation, and not a cool little independent store. The actual work sucked, but whenever I had a moment to just wander around and find new music, or shoot the shit with a customer about a band, it wasn't so bad. It was here that I happened upon Alien.

It sounded way different than SYL did, and I didn't know what to think. But because it was so different, I just couldn't appreciate it right away. So I shelved it. Some of you might know what happens next. You ever listen to a CD, but don't know what to think of it, so you just put it aside? And a month or so later, you try again, and it's 10x more fun to listen to, and sometimes even becomes your default CD in the car or computer, and you listen to it constantly for like a week or two.

Suffice it to say, I grew to love Alien, when at first, I really didn't like it at all. I've since discovered a store thats about a 45 minute drive from where I live, that carries all manner of hard-to-find CDs and DVDs. Here, I bought Infinity, Physicist, HAARHT, and City, and gave each CD their own dedicated week of listening in the car. I can appreciate HAARHT as the debut material, but some of the later tracks are a little silly. City, in my opinion, is right on par with SYL, but for different reasons. They both have those 2 or 3 really awesome songs, and the rest of the album is just a fun listen through.

Yes, Physicist is Diet Coke SYL, but you have to consider that there had to be an album after the majesty that is Infinity. Devin said himself that even after a mindfuck like that, he soon became bored, and Physicist is just him exhausting his mental buildup. Maybe thats why it sounds like SYL and DTB all rolled into one. But with Physicist out of the way, we were treated to Terria, so everything worked out nicely.

OK, here's my take on listening to SYL.

Basically, I was introduced to the whole Devy world when I saw the video for Relentless on TV some years ago. It came right after a Children of Bodom video, and an Arch Enemy video. This was when Headbanger's Ball came back on, and in the beginning they played a bunch of european stuff with really skilled guitarists and dudes with long hair, which I really appreciate for metal bands (I was beyond sick of the nu-metal era, and this new dose of what seemed to be a throwback to how metal should be done was more than welcome in my book) But now of course, MTV once again found a way to make a good thing turn to crap, those cool european bands have either been exploited or ignored, and the American scene is lamer and more pathetic than ever.

But as I've said, Relentless came on AFTER these vids. And Relentless, as you may or may not know, is pretty much that one fucking note throughout the whole song!! Nevertheless, the leadman was bald and odd-looking, and had a voice that I've never heard before. It contrasted against the only thing I did not like about the CoB and Arch Enemy videos, which were the growl vocals.

So, I engraved it in my brain to keep an eye out for Strapping Young Lad the next time I hit the record store. And eventually, I landed my hands on SYL (the feather album), I don't need to go into detail here on how much I loved the album, or what I thought fell a little short, the point is, Strapping earned a spot on my top tier of favorite bands. And what's funny is that, packed next to the album booklet was one of those ads from the label that showcased other CDs in the catalog, and that's how I found out about Ocean Machine, Infinity, etc. So that, too, was something really new to me, a hardened, badass looking bald frontman to a crazy metal band, posing nude on one of his solo albums.

After that, I bought Ocean Machine and Accelerated Evolution, because that's all I could find in the section. Soon after, I found Terria. But, I had no luck finding anything else from Devin's solo stuff.

At one point in my life, I found myself working in a record store, the only thing that sucked about it was, it was a huge chain with corporate conditioning and presentation, and not a cool little independent store. The actual work sucked, but whenever I had a moment to just wander around and find new music, or shoot the shit with a customer about a band, it wasn't so bad. It was here that I happened upon Alien.

It sounded way different than SYL did, and I didn't know what to think. But because it was so different, I just couldn't appreciate it right away. So I shelved it. Some of you might know what happens next. You ever listen to a CD, but don't know what to think of it, so you just put it aside? And a month or so later, you try again, and it's 10x more fun to listen to, and sometimes even becomes your default CD in the car or computer, and you listen to it constantly for like a week or two.

Suffice it to say, I grew to love Alien, when at first, I really didn't like it at all. I've since discovered a store thats about a 45 minute drive from where I live, that carries all manner of hard-to-find CDs and DVDs. Here, I bought Infinity, Physicist, HAARHT, and City, and gave each CD their own dedicated week of listening in the car. I can appreciate HAARHT as the debut material, but some of the later tracks are a little silly. City, in my opinion, is right on par with SYL, but for different reasons. They both have those 2 or 3 really awesome songs, and the rest of the album is just a fun listen through.

Yes, Physicist is Diet Coke SYL, but you have to consider that there had to be an album after the majesty that is Infinity. Devin said himself that even after a mindfuck like that, he soon became bored, and Physicist is just him exhausting his mental buildup. Maybe thats why it sounds like SYL and DTB all rolled into one. But with Physicist out of the way, we were treated to Terria, so everything worked out nicely.

Great post!

I love that feeling when you put on a neglected cd and discover that you love it!

Alright, things are clicking a bit, thanks folks. Alien hit it off pretty well with me from the get-go, mostly because of Skeksis. Love, Shine, and Thalamus are also way up there. The only tracks I still don't really like are Shitstorm and We Ride, though both have a few good moments. They just strike me as kind of dumb. Lately, though, the chicken feather album has grown on me a lot. That's the other one I own. Force Fed is especially good. Heartbreaking.

Between those two albums, I'm doing alright. However, City is so popular and so widely recommended that there is no way I can fall in love with SYL and fail to enjoy City, am I right? Room 429 is amazing, and I'm about at the point of buying the album purely for that song. Velvet Kevorkian is pretty good, as is All Hail the New Flesh. The rest of the album is, though, at this point, little more than ridiculous to me. I know, I just need to give it time. Sure. That's all I can hope for right now, is patience with the band.

I knew about half a year ago that I would end up listening to this band, seeing as how for the past year, I think, Devin Townsend has been my favorite artist and singer and songwriter. I mean, it's cycled a bit, but he's always been up in the top three, usually retaking the lead after a little while. SYL is naturally where I have to go to. And what's funny isn't that SYL itself is much heavier than everything else I listen to. Heck, I'm pretty sure Synchestra is heavier than anything else I listen to. Devin was a huge leap for me in the first place. I guess he's the kind of guy that can drag fans out of the least likely places.

Weird. Thanks for the thoughts, though. I'm really excited to eventually like the rest of their discography.

EDIT: And, for what it's worth, I pretty much loved Physicist from the get go. Namaste was all it took to convince me. Planet Rain only through a couple hundred pounds of dirt on that already-nailed-down coffin, if you will. Although, in light of others of Devy's albums, it sounds a little flat and unlayered. But then, I'm used to that, as pretty much every other album out there is, when compared to Infinity or Terria...

GREATEST ALBUM EVER...NO QUESTIONS ASKED!
strapping young lad are then greatest, dev is a genious!

Tried closing my eyes and picturing the what the end result would be if Alien were made into a movie while listening to it. At Shitstorm I think my movie got banned in Germany and New Zealand.

Tried closing my eyes and picturing the what the end result would be if Alien were made into a movie while listening to it. At Shitstorm I think my movie got banned in Germany and New Zealand.

Agreed, and Info Dump is the not-so-happy ending. Oh yea, I'm jizzing just thinking about it, hmm heres more ideas:

Imperial: the intro to the movie, whatever the movie would be, something disastrous happens at the beginning, like a narration into something terrible that happened in the past. (Like the terminator plot.)

Skeksis: The scene introducing the main charactor/antogonists, and a rather dangerous character judging from the music of this song .

Shitstorm: The main charactor experiencing something beyond human, etc., reaching rising action

Love?: One of the craziest fight/gun scenes ever, something cool.

Shine: An apocalyptic event occurs. (Climax)

We Ride: An awesome matrix-inspired car chase.

Possessions: Not sure, maybe the introduction of the bad guy or whatever, something to do with someone wanting everything of course.

Two Weeks: Main charactor has a love interest, romantic scene, viewer witnesses something beautiful, something very bright of course.

Thalamus: Whatever it is, it would be a insane scene that ends whatever happens in the "two weeks" scene.

Zen: The movie starts to reach a dramatic ending, main character meets with bad guy and so unexpected events occur, people get killled, etc.

Info Dump: The resolution. Kind of like a saw movie, you just know the movie's plot is not finished yet.

Well thats my structure for the movie, but thanks for putting that up there anywayz. Reminds me how visual music can be.

I find Love? to be the earworm of the album; fortunately it's a song I can never get sick of, even if it's in my head for a week.

Tried closing my eyes and picturing the what the end result would be if Alien were made into a movie while listening to it. At Shitstorm I think my movie got banned in Germany and New Zealand.

Ever hear of Eraserhead? Because that's EXACTLY what it would look like if the album were made into a film.

Seriously, if you haven't seen it, WATCH IT.

perhaps it had already post

Strapping Young Lad