Strapping Young Lad - City (1997)
I think it was 2010 when I first fell in love with the pain and guilt that goes with being completely and utterly fucking miserable. I was going through some pretty bad shit in my life, and I used to walk up and down the road leading to my dad's house in the cold while shifting between this album and whatever Suburban Legends (kvlt as fvck) album I was digging at the time. I used to walk down this road and blare "City" in my headphones, much to the regret of myself now due to hearing loss, because for some reason it just appealed to me. I didn't understand any of the anger that Devin Townsend expressed on this album, and really, I guess my pain back then was nothing compared to the years that would follow, but dammit, the SOUND of this album would get me ANGRY as fuck!! I was really into that because it was an escape from the depressing and lonely feelings I'd have, along with the strained relationship with my father. I would've rather felt anger than the crushing feeling of sadness, as if I had a way to fight back against the people that made me feel that way without harming anyone. It made me want to go home and write up a stupid and hateful letter that I should've probably never have sent, but I guess that's part of the fun of being young: Being angry and making stupid mistakes. Now, Devin Townsend was a relatively young'n at the time of the recording of this album, being 24/25, but dammit, this album is far from a fucking stupid mistake.
If I remember correctly, I think this was actually the first album I ever listened to and enjoyed that featured harsh vocals that wasn't one of the staples that people from my generation listened to, like Linkin Park and Slipknot. This was the first time I really liked a full-length album that could best be described as a cross between industrial and thrash metal with heavy black/death metal influence on the vocals by Devin Townsend, but this time around, it's not just him: He recruited bassist Byron Stroud, guitarist Jed Simon, and most excitingly, drummer Gene Hoglan, who looks like he must weigh five hundred pounds (of course, all due respect to Gene, I love that guy) but PLAYS LIKE A FUCKING DRUM MACHINE. He is, by all accounts, a human drum machine that I couldn't believe WASN'T replaced by programmed drums on the album until I watched a video of him playing. With all of these great musicians, how could they fail? There's something about this album that just hypes me the fuck up to fight my own reflection in the mirror, y'know? Throughout the entire album, Devin Townsend (since he produced it) uses a production style that sounds like a fuckin' brickwall without being overbearing. The sound of the album is punishing, brutal, and generally just fucking HUGE. Every guitar riff, every industrial noise, every rapid-fire drum beat just SLAMS in your headphones like they're actively trying to destroy your eardrums, but when you listen to the songs.. I think you'll be alright with that.
Starting with "Velvet Kervorkian" leading into "All Hail the New Flesh", this album immediately wants to fucking annihilate you in this huge brickwall of sound. When I was fifteen, I thought Devin Townsend's statement of "ALLL HAIIILLL THE NEEEEWWWW FLEEESSSHHH!!!" was fucking badass and triumphant, and I still do. Same with his claim of "All you are is all you are. I'm so sorry.. FOR YOU" which made me want to scream those exact lyrics in certain people's faces. "Oh My Fucking God" will have you repeating the title back to your stereo as it blares out its pure insanity, with a section that'll sound like PURE FUCKING NOISE at first until you really dissect it and find a complex sound collage, and just.. FUCK. That song is INTENSE. Thankfully, the band decides to give you a minor breathing point by throwing the catchy "Detox" at you immediately after, with its infectious punk-rock hook of "HEY, YOU MO!!" repeated over and over. When you think you're having a good ol' finger poppin' time, the band then throws what might be my all-time favorite metal song "Home Nucleonics" at you and doesn't give a GODDAMN FUCKING SHIT whether you like it or not, but how could you not with lyrics like "You failed like God in me"?! Oh my fucking God!! This song is so unbelievably intense!! I want it to play while I fucking DESTROY my brother at "Super Mario Kart Double Dash"!!
Following that are the incredibly badass pair of tunes "AAA" and "Underneath the Waves" which will make you want to scream obscenities at your step-father for making your mom happy for the first time in ten years (thus being "the reason why your parents split up" and the source of your anger) after being in an incredibly shitty relationship where your parents seem more like friends at best. I used to blare them so fucking loud in my shitty iPod earphones that they probably came out even more distorted than they already are, but you know what? I FUCKING LOVED IT. In fact, I loved blaring nearly all of this entire album, except for when the final two tracks "Room 429 (Cop Shoots Cop cover)" and "Spirituality" comes on, and while they don't pump me up, they serve a good purpose on the album that holds all of the darkness of the previous songs in its hand, letting some slip through the cracks of its fingers, as it not necessarily brings you back to earth, but gives you BACK to it, in the way that it rests your bloody and mangled corpse in your unmarked grave under a storming sky, as the demon known as Devin Townsend sings you softly into the unknown. Not my favorites, but they're welcome for what they are.
When I listen to this album, I don't hear noise, like many people would immediately dismiss this album as being, but rather, I hear pure unfiltered anger, swinging at no one in particular, but the entire fucking human race for merely existing. From what I've heard, this was one of the albums that Devin Townsend stopped taking his medication in order to record, and holy fucking shit, it's just.. It's incredible. It's so rare to find an album -this- angry that doesn't rely on angst or "o u fucked me over now I'm mad". Devin Townsend, on this album, sounds like he wanted nothing less than to grab a chainsaw and annihilate every single fucking human-being on this earth into little giblets and strains of gore to feast on. He wasn't a monster, he was a fucking demon, which is appalling to listen to given how happy he became in his later music. If you like Devin Townsend, or metal in general, and you haven't heard this album, you're not just missing out on something great, you're missing out on an actual piece of art that may hurt you, and may be best observed from a distance, but will take you into a world you never imagined. A world where other humans don't exist, a world where the drugs are free and plenty, a world where Devin Townsend (in the 1990s) can finally sit in silence and think. Welcome to his world.
"Strapping Young Lad rocks my hairy anus."
9/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
