City - Strapping Young Lad

This is a review of City, the 2nd album of Strapping Young Lad the Canadian Progressive/Extreme metal band. This album is often critically acclaimed as the best work of Strapping Young Lad, to add to that Devin Townsend is often cited as a genius.

Made in 1997, the album should appeal to me but doesn't impress me anyway near as much as it should do, I've tried to get into it several times and the mixture of different styles messes ...
...big fan of the "clean" vocals, some songs on the album like Detox are pretty good but others like Oh My F***ing God just sound like progressive industrial metal with a muffled sound that represents a result similar to a heavier version of what Mike Patton is up to these days (if you've seen it), which is basically just making a racket!

Maybe it's my simple mind but I prefer something more raw than an experimental, over the ... more

This is a review of City, the 2nd album of Strapping Young Lad the Canadian Progressive/Extreme metal band. This album is often critically acclaimed as the best work of Strapping Young Lad, to add to that Devin Townsend is often cited as a genius.

Made in 1997, the album should appeal to me but doesn't impress me anyway near as much as it should do, I've tried to get into it several times and the mixture of different styles messes it up a bit for me. I'm also not a big fan of the "clean" vocals, some songs on the album like Detox are pretty good but others like Oh My F***ing God just sound like progressive industrial metal with a muffled sound that represents a result similar to a heavier version of what Mike Patton is up to these days (if you've seen it), which is basically just making a racket!

Maybe it's my simple mind but I prefer something more raw than an experimental, over the top concoction of styles. This album does have hints of greatness but overall gives me the feeling I am listening to a more angrier Dream Theater in a fit of rage.

1. "Velvet Kevorkian" (Townsend) - 1:17
2. "All Hail the New Flesh" (Townsend) - 5:24
3. "Oh My Fucking God" (Townsend) - 3:34
4. "Detox" (Townsend) - 5:37
5. "Home Nucleonics" (Townsend) - 2:31
6. "AAA" (Townsend) - 5:21
7. "Underneath the Waves" (Townsend) - 3:40
8. "Room 429" (Cop Shoot Cop cover) - 5:21
9. "Spirituality" (Townsend) - 6:34
10. "Centipede" [Japanese Bonus Track] - 7:51
11. "Home Nucleonics" ['96 Demo] - 3:02
12. "Headrhoid" [Gunt Demo] - 1:38
13. "Detox" ['96 Demo] - 5:48
14. "AAA" ['96 Demo] - 5:22
15. Detox Video [CD-Rom Track]

Add to what I've said before that just about every song uses a TV/Radio recording and the experimentalism almost gets a bit old! After reviewing this, I'll probably just forget about it and stop trying to get into it! 

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