Strapping Young Lad

Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian heavy metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, *Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing*. By 1997, he had recruited permanent members; this line-up, which consisted of Townsend on vocals and guitar, Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums, lasted until the band's dissolution.

Strapping Young Lad's music was characterized by the use of polyrhythmic guitar riffing and drumming, blast beats and wall of sound production. The band's musical direction was mainly determined by Townsend, whose battle with bipolar disorder and dark sense of humour were major influences on his songwriting. Townsend was also noted for his eccentric appearance and on-stage behaviour, which greatly contributed to the band's intense live performances.

The band gained critical success and a growing underground fan base from their 1997 album *City*.After a hiatus between 1999 and 2002, the band released three more albums, reaching their commercial peak with the 2006 effort, *The New Black*. Townsend disbanded Strapping Young Lad in May 2007, announcing his decision to retreat from public view while continuing to record solo albums.

## Biography / History (1994-2007)

### Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (1995)

Released on April 4, 1995, *Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing* was not widely recognized in the metal community. The album sold only 143 copies in its first six months, but received favorable reviews from the heavy metal press. Its unusual musical ideas—a synthesis of death, thrash, and industrial metal influences—prompted Andy Stout from *Metal Hammer* to call it "one of the most disturbing albums you'll hear for a very long time". Although, Townsend has repeatedly expressed his distaste for the recording. He dismissed the album in the liner notes of the record's 2006 reissue, contending it contained only two great songs. He also deemed its production poor in interviews, referring to the album as "basically a collection of demos that were remixed". When Century Media advertised the reissue of *Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing* as the "rebirth of a genre-defying classic", Townsend called it "record company bullshit".

### City (1997)

For the second album, *City which* was released on February 11, 1997, Townsend recruited a permanent line-up consisting of; Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums. After being highly received by favorable critical receptions, such as Kerrang! who praised the album for its heaviness, claiming it sounded like "sticking your head into the jet nozzle of a Stealth Bomber", and *Metal Hammer* ranked it No. 13 on its "Top 20 Albums of 1997" list. The album soon gained a cult following and a loyal fan base for the band. *City* is considered to be the band's best effort by a large number of fans and critics alike.

The band embarked on a world tour in 1997 to promote the album, in places like Europe, USA and Australia. In 1997, They performed at the HiFi Bar and Ballroom in Melbourne, Australia, which was recorded for a Live *No Sleep 'till Bedtime in 1998. Century Media was not initially interested in releasing a live record, but impressed with Townsend's production, the label agreed to release it. The band closed the year playing a few more dates in Japan and Australia.*

### On hiatus (1999–2002)

At the end of 1998, Townsend placed Strapping Young Lad on hiatus to concentrate on his solo career and on his work as a record producer. He had already released two solo albums, *Ocean Machine: Biomech* in 1997 and *Infinity* in 1998 and produced several other artists' albums. His struggle with bipolar disorder (for which he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital in early 1998), contributed to the curtailment of Strapping Young Lad's activities. Townsend remained productive between 1999 and 2002, recording two more solo albums, *Physicist* in 2000 and *Terria* in 2001, and producing albums for Zimmers Hole, Stuck Mojo and Soilwork, among others. Although Strapping Young Lad was officially on hiatus, they gave occasional live performances.

### SYL / Devin Townsend - Physicist (2000)

*Physicist* is the fourth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released on June 26, 2000, on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records. It is distinguished from the rest of Townsend's solo portfolio for the crossing of the style of his work in **Strapping Young Lad** with elements that had been explored in *Ocean Machine: Biomech* and *Infinity*. Notably, the line-up of musicians featured on this album is identical to that of Strapping Young Lad. It received positive reviews, but is generally considered a low point in Townsend's career. Townsend himself considers it his worst album to date. Trey Spencer of *Sputnikmusic* argued that while *Physicist* is "a pretty good listen" on its own merit, it is "one of the weakest" albums in Townsend's catalogue. He felt the album "comes off as a restrained version of Strapping Young Lad with hints of [Townsend's] other projects thrown in", and that most of the tracks don't "seem to go anywhere". In 2005, the album placed number 439 in *Rock Hard* magazine's book *The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time*.

#### How it came to be

*Physicist* took several years to come to fruition. Townsend had previously played with Metallica's then-bassist Jason Newsted, in a short-lived thrash metal project called IR8. After the creation of an IR8 demo tape, Townsend and Newsted began work on a new project called "*Fizzicist"*, which they claimed would be "heavier than Strapping Young Lad". When the IR8 tape was leaked, Newsted's Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich learned of the project. Hetfield was "fucking pissed" that Newsted was playing outside the band, and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects.

Unable to continue working with Newsted, Townsend instead wrote the album himself, calling it *Physicist*. Townsend assembled his bandmates from his extreme metal project Strapping Young Lad. This was the only time this lineup was featured on one of Townsend's solo albums.

### Strapping Young Lad (2003)

After a five-year break from recording, Strapping Young Lad reunited to record a new album. The self-titled *Strapping Young Lad* was released on February 11, 2003, As an emotional response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States. "If the world's about to blow up," said Townsend, "let's write the soundtrack for it." The album's lyrics were based more around fear and insecurity than the "hostile" lyrics of *City*. S*trapping Young Lad* differed from *City* because it was less industrial and more reminiscent of death metal, The humor pervading the previous two albums became more subdued. The song *Devour* would later appear on the soundtrack for the 2005 film *Alone in the Dark,* and became the band's first charting album, entering *Billboard'*s Top Heatseekers at No. 97. The album received moderate critical success, Nate Smith from Rockzone.com called it a "solid addition to the Townsend catalog", but "not an instant classic"

[Two years before SYL (2003), In 2001 Under his Solo moniker Devin Townsend, the track "Idom" (alternate, version of 2003's Dire / Consequence) was released as part of the Compilation Album: Mikazuki In Rock released in 2001, from the Japanese tokusatsu television series in 2000.]

The band toured heavily throughout 2003 and 2004, making stops in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia. Although Townsend stated *Strapping Young Lad* might be the last album, the band re-signed with Century Media Worldwide in March 2004 and announced plans for a new album. On November 2, 2004, Strapping Young Lad recorded the band's (January 16, 2004) performance at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver for the DVD entitled *For Those Aboot to Rock: Live at the Commodore.* Bonus features included two music videos, "Relentless" and "Detox", and interviews with band members.

### Alien (2005)

Strapping Young Lad began working on their next album, *Alien* in March 2004. Feeling that the band's previous album did not live up to expectations, Townsend decided to take his music to a new extreme. To prepare for the new album, Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder. And when the time came, Strapping Young Lad Released they're heaviest album, Alien in March 22, 2005. Selling 3,697 copies in its first week, reaching No. 32 on the *Billboard* Top Heatseekers chart, and No. 35 on the Top Independent Albums chart. Critics praised Townsend's inventiveness and the dynamism of the songs in which "melody and discord meet midway". Townsend and Hoglan were the primary writers of the album, since Simon and Stroud were busy with other commitments. Townsend explained the experimental noise track "Info Dump" is a reflection on the panicked state of mind that ensued after he stopped taking his medication. The making of *Alien* was documented and made viewable online on Century Media's official site in February 2005. It was also available as a bonus DVD of the limited first edition of the album.

"Love?" was chosen as the sole single from the album. Its accompanying music video, inspired by the cult horror film, *The Evil Dead*, was directed by Joe Lynch. The video garnered the band wider attention, and helped "Love?" become one of their most recognizable songs. Jed Simon admitted to having produced a video for this particular song because it had "the most commercial potential". "Love?" was originally one of two confirmed songs for an EP that was supposed to contain four new songs and four covers. Although planned for release in 2003, the EP was eventually canceled. A music video was also filmed for *Zen*; the video itself would also appear in the 2007 film *Shoot 'Em Up*.

This year the band embarked on a headlining tour in the United States in April and May 2005, then went on to tour in Europe. Starting at the end of June, they toured North America as part of the Sounds of the Underground tour, then joined Fear Factory on the Transgression Tour in the U.S. Strapping Young Lad concluded the year with a tour in the UK. While on tour, the band started writing the next album, then continued the work in January 2006, and finished the album by May. In the same month, Townsend announced his intention to "take a hiatus from making records for a while" after the end of touring due to exhaustion from continuous recording and producing for the past ten years.

### The New Black (2006)

*The New Black*, Strapping Young Lad's fifth and final studio album, released on July 11, 2006. Century Media imposed a strict deadline on the release date for it to be ready before the 2006 Ozzfest. Despite this, Townsend stated the recording was not rushed. In fact, *The New Black became a critical, as well as a commercial, success. Having sold more than 4,000 copies during its first week, It was more melodic than any of the band's previous albums and brought back the debut album's "tongue-in-cheek" humor. The New Black reached No. 200 on the Billboard 200 chart, No. 15 on the Top Independent Albums, and No. 8 on the Top Heatseekers charts. About.com's Chad Bowar was also positive, stating that "this is a CD that's dense and heavy, but also has some memorable hooks". A music video was shot in late May to accompany the sole single from the album, "Wrong Side"*

In June 2006 Strapping Young Lad embarked on a short festival tour of Europe, including performances at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany and the Download Festival in England, which was followed by a second stage appearance at Ozzfest in July and August, where they played to some of their largest audiences in their career.

### The End Of Strapping Young Lad (2007)

Although Hoglan initially denied the definitive break-up of the band, saying they would go on tour in March 2007, he later stated Strapping Young Lad is on "extended hiatus", and might never reunite again. In May 2007, during a press conference held to promote his new solo album, *Ziltoid the Omniscient*, Townsend announced his plans to retreat from public view, including giving interviews and touring, to concentrate on his family, and producing solo albums, as well as other people's music. As a result, Strapping Young Lad were effectively disbanded. At the time, Townsend's decision to dissolve the band caused a rift between himself and the remainder of the band, who considered SYL to be at the peak of their popularity and potential at the time; according to Simon, the rest of the band remained estranged from Townsend as a result for a time. Townsend discussed his future projects in a May 2007 *Metal Hammer* interview, where he stated "There may be some stuff I do in the future that is as brutal and heavy as Strapping, it's just not going to be Strapping".

#### Why did Townsend Leave SYL?

Townsend recalls that after *Alien*, he already knew that he wouldn't want to continue SYL as a project, and that he already wished to abandon SYL after the release of *City*, considering the project's purpose fulfilled. In August (2006) In an interview conducted by *Terrorizer, Townsend explained why he decided to disband:*

"At the end of the day, man, I'm just tired, and old, and bald, and fat, and grouchy, and bored. You know? So I was just like, I'm going to make this record, and do this stupid Ozzfest thing, and tell a bunch of stupid jokes in front of a lot of people at Download, then I'm just going to fuck off for a while. The bigger this gets, the less I care, to the point where I just need to go spend some time with my family. I don't wanna bastardise Strapping and all these other projects by doing it for the money. Strapping was about the big middle finger, and it still is, but I don't think it needs to go any further than this."

### Future Performances

During his career-retrospective live concert, under the moniker Devin Townsend Project, *The Retinal Circus* on September 30, 2013, Devin Townsend introduced Jed F@#kin Simon on stage to perform two memorable, long missed SYL songs, "Love?" and "Detox". Townsend has since stated that this was a one-off performance and that he is not interested in getting SYL back together or playing songs at future shows and no longer feels the same connection to SYL's music and that this performance was closure for him and Strapping. On his own website, he reiterates that SYL was a project that he eventually perceived to be harmful to his mental and physical health. In 2013, he played "Love?" at concerts in Mexico and Chile as a "cover song", but later expressed regretting the decision saying it "confuses people"

In 2016, on tour with Devin Townsend project, he would sometimes play a humorous acoustic version of "Detox". In 2019, he announced that during his touring cycle for *Empath*, he would also perform SYL songs, saying that "It's a big part of what I do and it's a big part of who I am, and I think I've denied that for a certain amount of time.". Throughout the UK in 2015 and 2019, Townsend would occasionally perform an acoustic version of "Love?" during his "An Evening with Devin Townsend" shows.

Townsend played several SYL songs during the 70,000 Tons of Metal festival, including "Aftermath", "Love?" , "Detox", "All Hail the New Flesh" and a live debut of "Almost Again" from the 2006 album, *The New Black*

## Ziltoid (2007 & 2014)

### Devin Townsend - Ziltoid The Omniscient (2007)

In March 21, 2007 Townsend released ZTO, "Ziltoid from the planet Ziltoidia 9, travels to Earth in search of "your universe's ultimate cup of coffee.", Townsend described the album as a mix between Strapping Young Lad and the Devin Townsend Band, with a storyline like that of Punky Brüster's - *Cooked on Phonics*.From Townsend website:

*"Ziltoid became the personification of the side of me that was allowed to 'play rockstar' in Strapping Young Lad, and although I was becoming uncomfortable saying and doing certain things in my music, to have a puppet do it instead was very liberating."*

### Z2: Dark Matters (2014)

Z2 is a double album which contains, Sky Blue & Dark Matters a Sequel to ZTO but produced on a bigger scale October 27, 2014. *Z²* has been a long-running project, with Townsend first announcing it in 2009. Later he stated that he "may have just written the heaviest thing he's ever done" for the album. That song is "Ziltoid Goes Home" ;P. This is as example of "There may be some stuff I do in the future that is as brutal and heavy as Strapping, it's just not going to be Strapping".

## "future stuff that is as brutal and heavy as Strapping, it's just not Strapping".

Heavy Albums / Heavy Tracks After 2007:

***Ziltoid The Omniscient (2007)***

* By Your Command
* Ziltoid Ataxx!!!
* N9
* Planet Smasher

***Ki (2009) (like Ghost & SYL put together)***

* Disrupter
* Gato
* Heavens Send
* Synchronicity

***Addicted (2009)***

* Addicted!
* Universe In a Ball!
* Supercrush! (chug, chug)
* Resolve!
* Awake!! (DECON..STRUUCT!!..YEAAAAH!!!!)

***Various Artists: SIN-ATRA (2010)***

* New York, New York (very SYL)

***Deconstruction (2011)***

* All Tracks + bonus track "Ho Krll" of 2012 Deluxe Edition

***Contains Boxset (2011)***

*Stuff That Was Almost Stuff:*

* Om -2011 (Instrumental re-work)
* Treastorz (Infinity part 48:10 - 49:16)

*Stuff That Was Stuff Before It Was Finished Stuff:*

* Addicted! (Addicted demo)
* Numbered! (Addicted demo)
* Stand ('*Deconstruction*' demo)
* Juular ('*Deconstruction*' demo)
* Brown Man (Unreleased '*Deconstruction*' demo)
* Pandemic ('*Deconstruction*' demo)
* Madd at my Dadd ('*Deconstruction*' demo track) (final version Terrorizer on Fear Candy 100 compilation album(2011)
* Dinosaurs (on 10" Vinyl included with Contain Us)

***Epicloud/Epiclouder (2012)***

* Kingdom (Re-work originaly of 2000 Phyiscist)
* More!
* The Mind Wasp
* Woah No!
* Socialization

***Casualties of Cool (2014)***

* Thing (of dog bone Exclusive USB stick From CoC Boxset)

***Z2: Sky Blue (2014)***

* Rejoice
* Silent Militia

***Z2: Dark Matters (2014)***

All songs except (Through The Wormhole, Dimension Z)

***Transcendence/Trading Patterns*** ***(2016)***

* All heavy except - (Failure, Transcendence, From The Heart, Transdermal Celebration (cover), loud)

***Empath/Test Of Manhood (2019)***

* Hear Me
* Singularity (Part III. Let There Be Monsters)
* King
* Gulag
* Middle Aged Man

***The Puzzle (2021)***

* Starchasm, Pt.1

***Lightwork/Nightwork (2022)***

* Starchasm, Pt.2
* Stampy Blaster
* Fractions

## Boxsets

### Strapping Young Lad - The Ultimate "City" collection - Limited Collector's Box Set (Friday 8, 2010)

**NOTE: only be 500 copies available**

Includes:

* "City" the 9-track on Disk & LP. It's the second studio album from the Canadian extreme metal band, often considered their best work by fans and the first to feature a full band (Dev, Jed, Byron, Gene) rather than Townsend performing all the instruments himself.
* Housed in a deluxe gatefold box with an internal pocket to house the LP with picture sleeve and inner and a hollowed out section for the bonus T-shirt of City record

### Strapping Young Lad "The Complete Works" Box Set -- Die Hard Edition (August, 2013)

**NOTE: only be 150 copies available**

Includes:

* All five Strapping Young Lad albums, remastered for vinyl by Spectre Mastering (Troy Glessner) with new artwork by Seempieces | Illustration & Design by Travis Smith.
* One bonus LP, featuring nearly every SYL bonus track ever unearthed.
* Bonus C:ENTER:### 7" 're-creation,' including ultra-rare track "Idom" on the B-side.
* 40-page book.
* Strapping Young Lad turntable slipmat.
* 2-piece, custom-cut box, specially designed and shaped for this set.
* Strapping Young Lad "The Complete Works" poster, autographed by Devin Townsend. [EXCLUSIVE TO THIS VERSION]
* Strapping Young Lad "The Complete Works" T-shirt. [EXCLUSIVE TO THIS VERSION]
* 100% of the records on crystal-clear colored vinyl. [EXCLUSIVE TO THIS VERSION

## Live Albums

### Strapping Young Lad - No Sleep 'Till Bedtime (June 2, 1998)

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 Strapping Young Lad - 1998