Media Distributors Studio City

Admin | December 30, 2011 | Comments Off

Media Distributors Studio City

Media Distributors Studio City

Devin Townsend is a name which should be familiar to most fans of heavy metal, the Canadian nutcase who has dominated the crazed and weird end of the metal spectrum since coming to prominence in the early 90s.

He sang on Steve Vai's 'Sex & Religion' album before striking out on his own with a solo effort under the moniker Strapping Young Lad in 1994 titled 'Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing'. SYL returned in 1997 with a full-band lineup, with Townsend still supplying most of the guitars and vocals, with an album which would strike new ground in extreme metal: that album was 'City'.

While 'Heavier than a Really Heavy Thing' had garnered some critical interest, it failed to sell well, and the head of Roadrunner Records famously dismissed Townsend's music as " just noise ". Released on February 11, 1997, 'City' was the album that catapulted Strapping Young Lad and Devin Townsend to prominence in the world of heavy metal.

The album sums up the overbearingly extreme and unique musical sound of Strapping Young Lad perfectly; a terrifying blend of death, thrash, progressive, industrial and even black metal. Every song is an absolute assault on the senses, Kerrang! describing it as "like sticking your head into the jet nozzle of a stealth bomber". 'City', driven by down-tuned, discordant guitars, machine-gun drumming and Townsend's diverse and often acerbic vocal style is essentially as aggressive and intense as music gets.

Gene Hoglan's Drumming

'City' is immeasurably strengthened by the addition of a full band, not least the drum-kit expertise of Gene 'The Machine' Hoglan, who ended up collaborating on many future Townsend projects, as well as playing with Opeth, Death, Testament and Fear Factory. Hoglan's ability to play at incredibly fast and complex tempos was a perfect match for Townsend's extreme musical vision, and adds a terrifically strong rhythmic driving force to the music.

Despite being aggressive as hell and heavier than a collapsing star, something about 'City' is still oddly not that difficult to listen to; it's still relatively accessible, at least for those familiar with extreme music. Songs like "Detox" and "Underneath the Waves" actually have a melodic, foot-tapping core to them, despite being as high-tempo, intense and aggressive as songs like "Oh My F*cking God". To a certain extent, the actual song itself doesn't matter; the song writing and structure plays second fiddle to the intense atmosphere it creates.