Strapping Young Lad - City (1997) Reviews

The sophomore album by Strapping Young Lad is a much more concise piece of music with a clear direction. There were many aspects I liked about this album:

- The rhythm section is fantastic. Drums are energetic and aggressive just as I prefer.

- Production is pristine. Every instrument is audible and some interesting Industrial sound effects add layers to the compositions.

- Devin’s voice is awesome. His range is incredible, usually hitting somewhere between melodic singing and screaming, but going every which way up and down that spectrum, and doing it all very well.

Unfortunately, this album has a lot of weakness that really stifle the enjoyment for me.

- The riffs are boring. They are mostly rhythmic, with very little lead guitarwork and nothing at all memorable being crafted with the guitars.

- The lyrics are mostly bad, with too much unnecessary vulgarity that just doesn’t work.

- Devin adopts a “tough guy” persona on the album and whether it’s a joke or not doesn’t matter, it’s really annoying and really cringy.

- Devin is known for being a musical chameleon, but this album is (among his work) quite samey front to back, with most songs being Thrashy/Groovy Industrial Metal. That wouldn’t be a problem, but they all suffer from the same exact weaknesses, which makes the samey-ness that much more offensive.

That leaves this album a really mixed bag for me. It’s a good album, but it has way more potential than it ever reaches, and too many weaknesses that hold it back.

Strapping Young Lad's debut album Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing marked the full debut of Canadian metal mastermind Devin Townsend. He also made a couple albums for one-time projects (Punky Brüster and Ocean Machine), between that album and this second one City. So the band started off solid with their debut, unleashed lots of rage with some touches of Devy's signature humor. Could City be a big improvement?...

F*** YEAH, MAN!!! I love this album! If you're into Strapping Young Lad, and anger mixed with humor, this album is a must. With its intensity and swearing, my parents wouldn't have let me listened to this when I was a young teen over 10 years ago. But I'm an adult now, same age as Devy when he recorded this! Who can stop me now!?

Beginning with a bad-a** intro, "Velvet Kevorkian". Someone taps a spoon on an anvil before the album's tone gets set for the city you're rushing through to get home. Devy's evil shouts are also what you'll expect in this album. "F*** SLEEP!!! F*** ALL OF YOU! Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... WELCOME THE F*** HOME!!!" You finally make it home and start blasting out this CD with "All Hail the New Flesh", a d*mn great hammerer! The legendary Gene Hoglan performs an intense drumming avalanche through this noisy cacophony whirlpool and the aggressive vocal cyclone from Devy, though his clean vocals help keep you in safe shelter alongside the keys. Townsend can really show us his insane vision of extreme industrial metal. He yells "ALL YOU ARE IS ALL YOU ARE!" in an uplifting chorus before more brilliant riffs and keyboards. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!! "Oh My F***ing God" will make you wanna scream that song title. It's one of the heaviest songs I've heard in my life, probably heavier than even Morbid Angel and Slayer combined! Lots of sounds and build-ups from different dimensions can be heard, not for the faint-hearted. Even the violins change the time signatures! F***ING BRUTAL!!!!!

The heavier metalheads wanting to try some industrial might like "Detox". You just want to scream along to those lyrics, from the repeated chant of "Hey! Devo!" to the lyrics of heavy paranoia. "HOW DID I GET HERE TONIGHT!? WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!? HOW DID I REACH THIS STATE?! HOW DID I LOSE MY SIGHT!?!? I'M LOST!!! I'M FREAKING! And everyone knows, everyone's watching! So here, All my hopes and aspirations, THEY’RE NOTHING BUT PUKE!!! GOD I’M SO LONELY!!" SEE!?! You can get progressiveness from the extreme industrial metal of this band, rather than just the post-sludge of Neurosis! The main riff returns, more melodic than earlier, as a spoken sample talking about nerve cells functions can be heard followed by the last of the tortured cries and ending with a return to the catchy bridge riff. "Home Nucleonics" starts with a brief audio sample saying "The beat starts here". H*ll yeah, it starts here... WITH A F***ING SCREAM!!! This one makes heavy bands like Meshuggah and Northlane sound like smooth jazz in comparison! Probably the heaviest, most chaotic storm from Strapping Young Lad besides "Sh*t Storm" and having the most amazing screams from Devin Townsend. "I! WARNED!! YOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!!!" I consider "AAA" to be brilliant groove-ish industrial metal, right from the sick intro. One of my favorites from one of the first industrial metal bands that I've encountered and truly like. Need some batteries for this grand song? The riff near the 3-minute mark has massive f***ing heaviness for half a minute, then this killer sh*t really goes off. Now imagine singing along to this in the bus, annoying the other passengers. "No one hears so no one knows and... NO ONE! NO ONE F***S WITH MEEEE!!!" I guess you can kind of consider this Korn gone Meshuggah.

"Underneath the Waves" blasts you away is a cold winter storm of chaos, starting with a kick-a** riff! The earlier intense emotion is still around with atmospheric keys. The powerful drums are emphasized through lyrics that talk about life going on for "F***ING NOTHING!!!!" Up next is a cover of the Cop Shoot Cop song "Room 429". The lyrics are weird but kick-a** as f***. I bet 25 years after this review, this track still won't be outdated, thought it might cause haunting melodies. You can visualize yourself being trapped in an isolation room away from the people surrounding you, even at the minimum social distance of two meters. Once again, it connects to the theme of a city that isolates you. Closing the album is "Spirituality", sounding calm and spiritual while ominous. After a nightmarish day in the city that hurts you like a b***h, you want to sleep it all away until tomorrow. You're just tired of "all you sick stupid people" and want to "pray to God they'll hear me". You let all the emotions remaining in you before finally sleeping in the night before another agonizing day. It all ends with Devin's last whisper of "I found a way out of here". Well technically it ends with an alien voice saying "Strapping Young Lad rocks my hairy a**s", but let's ignore that.

City is filled with original talent and brilliant emotion. Honestly, this is one of the heaviest albums that I enjoy in industrial metal, and maybe even metal in general. The city is an intense emotional place you have to be brave and metal-headed enough to try. There's nothing in the main album I can ever deny. It's so d*mn mind-blowing!

Favorites: "All Hail the New Flesh", "Oh My F***ing God", "Detox", "Home Nucleonics", "AAA"