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Strapping Young Lad - The New Black



8.1 | 322 votes |
Release date: 11 July 2006
Style: Industrial metal, Thrash metal

Owners:

387 have it
24 want it
1 trades it


01. Decimator
02. You Suck
03. Antiproduct
04. Monument
05. Wrong Side
06. Hope
07. Far Beyond Metal
08. Fucker
09. Almost Again
10. Polyphony
11. The New Black
12. The Long Pig [bonus]
13. Zodiac [Melvins cover] [bonus]

Featured In "Getting Into: Devin Townsend: Part II: The 2000s"

Guest review by
Passenger
Rating:
9.0
I have to confess that I never managed to fully appreciate Strapping Young Lad before "SYL." Their first album, while ingenious, always felt inconsistent to me, and "City," I realize it's innovative and modern, but I couldn't get past how fragmented the songs sound the first time you listen them, even though I've given that album a few tries. It's true that sometimes, when something starts by seeming strange, it's hard to get over the first impression. And Strapping Young Lad is the definition of strange. However, "The New Black" changed everything for me.

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published 24.08.2006 | Comments (11)

Found in 7 lists
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Comments

Comments: 8   Visited by: 397 users
05.01.2012 - 16:24
Rating: 9
musicalkaratekid

A different album to 'Alien', mostly because of its variation throughout eaach of the 12 tracks, but here i think Devin introduced some of his solo techniques to the chaotic machine that is SYL. Brilliant album.
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05.01.2012 - 16:39
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by musicalkaratekid on 05.01.2012 at 16:24

... but here i think Devin introduced some of his solo techniques to the chaotic machine that is SYL. ...


which imo is a shame. There was a reason for keeping SYL and Devin Townsend Project as different entities.
This album still sounds like a rush job to me which he wanted released before the festival season.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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05.01.2012 - 18:29
Rating: 9
musicalkaratekid

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.01.2012 at 16:39

Written by musicalkaratekid on 05.01.2012 at 16:24

... but here i think Devin introduced some of his solo techniques to the chaotic machine that is SYL. ...


which imo is a shame. There was a reason for keeping SYL and Devin Townsend Project as different entities.
This album still sounds like a rush job to me which he wanted released before the festival season.


To be honest i like SYL when they do shorter songs and Devin townsend's solo stuff when he does the longer songs. But at any given moment, i would prefer his solo stuff. In my opinion 'Alien' is overrated. Too overrated for its own good.
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05.01.2012 - 19:01
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by musicalkaratekid on 05.01.2012 at 18:29


To be honest i like SYL when they do shorter songs and Devin townsend's solo stuff when he does the longer songs. But at any given moment, i would prefer his solo stuff. In my opinion 'Alien' is overrated. Too overrated for its own good.


I am not much of a fan of Alien either.
My fav is SYL, then City, Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing, Alien, The New Black
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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06.01.2012 - 00:23
Rating: 9
musicalkaratekid

Yeah, i would go with City, HAARHT, The New Black, Alien,SYL.
SYL may be at the end,but i still like it.
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06.01.2012 - 00:29
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Have to say I'm with Marcel on the order. Well City and SYL are probably about equal.
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01.05.2015 - 17:13
Rating: 7
LeKiwi
High Fist Prog
At this point, I don't think Dev had his heart in SYL anymore. The potential in this record is vast, but it does sound as if it had been rushed Still a good record, but I'd much rather listen to some of Dev's other work. I'd say the standout tracks are "Far Beyond Metal" and the title track, with "Wrong Side" and "Almost Again" also worth listening to.

What's interesting is that it appears he - with or without intention - used some of the same passages in his solo work, like the songs "Animals", "Deconstruction", and "Planet Of The Apes"...except they sound better a few years later
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12.09.2016 - 16:05
ManiacBlasphemer
Black Knight
Essentially the last SYL album. Who would've thought? Already on Alien, Dev gave some hints that he lost interest in extreme music. It was much softer than its predecessors. The New Black has songs and many moments in other songs that would fit in his solo albums. Quite frankly, the album is rather average, with just one song being perfect from start to finish: "Almost Again". The other songs have a number of very good moments scattered, much like two of Townsend's solo albums Deconstruction and Synchestra. "Decimator" in particular should've been on the later. Not to mention the intro which has the exact same guitar melody as "Judgement" from Synchestra. No wonder, both albums were recorded in 2006. "You Suck" is very pedestrian, kinda like its name implies. Not awful, but surely not the stuff I'm looking for in a SYL album. "Hope" is by far the only song which can be called crap. "Fucker" is a good one, fairly commercial for a SYL song. "Antiproduct", while not being impressive at the start and in its mid section, has an amazing ending, "Monument" and "Wrong Side", both of them having great melodic parts in the middle and the title track. "Far Beyond Metal" is there with "Almost Again" but the reason I do not consider it the second best track is because it was already introduced in a SYL live album years earlier. And the live version is better. Of highlight here though is the bonus EP which contains arguably and the BEST cover version that any thrash or industrial band has ever recorded of another metal band: the song in question is "Zodiac" from The Melvins. DT's vocal performance on this song is one of his best ever. "Zodiac" is also featured on the Japanese version of "Alien", and on the European version of "The New Black" so it kind of belongs to both albums. The other track is forgettable.

Great tracks: "Almost Again", "Far Beyond Metal", "Zodiac".

Good tracks: Antiproduct, Monument, Wrong Side, The New Black.

Average tracks: Decimator, You Suck, Fucker, Polyphony.

Crap stuff: Hope, The Long Pig.
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