Metal's mad scientist crafts a rock opera of galactic proportions
With 14 albums in a little over a decade, Devin Townsend's prolific musical career climaxed in 2005 and 2006 with the release of Strapping Young Lad's Alien and The New Black, The Devin Townsend Band's Synchestra, Devlab and a frolic around the US with a little known tour known as Ozzfest. And that was it. Devin announced he was taking a break from music... a "break" that resulted in the relaxed ambiance of The Hummer and now Ziltoid the Omniscient. With the suspension of The Devin Townsend Band and Strapping Young Lad, Ziltoid is Devin going solo once again; with just a puppet named Ziltoid and Drumkit From Hell helping him on the recording.
A puppet? Yes. And not just a puppet. A rock opera concept with a narrative that resembles Mars Attacks-meets-Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy-meets a metaphor for what I assume is Devin's emotional state... managing to beat everyone else in the metal genre, not known for its subtlety, at being over-the-top (I guess he saw Rhapsody's dragons vs. wizards and raised them one coffee-fueled, time traveling, wannabe rock star alien) while still infusing it with levels of emotion that make my skin tingle.
"ZTO", "By Your Command", and "Ziltoidia Attaxx!" start things off with Ziltoid arriving on earth in a blaze of metal. Chugging riffs, screaming, choirs and a guitar solo that could level a building suck the people of Earth into Ziltoid's rock star facade. The beautiful guitar atmospherics of "Solar Winds" follow Captain Spectacular as he begins the unraveling of Ziltoid's plan. The alien's ego is then blasted by the hive mind Nebulowanine, which shows him the most beautiful thing in the universe, and the scholastic Planet Smasher named Herman, who delivers some philosophy with a rumbling low growl before rejecting Ziltoid and calling him a nerd.
The story reaches its climax with Ziltoid inquiring for help from the Omnidimensional Creator, who squeezes the last bit of petulant pride from Ziltoid with the summersaulting moods of the epic "Color Your World", which goes from thundering metal riffs to a soothing middle section before building back up to metal again for the albums volcanic finale. The beauty of "The Greys" wraps the journey of an album up on a positive note and carries your mind back into reality.
Despite it's epic storyline and impressive musicianship, Ziltoid the Omniscient isn't perfect. The (self-conciously) cheesy voice overs may get in the way for a few listens until they fade into the background, and the drum machine sounds a tad clunky seeing as Devin normally surrounds himself with top of the line metal drummers such as Gene Hoglan and Ryan Van Poederooyen. Devin has, however, taken elements of his previous projects; the melody and songwriting of Ocean Machine and Accelerated Evolution, the creativity and emotional intensity of Infinity, the tongue-in-cheek metal of Strapping Young Lad, and the uplifting concept of Synchestra; and fused them into an hour long progressive metal masterpiece. If Devin's break from music results in more albums of this quality then I hope it lasts a very long time.
| Reviewer: Jeff Mcquiggan Added: May 29th 2007 |
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