STRAPPING YOUNG LAD — City (review)

STRAPPING YOUNG LAD — City album cover Album · 1997 · Industrial Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
topofsm
Ask any Strapping Young Lad listener and they will point to one of two albums: Alien and City. While Alien is fantastic too, this came before all the over the top synthesized orchestras, gigantic layers of sound, and orchestrated goofiness. So basically what you're left with is an over-the-top pissed off album.

This album is mostly industrial metal with a few thrash elements. It's difficult to categorize, but most of Devin Townsend's work is difficult in that respect. You can see where Fear Factory got a lot of inspiration since there are tons of dry, pounding riffs all over the place. Admittedly, there is a lot that nu-metal seems to have taken from the album as well, most often through Devin's singing voice (The Track AAA is egregious in nu-metal too). But overall if you know Strapping, you know what you're getting into.

The album starts of great. The intro, "Velvet Kevorkian" is a crushing intro. It leads directly into "All Hail the New Flesh", which is filled with bombastic melodies and melodramatic singing that is completely headbanging worthy. The first half of the album is all a total mosh-fest. "Oh my Fucking God" and "Home Nucleonics" are particularly insane, as they are filled to the brim with blasting tempi and gritty riffs.

My main beef with the album is it slows down as it goes. After the blast that is "Home Nucleonics", you're treated to "AAA", which already stated is a midtempo groovy nu-metal track (albeit a good one). A couple songs later, "Room 429" and "Spirituality" close off the bunch, which are pretty slow tracks that don't add much to the album. Overall there's just a couple tracks that don't stand out as much as they could on the album.

However, as for most of it, it's a very cyberpunky angry, blistering, over-the top sandwich of metal. Devin Townsend and Strapping fans will of course have it, and it has a rightful spot in anyone's collection.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
It´s a good review, but you point out that Fear Factory took inspiration from SYL, when in fact it´s probably the other way round. At least that´s what Devin has stated in several interviews I´ve read with him.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Scorching Gaze Sludge Metal
URZAH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Desert Frost Sludge Metal
TURBO MOSES
Buy this album from MMA partners
Scorched Mind Sludge Metal
SCORCHED MIND
Buy this album from MMA partners
Echoes Of The Devil's Den Death Metal
TERMINAL NATION
Buy this album from MMA partners
Glamdemic Glam Metal
FERRETT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

TERMINAL NATION - Concrete Hell / A Pound of Flesh or a Gallon of Blood Video (Decibel Flexi Tracks)
TERMINAL NATION
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
Dissection - Starless Aeon (Official Music Video)
DISSECTION
Tupan· 17 hours ago
OPAL IN SKY - Empathy, The Gift (Music Video)
OPAL IN SKY
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
OPAL IN SKY - The Sacral (Lyric Video)
OPAL IN SKY
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
OPAL IN SKY - Planetary Bliss (Music Video)
OPAL IN SKY
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed