The maniacal Canadians STRAPPING YOUNG LAD have officially re-signed with Century Media Records worldwide and are already hard at work on the follow-up to their critically acclaimed SYL album. The group also just completed their first DVD, which is set for a late summer release. The DVD features a full set from the band's sold-out hometown show at The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver recorded earlier this year, plus some hilarious backstage antics and video clips. Expect a new STRAPPING YOUNG LAD studio album to surface early next year, which you know will be well worth the wait.

SYL mastermind Devin Townsend (vocals, guitars) checks in with the following update on the group's current activities,

"Here-de-scoop... the SYL DVD is really quite INSANE looking. Marcus Rogers, who shot the 'Relentless' video, put together the entire thing. It features interviews, a really sick show, crushing audio and cool graphics. This will hopefully be the product that shows more people how fucking bad-ass we actually are as a live force. I wanted to call it 'for those aboot to rock'...but was promptly outvoted. Byron Stroud (bass) is rocking the globe with Fear Factory right now, this is killer for many reasons. He gets to keep doing what he loves with good friends behind a smokin' new record, while affording sir Gene Hoglan and myself the opportunity to fuck each other up with new SYL material as we prepare the new record. You heard it right folks, the mighty SYL have re-signed a deal with longtime partners in crime Century Media Records to make not only the DVD, but also two more full-length discs!!! FUCK YEAH! METAL!!! I personally have had some mighty brainstorms on the Strapping creative front... Black Infinity, Space Metal, Zen, Physics, Spirit, Death, Void, Birth, you name it. The last record, SYL, as cool as it was, can be expanded on now in so many ways. The commitment is there, and where SYL was to be the bludgeoning, classic heavy metal live anthem record, the new material is just FUCKED. More chaos, more loops, more echos, more chaos more chaos more chaos, and it is BEAUTIFUL this time around as well. I've been talking to my old buddy Daniel Bergstrand, who was responsible for the sonics on City, and there's a real good possibility that we will come together for the new material. New songs: Love, Imperial, Jux, Black Infinite, Zen Of Metal. Stay tuned for more SYL than you can shake a comb at."

Band profile:

Strapping Young Lad