I needed to be the one responsable for creating a thread on this great thrash band. I used to not like this band until I saw Devin Townsend live a couple of months ago now I can't get enough of them because he is such a genius and creates some of the best music I've ever heard. My favorite album is SYL it kicks some serious ass. Gene Hoglans drumming on all of their albums is amazing. What do you guys think about them.

Amazing band, indeed the drumming is wonderful, I love the band quite a bit. I loved All Hail The New Flesh especially.

Ah...I had overlooked this band a LOT. Never actually gave them a sound listen until quite recently. I have three albums, City, Alien and their self titled, Strapping Young Lad, and I love all three. I actually liked the latter two more than City. Well, I think it'd be safe to say, I haven't heard anything like SYL in the metal world. They have a very unique and distinguished style. I'm yet to listen to the other albums, but I want to thoroughly finish these three and then get some more albums...

Ive never really been a fan of Strapping Young Lad, having always appreciated his solo efforts much more. Anyone recommend some songs that a Devin Townsend fan could get into?

hmm you will maybe enjoy some tracks from Alien album... like Love?, Zen or Two Weeks...

i think song of the older stuff would be best to be introduced into
some songs from the first three albums are best
'S.Y.L.' 'In The Rainy Season' 'Detox' 'Relentless' 'Aftermath'... all brilliabt songs

I have the SYL album 'Alien'... That is all that i own from the band... I didnt really like it too much, so therefore, cant say Im a fan... Id say its more industrial than thrash...

Ive heard a few Devin Townsend solo tracks, and i, also, have to say that I like them better too...

They should have ended at "City". That album was too chaotically great for it to be followed up properly, and as it turned out, the album that came out after that sounded very watered down to me. "Alien", while better, essentially sounds like Townsend's solo band doing SYL, which sounds OK but it's just not the real thing.

City was a mastepiece, personally i really appreciate the track that is rumoured to be on their next release "far beyond metal"

Extras Needed For Strapping Young Lad Video Shoot :

Strapping Young Lad will be shooting a new video for the track 'Wrong Side' in the New York/New Jersey area this Sunday, May 28th and need as many extras as possible. Feel free to bring along as many people as you like and everyone will get a chance to meet and hang with the band.

Contact oliver@mgenyc.com for all of the pertinent details (time, location, etc.)

'Wrong Side' is the first single off SYL's new album, The New Black, which is set for a July 11th release. The New Black will include the following tracks: 'Decimator', 'You Suck', 'Antiproduct', 'Hope', 'Wrong Side', 'Monument', 'Far Beyond Metal', 'Fucker', 'Almost Again', 'Polyphony', 'The New Black'. Bonus tracks will include 'The Long Pig' and 'C:enter:##'.

Strapping Young Lad also play on OZZFest all summer long.

(Source : http://www.bravewords.com/news/45157)

Yeah, SYL is a very interesting band, and Gene Hoglan is like the Devil himself has been placed behind the drums! I don't have any of their albums (except those which I have downloaded from the net, and I DON'T count them as my albums because I want to uy my own albums myself!)

SYL is an amazing album ... their album Alien is an amazing album .... Wat can i say more wen the band has DEV and HOGLAN ... 2 of the most amazing musicians in metal world today.

i totally dig the track 'Love ?'

mvikred

Yeah, SYL is a really interesting band. I've seen them live twice before and their live set is amazing. They really know how to get the crowd into them. Gene and Devin are some of the most talented musicians metal has to offer. I have nothing but respect for this band.

It took me a while to get into this band, but once I heard Alien my opinion changed. Devin is very creative, and even though the lyrics aren't too good, they still kick ass.

I went to a concert with them sometime last year, but I was drunk and got kicked out and missed their whole set.

Strapping Young Lad - After 10 Years, Townsend to Take Some Time Off :

In a recent MTV article, Strapping Young Lad mainman Devin Townsend announced that he is, "...going to take a hiatus from making records for a while. In the past 10 years, I've put out 20 records." That includes Strapping, the Devin Townsend Band and his own solo projects, like 2001's Terria. "[It's been] bang-bang-bang-bang. As soon as I finish one, I'm writing another, and when that one's done, I'm writing another. I just don't want to write records right now.

"The records I make, I'm there from the writing of the first note through the click tracks to the miking of the drums to the editing of everything to the production to the vocals to the artwork," he continued. "And it's been so many years of doing it. I won't ever stop doing what I do, I just need a break so I can go sit on a beach somewhere and drink Corona after Corona and stumble back to a hotel."

Strapping Young Lad's album "The New Black", which features 13 cuts, is devastatingly brutal.

"With this record, we just set out to make a really good-sounding, riotous record to listen to, and we achieved that," Townsend said. "It's what it needed to be. Fans will like it. I mean, considering the amount of time we had to do it, I think we did a really good job."

The band will shoot a video for the first track, "Wrong Side," Sunday in Jersey City, New Jersey, with director David Brodsky (Diecast, God Forbid). The video's concept is hard to describe ? just know that it involves three Devins ("Dreaming Devin," "Devil Devin" and "Angel Devin") who work against each other with ungodly results.

As for Ozzfest, Devin's too exhausted to be excited.

"I don't even know what the Ozzfest is all about. Everybody seems to be making a real big deal about it, and for me, it's just the next gig we're doing," he said. "People talk about the Ozzfest and what it can do for your career, and I guess I'm just oblivious to it. ... I'm in a weird position, because there's all this rock and roll stuff [that goes on backstage at Ozzfest], and everyone's really into putting their party pants on and getting liquored up and high. I just don't fit in as well as a lot of people."

You can read the full article here.

(Source : http://www.mtv.com)

A song from the new Strapping Young Lad album "The New Black" called U Suck has been released and in my opinion it is amazing I'm definently looking forward to the new album even more now. The link for the new song is http://www.centurymedia.com/us/single_artist.php?ID=50 I highly suggest that you all check it out.

ive heard the complete album .... and i must say its very wierd and awesome ... a totally different feel, god knows how Dev comes up with stuff like that ... very innovative shit. I should say , every SYL fan has to get hold of this CD once it realeases this july ... awesome awesome album .. wud give it a 9/10

hail dev \n/

im not a big fan of Strapping Young Lad, but from some of their songs i have heard, very creative, although i wont deny i am a huge Byron Stroud fan!! go FEAR FACTORY lol...but still i'll never forget his roots...

cheers, Malice05

I just got all of the New Black yesterday and I've listend to it non-stop it is the best release from Devin Townsend ever IMO. It's alot more melodic but at the same time it's just as brutal as all the other Strapping Young Lad releases. Another great thing about the new album is the solos there's one in pretty much every song and they're all amazing. I definently didn't see this comming when I listened to it but it was one of the first unexpected changes in a band that I have liked in a long time SYL pulled it off amazingly.

well i followed that link and am listening to 'U Suck' now and it sounds very very good indeed!
this sounds like good Strapping Young Lad that i am used to. the drums sound really good too
'Alien' never clicked with me at all - but i loved the two albums before so much i kept my faith. i hope the nest of the new album is as good as this!

Endoftherainbow: did you download the new album or something? how have you got it?
i cant wait for it!

Written by Baz Anderson on 06.06.2006 at 20:20

well i followed that link and am listening to 'U Suck' now and it sounds very very good indeed!
this sounds like good Strapping Young Lad that i am used to. the drums sound really good too
'Alien' never clicked with me at all - but i loved the two albums before so much i kept my faith. i hope the nest of the new album is as good as this!

Endoftherainbow: did you download the new album or something? how have you got it?
i cant wait for it!

Yes I did download the new album and I must say it's better then anything I could have ever expected. Like I said before theres solos in every song which is a nice change. Also they added a few elements from the Devin Townsend Band but they still kept it as brutal and heavy as Strapping Young Lad should be. I can't wait to see them live in a month.

i wish i could see them live - they were always somewhere near the top of my list of bands ive always wanted to see. ill have to make do with 'For Those Aboot To Rock' for now though. haha

i have never downloaded a Strapping Young Lad early - i have always waited for its release, and before 'Alien' was torture and i didnt think that album was fantastic at all
so maybe i will download it soon, i dont know - i will look at its release date here first though
but i cannot wait to hear it going by what you are saying!

which album is is most like?
-i prefer 'SYL' to their other albums where everyone else always seems to pick 'City' so i hope it is more 'SYL' like again

Devin is a machine run on creativity. 10 years and 20 albums, thats crazy. I havent heard alot of his solo material, but the stuff with Strapping Young Lad ... i like it. I have 'Alien' 'City' and 'SYL' and i dont play them enough for a band that is pretty unique (to my ears anyway). I really like the drumming, and the ideas Devin comes up with is amazing. Hope he keeps shooting out albums like he has been.

@Baz it can't be narrowed down to sounding like a previous Strapping Young Lad album because the sound is so much different from them. I believe the release date for The New Black is July 11th and I had been waiting for this album since Synchestra so I had to download it because I couldn't wait any longer. If you do wait though I can almost guarentee you it won't be disapointed at all because if I had to chose an album it's not like it would be SYL with Devin Townsend band overtones though.

Strapping Yound Lad is freaking amazing. They have such diversity on their albums, like entering the mind of a truly twisted human? being. I love DTB, and SYL gives me such a fix whenever i listen. I have City, SYL and Alien but I just can't decide which i like the best. I love City for the pure insanity, SYL for the anger, and Alien for it's development. I really want to get the live DVD and perhaps the first album. Is "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing" any good?

Written by Endoftherainbow on 10.06.2006 at 00:12

@Baz it can't be narrowed down to sounding like a previous Strapping Young Lad album because the sound is so much different from them. I believe the release date for The New Black is July 11th and I had been waiting for this album since Synchestra so I had to download it because I couldn't wait any longer. If you do wait though I can almost guarentee you it won't be disapointed at all because if I had to chose an album it's not like it would be SYL with Devin Townsend band overtones though.

I just watched the live video of "Far Beyond Metal" and i love it. I can't wait until the new album comes out.
So "The New Black" is more melodic but just as intense?

Written by Introspekrieg on 29.06.2006 at 21:22

Written by Endoftherainbow on 10.06.2006 at 00:12

@Baz it can't be narrowed down to sounding like a previous Strapping Young Lad album because the sound is so much different from them. I believe the release date for The New Black is July 11th and I had been waiting for this album since Synchestra so I had to download it because I couldn't wait any longer. If you do wait though I can almost guarentee you it won't be disapointed at all because if I had to chose an album it's not like it would be SYL with Devin Townsend band overtones though.

I just watched the live video of "Far Beyond Metal" and i love it. I can't wait until the new album comes out.
So "The New Black" is more melodic but just as intense?

Heavy as a Real Heavy Thing is an amazing album. As for the New Black being more melodic but just as intense yes it is like that and there's solos. Like some songs could almost fit on a Devin Townsend record if they weren't so heavy it's such a good album.

Quote:

Quote:

Heavy as a Real Heavy Thing is an amazing album. As for the New Black being more melodic but just as intense yes it is like that and there's solos. Like some songs could almost fit on a Devin Townsend record if they weren't so heavy it's such a good album.

AWESOME. I cannot wait!

Well, according to an interview on Blabbermouth, Devin Townsend said he hopes The New Black will be the last SYL record and that his solo material will be softer in the future. Kinda shitty news.

http://www.metalinjection.net/news/viewnews.cgi?id=EEVkpVEFZuOKKXuwrU

Well it seems he's given up. That's a bummer.