DEVIN TOWNSEND: Devin Townsend presents Ziltoid The Omniscient

Cover	Release	Style
	2007-05-21	industrial progressive metal
	Label
	www.insideout.de / www.spv.de
	Website
	www.hevydevy.com
	Contact
	-
	Playing Time	Cat. N°
	53:52	IOMCD 280 – SPV 79502 CD
	Review by / Translated by	Rating
	Vera	6/10
nederlands	Review
Devin Townsend may be universally praised as a genius, but there are limits. His previous works under his own moniker ‘Accelerated Evolution’ and ‘Synchestra’ pleased me much more. Maybe because Devin wrote, recorded and produced the whole album himself this time? So there was nobody around to prevent him from extremes and that means that we get Devin’s strange creativity in pure shape over us all the way on ‘Ziltoid’. I am still recovering from it. The first time I played the record I pushed the “stop” button during the third song for the sake of my own mental sanity and took a deep breath. Man, strong nerves are needed to get through this… The album is brimming with heavy industrial riffs, but a proper song I could not find. A narrator constantly interrupts the music to share a story with us about an alien who wants to destroy the planet, but who is fond of coffee. “This album sounds as if an alien was playing in a metal band”, says Devin. The music lacks every sensibility indeed and is a massive drone of industrial effects. Maybe some of us will like the science-fiction story, but even the small parts when Devin uses his sensitive voice are not able to save the rest of the album. It is a kind of (structured?) flipping chaos, mixed with some Zappa-alike ideas. This avant-garde cabaret is restless, over the top, eccentric and very a-melodic and quaint. And Townsend totally dives into his newly created world of fiction. Various videoclips are planned to make this Ziltoid puppet come alive. Most likely this album will be eulogized worldwide once again, but I thought a brief warning is what we need: even a genius can go too far. The digi-pack includes an extended booklet, two bonus tracks and a multimedia section. May be something for strip fanatics?
Musicians
Devin Townsend: vocals and all instruments
Tracklist
ZTO (1:16) By Your Command (8:08) Ziltoidia Attaxx!!! (3:41) Solar Winds (9:46) Hyperdrive (3:47) N9 (5:30) Planet Smasher (5:43) Omnidimensional Creator (0:46) Color Your World (9:43) The Greys (4:14) Tall Latte (1:02)
Discography


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