Strapping Young Lad - Alien (2005)
My dad, my dear ol' dad once told me "Never try to fix what isn't broken, son" but then my mom left him just a few years later. Maybe if he had put in just a -little- bit more effort, then our house wouldn't have been so empty the day after my 15th birthday when she finally left and I had to watch her drive out of the driveway, and essentially out of my life for a while. Shit sucked, but you know what doesn't suck? This fuckin' album!! After the self-titled album was a good but poor follow-up to 1998's colossal wave of sound that was "City", Devin Townsend decided to put in a bit more effort into a new Strapping Young Lad album, and I'll tell you straight outta the gate that it still doesn't really compare to "City", but this is not an album to ignore just because the band hit gold earlier on in their career. Right from the intro of "Imperial", you're in for a Hellride, and if you don't believe me, just wait until the second track "Skeksis" kicks in, and FUCK that song has some goodass riffs (the one at the ending I'm quite fond of), catchiness, and various weird sounds. If that doesn't wet your bippy, you might as well get a babywipe out to wipe your own babies off of your normally erectile-dysfunctional dick because "Shitstorm" is gonna punch you in the ass and stimulate your eardrums into bursting.
There are just so many fuckin' good moments on this album, y'know? Take "Love?" for example: Killer riff, catchy as all fucking hell, but is also heavier than me after thoroughly abusing a Baptist church's potluck dinner. It seems like this time around, the lyrics aren't quite as angry as they are about funny/mundane things, which is to say that if you grew up from all of the angst on "City" and just wanna hear some angry songs about having kids and whatever other boring shit, y'might wanna give this one a spin. The lyrics, along with the random sub-bass drops (when the fuck have you ever heard those used on a metal album?!) kinda takes away from the vibe that the album's actual music tries to engulf you in, aside from the calming "Two Weeks", mind you, and sometimes the production can get to be just a -tad- muddy, but this album still has plenty of moments that'll make the hair on your ass stand up, like when you think "Just HOW drugged up do you even have to be to end your album on almost 12 minutes of noise", and if you don't think "We Ride" and "Possessions" are hilarious as shit, then I really don't know what to tell you other than to go on a roadtrip with your parents and listen to the shit they bitch to each other about, and be sure to record that for a sample in YOUR music: Hearing dads yell at moms gets me AWFULLY nostalgic!! Haha, oh God, mom, I was angry at you at first but years later I just have to wonder "How did you not leave sooner..."
8/10
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