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Strapping Young Lad adds another notch in their belt with Alien. It continues their trademark sound, which is organized chaos.
Devin's vocals are distinct, and what could go wrong with Gene Hogan on the drums?
Well, I am sad to answer that question with "A lot". This album does not sound as inspired as City, or even their debut, Heavy
as A Really Heavy Thing. Maybe their shtick has run it's gambit. Maybe it is time to change things up, and instead of trying
to warp speed blastbeats, and lightning fast riffing (Which they accomplish well in the song Shitstorm), they should slow
things down, add some variety, and maybe some melody.
To risk sounding like a man that only likes melody, I find the speed and brutality of this effort somewhat empty. It is just
missing something crucial in making an album good, or even great.
Though, they redeemed themselves with track eight, Two Weeks, and track nine, Thalamus. The first track worth noting(Two Weeks),
starts out with an airy electronic wave, with a soft voice over, that blends into an acoustic guitar, with some Pink Floyd-ish
sounds in the background. In fact, this song reminds me of the brilliance of Pink Floyd, with the great layering of melodies,
and the simple clean vocals that do not really convey any meaning, but are nice and soothing, reminding one of a summer day,
but with something eerie lurking in the unknown. The next song gets back to a trademark sound, but keeps some of the progressive
elements of the previous song alive, truly making one wonder if the song they just experienced was as soothing as they thought.
Strapping Young Lad will continue making cds trying to be loud and offensive, but if they really wanted to mess with people,
which Devin said was the purpose of Alien, then they should really embrace some melody to break up the monotony, and play
around with the dark, eerie sounds, and not just brutality.
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