A couple\u00a0of you turds aren’t big Devin Townsend<\/strong> fans because you either A) aren’t familiar with much of his material or B) aren’t big on it because you haven’t heard enough<\/span>\u00a0of his material. I wanted to do a Career Analysis of this musical genius, but I couldn’t do it alone… So for this multi-part analysis, I have chosen a great partner (you might say the greatest) and we are going to hold hands and jump into the deep end of the Toilet to explore the career of DEVIN TOWNSEND!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For the first part, I am going to dissect his work with Strapping Young Lad<\/strong> by my lonesome,\u00a0for George Lynch was still busy with Dokken<\/strong> and Lynch Mob<\/strong> during the years this band was active. Plus,\u00a0SYL is an immensely important band for this Baltimore Detective, as it was 25% of the reason that I made the decision to flush nu-metal and hard rock down the world’s filthiest toilet and venture into the world of legitimate\u00a0heavy metal. I was a junior in college (circa 2001) and somebody mentioned that Strapping Young Lad was the “heaviest, most violent, and pissed-off” band in existence. I was curious, as Fear Factory<\/strong> was the heaviest thing I had heard prior, and I instantly fell in love. Now most of you know that\u00a0I’m not a pissed-off individual. Yet, I cannot explain why this music appealed to me. Perhaps it’s because I secretly knew that nu-metal sucked. The band’s sophomore effort City<\/em> would become one of the\u00a0most-played albums in my entire life (a burnt CD-R courtesy of Napster and a 2X CD-RW drive).<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
![\"heavy\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/heavy-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
(1995) Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing<\/em><\/p>\n
I started with City<\/em>, but years later found this in a record store for $6 (notice on the original cover they hadn’t developed the signature font yet)! This is the work of a furious yet sarcastic musician\u00a0making his first album. There is an industrial tinge to all the songs, perhaps maybe a little TOO reliant on the samples and programmed drumming. But, there are still some face-slapping riffs, most notably in the tracks “In the Rainy Season<\/a>” and “Critic<\/a>“. In the live setting they would typically include the first track “S.Y.L.<\/a>“, and though it\u00a0featured Devy’s\u00a0signature heavy-as-fvck-yet-melodic hooks, it’s not THAT great (keep in mind, this was before the Killswitch Engage<\/strong> good-cop\/bad-cop fiasco that sadly lasts to this day). This album has a few heavy and thrashy\u00a0tracks but also a few stinkers. DT\u00a0definitely brought the LOLZ here, as most evidenced by “Happy Camper<\/a>” and “Satan’s Ice Cream Truck<\/a>“; it’s just not a serious heavy metal album.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
![\"city\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/city-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1\")
(1997) City<\/em><\/p>\n
This will always remain in my top five metal albums of all time, no matter what may come in the future. The first track I heard, “Detox<\/a>“, changed everything. This is the most important gateway album\u00a0OF ALL TIME to me; it’s the reason why I’m here. The riffs are furious and unrelenting. The vocals must come from a power plant that can run an entire city for a week. The drumming (“Gene Hoglan, who’s that?”) changed the way I view music. The samples are used more efficiently, best exemplified on\u00a0“Oh My Fucking God<\/a>“. And finally, the album has production values that stand to this day! Would you like to hear the greatest metal song ever composed? It contains both the band’s fastest breakneck riffs and Devin’s ridiculously catchy hooks. Here you go:<\/p>\n