Strapping Young Lad - Far Beyond Metal

It recently came to our attention that despite being a topic I simply can't shut up about here at the RSOTW compound, we've never actually had a pick from the almighty Devin Townsend nor any of his varied projects or collaborations.  So I'm here to right that particular wrong today, and we're jumping in with a track from Strapping Young Lad, because they were awesome and .. well .. I have the keyboard and you don't.

Still with me after that bout of unnecessary aggression?  Good, because aggression is the name of the game here.  SYL was Devin's first real band, conceived in the early-90s as a cathartic response to his time touring with Steve Vai and the growing frustrations of the music industry at large. Strapping Young Lad was where he first channeled his chaotic energy into something truly punishing and has all the hallmarks he's still known for - walls of sound, mechanical rhythms, and screamed vocals that could strip paint off the walls. It was ugly, loud, and entirely intentional. This was Devin’s outlet for all the anger and madness, and for a brief but glorious period it was perfectly counterbalanced by his lighter and more introspective work with The Devin Townsend Band. That duality became a defining feature of his career—light and dark, beauty and rage, all housed in different projects.

But SYL was never going to last forever. After their '95 debut Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing which essentially formed the blueprint for what was to come, the band dropped what most fans agree to be their best album, City in 1997. And what did they follow that up with? Silence. The band went on hiatus in 1999, seemingly done for good. But Devin, being Devin, found himself needing a pressure valve again, and in 2002, Strapping returned, kicking off a second, even more refined run of 3 albums.

Each album expanded the sonic violence while adding more depth and slowly bringing back the more tongue-in-cheek moments from the first album. By 2007, though, Devin had had enough. He shuttered all his projects, took a well-earned break, and began the next chapter of his career. While solo albums like Addicted flirt with some of SYL’s manic energy, the band itself is long gone .. and honestly, that’s for the best. SYL burned fast and bright, leaving behind a flawless legacy without the slow decay that befalls so many metal acts (Just don’t ask 2007 me about that .. he's still in mourning, blasting Force Fed and staring out of rainy windows with clenched fists).

And so that brings us to our actual pick.  The temptation was there to pick something off of City to really blow the dust off, or possibly go with their best known track Love? .. but no .. we're going with Far Beyond Metal taken from their final album The New Black because it perfectly encapsulates what SYL was about.  Tongue in cheek humour all wrapped up in a beautiful, angry, slap in the face.