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294: STRAPPING YOUNG LAD's Alien
23 Plays6 months ago
STEVE VAI says STRAPPING YOUNG LAD's album "Alien" should be studied. Tim wants more details about it first, and that's where Mike comes in.
Metal Injection article: https://metalinjection.net/news/steve-vai-strapping-young-lads-alien-should-be-studied
#stevevai #strappingyounglad #devintownsend #alien 👽
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Tonight on podcast them down some old guy says you should study some work by some other old guy. Let's let's figure this out Hail metal nation it is I Tim this is podcast them down joining me this week or as often I don't know joining me as usual Is Mike
00:00:27
Speaker
Now that is a flawless introduction, but today you're appearing as the
Steve Vai and Strapping Young Lad Album Discussion
00:00:33
Speaker
expert. So I think I have to credit metal injection with this article I found that well, it found me. I didn't go looking for it. Uh, Steve Vi says strapping young lads alien should be studied. Quote. It is as intense of an offering I've heard anywhere. So.
00:00:57
Speaker
The article goes on to say Steve Vy and Devin Townsend teamed up for Vy's 1993 album Sex and Religion. Devin Townsend went on to do Strapping Young Led. And somehow I never got into them ever, you know, probably because they're Canadians and they can't be trusted. Did you know 98% of all Canadians live within three kilometers of the US border?
00:01:25
Speaker
Did you know this? Really? I did not know this. Yeah, 99% is actually increasing as we talk. They're amassing along the border. They're going to come in through one of the Dakotas so no one notices.
00:01:40
Speaker
Are you sure this isn't it's like active? Yeah, I got a little feedback. Devin Townsend's Canadian. That's the joke. All right. Jokes are always funnier when they when they're explained. Okay, so I don't know goes on with a bunch of Steve Vai talking about how great Devin Townsend is.
00:02:05
Speaker
And then he said specifically that it should be studied for its melodic and crushing content. And who can argue with that despite Alien being made under unhealthy circumstances with Talzin going off his bipolar medication? It's an incredible record. And let me tell you something else about Devin. His music, no matter how intense it is, it's not evil.
00:02:27
Speaker
Inside of it, there's this beaming desire for light, for transformation. I've watched him create, and I've watched how his music was a cathartic process for him in the pathway to his own sense of being centered and comfortable in his skin, like many of us.
00:02:43
Speaker
just like many of us, but he's unique in that he was able to really get that intensity without any excuses. He goes on, but his melodic ear you can hear in even though you're familiar with the record Alien, that record should be studied. It might be in the future. I don't know. It is as intense as an offering as I've ever heard anywhere. So I, yeah, so like I said, I never really got into strapping young lead.
00:03:10
Speaker
And by the time I thought about it, they had already split up. Yeah. So, okay.
Style and Influences of 'Alien'
00:03:16
Speaker
Okay. In general, one of the things about strapping a lad is that they are one of the criticisms I've heard of them, which doesn't bother me, but is they're very chug heavy, right? They don't have a lot of guitar leads. They don't have a lot of like soaring melodic lines.
00:03:35
Speaker
This does change over time, but it is, you know, of the people that look to criticize that's, that's there, right? So, you know, just briefly going, you got the first album, which is called heavy as a really heavy thing, very chuggy. It's a little weird. Yeah, it's good. It's a good title. You have city, which is often considered one of the greatest,
00:04:04
Speaker
strapping albums. Then you have the, they sort of went on hiatus for awhile. Then comes self titled just called strapping and lattice. And, and the, the, the self titled one is, is kind of more, it evokes more death metal than a lot of the previous, the, the previous two are almost like very angry industrial. Hmm.
00:04:35
Speaker
like, you know, like industrial metal or metal archive says death slash thrash metal with industrial influences. If people are going to complain about this band, you'd think the purists would be complaining about the industrial part and not the lack of leads and vocals. Yeah. I mean, I mean, they're not wrong. It is very like, but they're wrong in that. That's a bad thing. The bad thing is the industrial part.
00:05:06
Speaker
It's, it's interesting. Okay, so you have strapping the self-titled album, much more heavy kind of death metal sound. And then you have Alien. And Alien is one of the most batshit crazy records I have ever heard in my entire life. I cannot think of anything angrier. There might be stuff heavier, but it is probably the most angry
00:05:35
Speaker
record I've ever heard. It is. So, you know, the first two albums had kind of this. OK, I think it has kind of a uniform sound. It's it's. They are different, but it feels like they build on each other. Then the self titled has it kind of takes it in a different angle. But Alien goes.
00:06:05
Speaker
way off, uh, in a different direction. And it's, it's got, in my opinion, it has kind of like the intensity of grind core without being grind core. So
00:06:24
Speaker
Okay.
Track Analysis and Themes
00:06:25
Speaker
Just going through the track list, you have Imperial and Imperial is a short song. It's, it's almost more of an intro, but it's, it's not like your typical, like, let's build, you know, it goes straight into, it opens with a blast beat and it's just, there's a lot of synth and this is very typical of,
00:06:51
Speaker
Strapping in Latin and Devin Townsend in general. Strapping, in particular, the industrial influences are almost. There's a lot of sampling, so like no, just noise. In particular, if you listen to City, you almost there's like this. I don't know if it's the same sample, but it's almost like this. It sounds like an air like compressed air gun.
00:07:18
Speaker
sample, but it happens when things are going insane and it has, by doing this, it makes it sound very insane because it's just like extra noise. I would say that this album has less of that. It's just that everything is firing on all cylinders.
00:07:38
Speaker
If we look at Imperial, the first words uttered in the song are, we have returned forever's invention. The two became one. I have no idea what any of this means. Right. And you usually don't really pay attention to lyrics. So this is odd for you. Yeah, it's very hard because at some point they'll break in and you're like, what is going on? Like, what is it that he's talking about?
00:08:09
Speaker
Before I go too much further, another thing that's worth mentioning is that he, like Devin Townsend as an artist, every, everything that he produces is a function of like his current life experience.
00:08:28
Speaker
So, so when he was young and angry, you know, we have heavy as a really heavy thing and city strapping a lad was kind of done. And then nine 11 happened and there was a lot of upheaval. So then he kind of revived it because he was starting to get angry again. And I don't know exactly what precipitated the whole going off his bipolar meds.
00:08:56
Speaker
for this, but he just felt the need to do it. I'm sure there's a better explanation as to why he did it. But yeah, this is definitely like, okay, he's angry and this is his output. So I don't know what made him as angry about this one. Okay, so after Imperial, which is just a short, very fast intro, you have Skeksis.
00:09:23
Speaker
And Skeksis, I actually heard the word recently, and it's a reference to something. Oh, it's a reference to the dark crystal. Okay. Like the puppet movie from the 80s? Yeah. The Skeksis, reptilian and bird-like creatures with long necks and six limbs, four arms, two legs. The Skeksis are rapacious, whimsical, and cruel. Okay. So, Skeksis is this real, like, driving, like,
00:09:55
Speaker
So after going for Blaspbeat, you get this real just hard driving melody. Gene Houghlin's drums here very hard. Oh, I didn't know he was in them. Yeah. Gene Houghlin has been with them since City. He was not in the first album. The other two are Jed Simon and Byron Stroud, who
00:10:19
Speaker
I don't know that they've gone on to do a whole lot. I think they were, Byron Stroud was in Fear Factory for a little bit, who's been replaced by Tony Campos, Static X. Jed Simon, I think, all of them were Jed Simon. They were all in Zimmer's Hole, and I don't know what's going on with Zimmer's Hole. I haven't heard, since they had, since they're,
00:10:47
Speaker
excellently named album while you were shouting at the devil, I was in league with Satan. It's just fantastic album name. Yeah. So, so, but those four are like the chorus prepping a lad really. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. So, so Skeksis real driving. It's, it's angry, but it's much more vocal focused.
00:11:14
Speaker
But a lot of these things, if you're looking at the lyrics on, um, on metal archives, you'll see a lot of them are capitalized and these are usually like, it's like a chorus of screaming. Like, like, like not quite as ridiculous as black metal beach party, but that's a plug right there. But just taking a sampling of this,
00:11:44
Speaker
I'd like to take it easy. I'd like to think I try. I'd like to think forever. I would not question why. It's like, Ooh, be careful with polynomial colors. There could never be an answer. You know, fight, fight, fight, fight, fucking fight. So it's, it's just very intense lyrically, but you know, it kind of keeps this, this rhythm. Then you get shit storm.
00:12:16
Speaker
Let's say Sean Cullen song Shitstorm. I highly recommend you look it up. He goes in a shit storm. Yeah, the shit's pouring down like rain. And the shit's dripping in my eyes. It's great. It's great. Oh my god, that's terrible. There's no way. There's no way this is as good as that. But I see it starts with the phrase you bastard.
00:12:43
Speaker
Yes. You bastard, I hate you. Everything is wrong and I don't want to fight because I don't know what's wrong or right, but I'll do anything just to get some fucking sleep tonight. And I can't even eat and I can't even fucking piss. All I've been doing is thinking about God and death infinity. I don't think I've ever thought about something so hard I couldn't piss. Yeah. So so this song is
00:13:12
Speaker
intense. It's very, very angry. And this is where if you passively pay attention to lyrics as I do, you might start thinking something is going on here that's a little bit different than before. Let's see. I'm in control of the infinite mind and I control infinite power.
00:13:41
Speaker
when every black minute, like it's just very angry, intense lyrically, as well as being, it's just like blast beat on blast beat, but it's very, like it doesn't, it doesn't plot, right? Like it doesn't just stay in one mode. It shifts very frequently. So it's, it's very, it's varied. And the,
00:14:11
Speaker
I think the exact moment is at the very end, he says, now it's science, science, science and math. So it's like, okay, what the hell is going on here? So, okay, you go from there and you go into love. Love is by far the most commercial song on the record. There's a longer version of this song, which I actually greatly prefer. So it's a little bit of a bummer that that's not what made it to the album.
Album's Experimental Elements
00:14:42
Speaker
This one is heavy, but it's definitely got more accessibility. But it's kind of, I don't know, the very cynical way of looking at relationships, right? Love is a way of feeling less alone. Oh, love, make way for breeding.
00:15:07
Speaker
But oh yeah, this love, it's all about control, all in the name of love. It's just intense as everything on this album. The chorus here is pretty catchy in this one. That's why it's the single. Yeah. It's got a lot more melody here and somewhat
00:15:31
Speaker
So, but paradoxically, I feel like this album embraces. So if you're unfamiliar, you know, Devin Townsend's solo stuff is not a it's not particularly angry. You know, it's usually got a bit of edge to it. It sort of depends on. You know what the project is and what its goals are, but. But it's it's far more melodic. And he embraces that.
00:16:00
Speaker
melodic-ness on this album, I think more so than any of the previous ones, despite it being like 10 times heavier. And it shows up very much in love. The chorus is very melodic. It's very catchy. He's singing. He has a way of doing like this vocal fry scream in like in a melody, which he does a lot here. So cool song.
00:16:30
Speaker
Shine is the next song. This song, I enjoyed the album, but this is where it starts to drop off a bit for me. It's not as to me, it's not as good. I tend to focus on like kind of the first four tracks when I do a re-listen. And then after that, I might kind of be like, eh, maybe I'll, maybe I'll do something else. But this slows down. This song is slower.
00:17:00
Speaker
But, but here's some more intensity. Don't tell me shit. Don't you tell me fucking shit. Boring. You're boring. You're boring. Shine on, you know, and, and shine. This, this notion of shining comes back later. Oh, yes. Um, okay. We ride. I have absolutely no idea what the song is supposed to be about.
00:17:28
Speaker
It's short and it's fast. Okay. But even it's very intense. The intro is very angry. Uh, some of the lyrics, what are you doing in my face? Where are you going with all haste? Uh, how did this begin? Why did we start this? And why can't you remember goddamn you? And then we have this in this, this isn't even really sung. It's almost like,
00:17:58
Speaker
measured speaking, but what the fuck was that? I'm being completely rational. I'm not yelling. In every relationship, there has to be compromise. But yeah, I mean, this is a straightforward, just pound it. Now, I haven't listened to this album in a while. Oh, thank goodness. I couldn't remember what song Possessions was off the top of my head. And then I read the lyrics, it's like, okay, I know what this is.
00:18:25
Speaker
This one is actually fairly catchy, I think. I know if you, if you read the middle here, you see, give it away, give it away, give it away. And it's like, that's a little, little bit repetitive, but it's got like this kind of like, give it away. You know, it's the way it's done. It's a red, hot chili peppers. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:57
Speaker
weird owl. This is that weird owl's version. Nice. This one is catchy. It's a little bit more unusual. It's not as fast as the previous song. It's definitely a lot more hard, like driving. Not quite the same as Skeksis, but close to there. Two weeks is like a
00:19:24
Speaker
acoustic interlude. Man, two weeks. So this all covers from the 90s. Yeah, that's exactly what this is. Everything I'm saying is just bullshit. It's just... Yep. So two weeks. This song is interesting, though. It's not necessarily something that you'd go out of your way to listen to. It is a nice breather on the album. But you'll see stuff like, should we take the day, maybe go to the beach? If you look at...
00:19:54
Speaker
The pictures that he, like the promo pictures that he took for Empath, his 2019 record, he's in like shorts and like a Hawaiian shirt. And he frequently references the beach as like a relaxing place. So when the music is chill, there's a lot of light. This is his bipolar. This is the... Oh, could be. No, he was manic this whole time. Now he's... Yeah, now he's chilling.
00:20:23
Speaker
Now he's on the way to being depressive, I guess. I don't know. Now, OK, so Thalamus. This song never really. I actually. So full disclosure, I haven't listened to this album in like a year. Oh, well, I'm listening to it now as you're talking. OK. You're doing very well off the top of your head. Oh, good, good.
00:20:50
Speaker
It's not a song that struck me very much. So I actually cannot think of exactly what the melody is. I wish it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, this plays in the album for a reason that seems like, but go on. Yeah. So, so this track never stood out much to me. The next track does, but so I, I don't feel comfortable commenting on this, but you know, it's,
00:21:17
Speaker
More of what's been going on, as I recall. Zen, I really like. The beginning of it is like this real kind of subdued riff, and it's like sort of maybe like an ominous build, slightly melodic. But then the beginning is just this hard riff. And he goes, oh, did you think that I was kidding? Did you think that I was too late, motherfucker? It's just like,
00:21:48
Speaker
So I actually quite like this song. Once it gets past that beginning, it gets much more melodic. So this track is a little bit more... I would actually say this feels a little bit more upbeat than a lot of the other tracks on this album. That's not to say that it's happy, but it's got more, you know, it's got more like maybe a more...
00:22:19
Speaker
I don't know, major sounding melody to it. Why can I not think of thalamus? I'm, I'm, I'm actually really annoyed that I can't even think of like the beginning riff. Right. Hold up. Oh, I'm leaving this in. While we're, while we're talking about that, info, info dump is just literally like static. It's like 11 minutes of nothing. It is.
00:22:50
Speaker
Oh yeah, you're right. Yeah. Oh, oh, and there's Morse code in it, which I did not know. All right. Hold up. Okay. What is the Morse code? The Morse code is okay. I remember this now. All right. Thalamus acoustic intro, but then it's like, so, you know, it's, I don't want to sit here and like listen to the whole song and make us all wait.
00:23:22
Speaker
Um, it's cool, but it's not really the highlight of the album in my opinion, you know, but one thing. Okay. So, so, I mean, that's kind of like a very vague overview of most of the album. According real quick, according to, uh, the additional notes, it says they proposed covering Tom Jones. What's new pussy cat.
00:23:48
Speaker
But they felt it didn't fit with the flow of the album. What album would that flow with? For some reason I can imagine them doing this. It was never finished and does not exist.
00:24:04
Speaker
So, you know, as far as, you know, I described like, you know, it's very heavy, like grind core style aggression.
Impact and Reception of 'Alien'
00:24:14
Speaker
Another thing that's interesting here is the introduction of like the sub bass drops. We can add that to the podcast. Yeah. Well,
00:24:26
Speaker
I've heard them used a lot since this album. I'm sure this is not the first metal album to like introduce this, but the, uh, it is used in a very targeted way, which I think is very effective. And that's just something I wanted to call out overall. I mean, I really enjoy this album. I, I, you know, at a certain point I sort of,
00:24:53
Speaker
I feel like the first four tracks are really the major highlight. There's a lot that's good on here. I mean, we ride is great. I like Zen. Possessions is pretty good. Like if it came on, I'd be pretty happy.
00:25:15
Speaker
Let's see, Shine. Yeah, Shine, I'd listen to as well. Thalamus, I'd probably skip. You know, it's there, but it's not. I think one of the problems is, like, if you heard Thalamus, you'd be like, oh, that's off an alien. Oh, shit, that reminds me of Shitstorm. I should listen to Shitstorm. You know what I mean? That sort of thing. Well, yeah, I mean, that's about it. Well, looking at the reviews on Metal Archives, there is
00:25:43
Speaker
lots of 90s and a few 100%. So yeah, the bad reviews, 65%, nothing special really. 79% accessible sound, but may limit appeal. No, it's not accessible. What the hell are you talking about? It's, yeah, it's, it's,
00:26:07
Speaker
Strapping it's, it's deaf and talented wall of sound. Just angry, you know? Right. Let's see. Uh, I'm looking for the bad ones, not monstrous, not intelligent, just pointless. Okay. I mean, like, then he, he goes on to complain about that. What's it called? Two weeks. Yeah.
00:26:37
Speaker
Yeah, those are all the bad reviews. The rest are 90 percent, 100 percent, 95, 94, 88, 93, 91, 90, 89, 75 is like the lowest good review. And then the recent reviews, as in within the last decade, are all 100, 90 percent, 100. Yeah, I mean people are liking it. I see why. I see why.
00:27:04
Speaker
Steve Vai says such a thing. I don't know that it's truly like that influential or that significant, but it is a fabulous album. If you're looking for just pure anger, you know, usually I don't like, like for my death metal, I want it to be fast and short.
00:27:34
Speaker
because I get bored after. It's like, okay, yeah, all right, let's get it. But then with this album, things are fast, but then they vary frequently. So I remember I was reading something that's, I think Devin Townsend's Wikipedia entry says like, oh yeah, he specializes in like, his music features like a lot of polyrhythms and frequent meter changes.
00:28:03
Speaker
I was thinking about strapping on land. I don't know that it really does, but then I thought a little bit more about alien and it's like, you know, maybe the tempo stays the same. Maybe the, maybe the time signature is largely the same, but there's lots of like, lots of infills and like just dynamism in terms of the song structure, you know, things speed up and slow down and,
00:28:31
Speaker
at least in terms of their feel. So maybe that is an appropriate way to describe this, but the album is crazy. It's a crazy album. And just watching him perform this, because I got to see him on this tour. It was like, it's good shit. This is one of my favorites. I'm a Devin Townsend fanboy. And Alien is just very good.
00:29:01
Speaker
So, well, maybe one of these days I'll get around to actually listening to it instead of skimming through it. But interesting. Well, thank you for going through this. Next time I'm angry and I want to break stuff, I won't listen to break stuff. I'll listen to strapping on land. You should never listen to break stuff. You should never listen to break stuff. Until next time, Metal Nation, keep your young lads strapping.
00:29:31
Speaker
I almost hit the wrong button, but now I hit the right button.
00:29:45
Speaker
Due to some kind of error, the unmastered promotional release of Alien and subsequently the early leaks of the album on the internet contained the longer version of Love and a version of We Ride which had most of the guitar solos missing. Also on this promo release, the track Thalamus was credited as being called Landscape. Previous to the promotional release, press releases credited Thalamus as being called Mega Bulldoser.
00:30:14
Speaker
which I remember that actually. It was like, where's mega bulldozer? Oh, thalamus. Okay.