Devin Townsend is a name some people recognize. Depending on who you talk to, some know him from his vocal work with Steve Vai, others know him strictly from his over the top metal band Strapping Young Lad and another group recognizes him as one of the great minds in the music world. Morgan, you may not have heard any albums that "wowed" you yet, so I don't think you've heard Ziltoid The Omniscient.
Ziltoid the Omniscient is by far one of THE BEST albums to be released this year. Why? First of all, Devin is AMAZING (he released a fantastic album, Synchestra, just last year). There is plenty of humor and satire in his music, but it contains a beautiful element of professionalism. He uses music to conjure up imagery and he uses guitar solos only when truly necessary. So, Devin himself aside, Ziltoid is brilliant because of its concept. Never in my life have I heard a concept album so... out there, so... ...AWESOME!
I'll try to explain the premise without giving too much away. There's this alien dude, Ziltoid, who is a ruthless evil being with a desire for the worlds greatest cup of coffee: Black. He thinks this great cup of coffee can be found on earth, so he sends his minions to fetch him a cup in five minutes (and yes, real time is kept with this part, making it again... brilliant). The coffee is complete crap so he decides that earth should be blown up. There is a space chase between the human Captain Spectacular, and Ziltoid. Ziltoid then goes on a quest for the meaning of life and his role in the universe. The ending is great, so I won't give it away.
That's all good and well you say. Hell you might go check it out (you should), but that's not the reason why you need to give this album a listen. This album is one of my favorites simply because of what I hear in it. Not the music, but Hevy Devy ENJOYING HIMSELF! It's easy to hear Devin having FUN with this (he did everything himself on the album). Just listening it gives me chills, because of how rare it is to actually hear the artist loving the story he is telling. Usually it sounds so sterile, but not with Townsend.
So all of you 'umans need to give this album a spin, or else mighty Ziltoid will release the planet smasher; and you don't want to deal with that crap.
I'll agree with Morgan that there have been quite a few "meh" albums (with several exceptions)... but damn... Ziltoid is by far the best of the year.
Also, there are a bunch of puppet transmitions on youtube. Here is the first one:
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