My initial reaction when listening to this CD was, "Holy ####, this is heavy.
To quote Strapping Young Lad themselves, it's.
"Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing." But along with the chaotic, relentless.
mayhem that we've come to expect from Strapping Young Lad, comes a.
great deal of sophistication. A good example of this is a quote from the song "Aftermath":.
Give us a reason for coming of war.
Fighting for Jesus through prices of oil.
See how your demons are forming a wall.
Burning and beating and raping them all.
So along with such absolutely rage-filled songs as "Rape Song", and.
"Consequence", you've got more politically-minded songs such as.
"Aftermath" and "Bring on the Young".
The CD kicks off with a kind of bizarre keyboard and sample-oriented intro called "Dire", with the only lyrics being "Ever. forever. for EVER",.
which leads directly into "Consequence". "Consequence" is one of the.
heavier tunes on the album. One thing that I've always found interesting about.
Strapping Young Lad is how hook-laden their songs are, for something so.
heavy. "Consequence" has a perfect example of such a hook, with the chant.
of "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" ending the first verse. Moving right.
along into "Relentless", which is just that. This CD just does not stop. The.
instant one song stops, the next picks up with the same insane speed.
I could go on examining each song in detail, but that would be boring. Let's.
talk musicianship. Devin Townsend (guitar, vocals) is really on top of his.
game on this disc. The lyrics are fantastic, sometimes hilarious, sometimes.
relevant and intelligent, but always intense. His screams are absolutely chaotic.
and suit the music very well, and the clean vocals are superb as well. He really.
adds a lot to the music, unlike many growling vocalists.
Jed Simon (guitar) keeps the pace up with his extremely tight guitar playing,.
and there are some VERY technical riffs. However, he does not sacrifice.
songwriting just for technicality, like some of the more technical death metal.
