The Devin Townsend Discography Thread v2

[KevShmev]

Can I push back gently and ask, "Does "sub-par" or "not top tier" really just mean "I don't like it as much"?   I mean, Devin is NOT AC/DC.  His catalogue is all over the map.  I get CHILLS from Addicted! (It's my favorite Dev record by far) but I have yet to hear a Strapping Young Lad song I like.  I'm able to admit that not everything he does is for me, and that's fine.  I don't think I'm justified in saying "SYL Blows!" or "SYL is mid-tier Dev!"  For some, I imagine that's ALL they like in his catalogue. 

For me, for example, Transcendence is, well, transcendent.  I love that record a lot, and go back to it almost as much as anything else in his catalogue.   I'd really struggle to call that anything less than a work of art - meaning only that it's a solid release that delivers on Devin's intent, whether I like it or not.

It definitely means "I don't like it as much."  I get that some loved Empath, and that is the fun of it. If we all loved everything equally, how boring would that be?

Transcendence does have a few songs I reach for often, but I just don't find it as encapsulating from start to finish as material like Infinity, Terria, Addicted or Casualties of Cool.  Those four albums there are, for me, his all-timers.  I'd probably throw Ocean Machine and Ki into the mix as well, although a step below the other four.  Epicloud and Ghost are probably both right there for me as well.

[Cruithne]

The funny thing about Sex & Religion is that I gave it a really wide berth for about 15 years due to the song Pig being put on the CD of a British music magazine (might've been Metal Hammer) back in the day that a friend of mine had bought... he played me that song incredulous at what a mess it was and I had to agree.

I still skip that song if I ever listen to what proved to be a very good record of which Dev is, imo, the MVP.

[The Curious Orange]

I absolutely LOVED Sex and Religion when it came out - it's a brilliant album and was very heavy for the time, I just love the sludge of DDITPain, but it does sound a bit dated today and I've not listened to it in years. Don't know why this album doesn't get more love.

[Stadler]

Devin is one of my favorites, but I have been off of him for a while.

(the new album not being very good didn't help)

hopefully a big Devin phase for me is just around the corner.

Kev, these all ring pretty true to me. I went through a BIG Devin phase from like 2015 - 2019ish, but then my love waned a bit. I personally loved Empath but The Puzzle/Snuggles/Lightwork don't come close to that, or any of the albums I love.

I have a feeling it's a 'me' thing, and I've just been exploring new stuff, and not in the right headspace for Devin. I do have a feeling this thread will help get me back there. I didn't think the last three albums were bad, just subpar by his high standards.

I'll post some comments on the Ass Sordid Demos later on, as there were some highlights, and mainly it was nice to listen to some new (to my ears) Devy. I love his humour, and although the demos aren't all high quality, Devin is good at making a demo sound like a legit recording.

I think that can be said for everything he has released in the last 8-9 years.  Casualties of Cool was the last Devin album that demanded listens over and over and over in my CD player*, and I always say, if I love something, it will find its way into my CD player*.  Sky Blue and Transcendence were both very good, but not top tier Devin for me.  Empath had some great moments, but felt a bit too tedious overall; getting through that entire album always feels like work.

*or the modern day equivalent

Can I push back gently and ask, "Does "sub-par" or "not top tier" really just mean "I don't like it as much"?   I mean, Devin is NOT AC/DC.  His catalogue is all over the map.  I get CHILLS from Addicted! (It's my favorite Dev record by far) but I have yet to hear a Strapping Young Lad song I like.  I'm able to admit that not everything he does is for me, and that's fine.  I don't think I'm justified in saying "SYL Blows!" or "SYL is mid-tier Dev!"  For some, I imagine that's ALL they like in his catalogue. 

For me, for example, Transcendence is, well, transcendent.  I love that record a lot, and go back to it almost as much as anything else in his catalogue.   I'd really struggle to call that anything less than a work of art - meaning only that it's a solid release that delivers on Devin's intent, whether I like it or not.

Oh yeah, I wasn't explicitly clear, but when I say they're subpar compared to the rest of his output, that is purely my opinion. With Devin's work (and with all music) there has been the perfect storm that has allowed me to view certain albums as his 'masterpieces', but I am aware that in different circumstances what I consider his best album,could actually be any one of them, including the most recent three.

Following the multiverse theory there is a different universe, for every album ever released, in which a different album is my favourite all time record. As in, through different choices and experiences I could have been led down a path where I even loved 80s pop!

So yea, it's all chaos, luck and chance. There is a universe where I love every album recorded....









































Except KISS

I'll keep working on it!  Never say never!!! 

[Stadler]

Can I push back gently and ask, "Does "sub-par" or "not top tier" really just mean "I don't like it as much"?   I mean, Devin is NOT AC/DC.  His catalogue is all over the map.  I get CHILLS from Addicted! (It's my favorite Dev record by far) but I have yet to hear a Strapping Young Lad song I like.  I'm able to admit that not everything he does is for me, and that's fine.  I don't think I'm justified in saying "SYL Blows!" or "SYL is mid-tier Dev!"  For some, I imagine that's ALL they like in his catalogue. 

For me, for example, Transcendence is, well, transcendent.  I love that record a lot, and go back to it almost as much as anything else in his catalogue.   I'd really struggle to call that anything less than a work of art - meaning only that it's a solid release that delivers on Devin's intent, whether I like it or not.

It definitely means "I don't like it as much."  I get that some loved Empath, and that is the fun of it. If we all loved everything equally, how boring would that be?

Transcendence does have a few songs I reach for often, but I just don't find it as encapsulating from start to finish as material like Infinity, Terria, Addicted or Casualties of Cool.  Those four albums there are, for me, his all-timers.  I'd probably throw Ocean Machine and Ki into the mix as well, although a step below the other four.  Epicloud and Ghost are probably both right there for me as well.

Yeah, and I hope you know I'm just drawing out that point; I'm not busting yours (or anyone's) balls with that.  It's just that he's an artist - like Neil Young or the Grateful Dead - where part of his charm is that he's got the balls to go wherever his muse takes him.  The one thing I took from his autobiography - and I LOVE this about him - is that after the Vai incident, he made a commitment to whatever he did, doing it FULL ON, and if he couldn't do that, he wasn't going to participate. 

[Cruithne]

One day Ginger Wildheart, of the band The Wildhearts, reached out to Dev asking if he’d be interested in replacing their guitar whom they just fired. Dev accepted this offer and joined as a touring guitarist for a European Tour.

There's reasonable-ish footage of that line-up playing the Reading festival in '94 on the Tube of Yous, should anyone be interested.

[twosuitsluke]

One day Ginger Wildheart, of the band The Wildhearts, reached out to Dev asking if he’d be interested in replacing their guitar whom they just fired. Dev accepted this offer and joined as a touring guitarist for a European Tour.

There's reasonable-ish footage of that line-up playing the Reading festival in '94 on the Tube of Yous, should anyone be interested.

As a big fan of The Wildhearts and Devin I am interested!

Except KISS

I'll keep working on it!  Never say never!!! 

Of course I jest, KISS aren't necessarily my cup of tea but I can get down with them every now and then.

[Kwyjibo]

Sex & Religion was my introduction to Devin Townsend.

I was and still am a big fan of Steve Vai and I loved that record when it came out and a big part of it was Devin. In fact it's still one of my favorite Vai albums. As with all of his records there are a couple of songs that I don't get, that are too far out there, but the rest slays.

Deep Down Into The Pain is an alltime favorite and probably the heaviest Vai has ever done. Devin really shines on this one, showing his versatility from normal singing to more operatic vocals to reckless screaming. And thanks to Bozzio and Stevens this is one metal song, that's actually groovy.

I saw them on that tour, sadly without Bozzio and Stevens but it was still a hell of a ride. Relatively small club, packed to the limit. Devin moved around the stage like a madman, and I mean that literally, he had some strange moves and a kind of disturbing aura. But he killed it vocally and played some sick guitar lines too.

If not for this record I would have never reached out to Ocean Machine when it came out, but more on this later.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, and I hope you know I'm just drawing out that point; I'm not busting yours (or anyone's) balls with that.  It's just that he's an artist - like Neil Young or the Grateful Dead - where part of his charm is that he's got the balls to go wherever his muse takes him.  The one thing I took from his autobiography - and I LOVE this about him - is that after the Vai incident, he made a commitment to whatever he did, doing it FULL ON, and if he couldn't do that, he wasn't going to participate.

No issues, all good! 

Many of the best artists are the ones not afraid to go to places that fans would not expect.  That is often done by the greats like Devin, Rush & Radiohead.

[HOF]

Never heard the Sex & Religion album, aside from Touching Tongues which I always liked. Watched that clip from The Tonight Show, and boy is Devin a weird little dude, but the song was kind of fun. Is it that jazzy on the album, or was that just because they had the Tonight Show band playing with them?

[Stadler]

Yeah, and I hope you know I'm just drawing out that point; I'm not busting yours (or anyone's) balls with that.  It's just that he's an artist - like Neil Young or the Grateful Dead - where part of his charm is that he's got the balls to go wherever his muse takes him.  The one thing I took from his autobiography - and I LOVE this about him - is that after the Vai incident, he made a commitment to whatever he did, doing it FULL ON, and if he couldn't do that, he wasn't going to participate.

No issues, all good! 

Many of the best artists are the ones not afraid to go to places that fans would not expect.  That is often done by the greats like Devin, Rush & Radiohead.

Shots fired!  Shots fired!

(To be honest, though, I actually thought about Radiohead when I wrote that.   They are literally the exception to the rule, since they are so douchey.  ).

[KevShmev]

Shots fired!  Shots fired!

(To be honest, though, I actually thought about Radiohead when I wrote that.   They are literally the exception to the rule, since they are so douchey.  ).

I haven't seen really any of their interviews or anything enough to know if they are douchey, but their music is great, so all good by me. 

[twosuitsluke]

Thanks for the write up Metropolaris. I've read Devin's book (might need to read it again) so I am aware of the Vai stuff and how the whole experience affected him. I think it's wild that he was so young and basically picked from obscurity. I can't imagine doing something like that at such a young age. Not only that but he went onto be offered big gigs like front fucking Priest! Fair play to him for not following the money, much respect.

I knew he'd worked with Newsted, but had never heard this IR8/Sexoturica release.

Back to Sex and Religion. Well it's not something that I would revisit often, and it sounds VERY of it's time. Nonetheless I think there is some good stuff on here, and Devin kills it for the most part. It's nice to see that some of his weirdness came out on record, as I guess Vai could've cut that shit out. There are some questionable lyrics in here but overall it's not too bad.

I wonder what we'd get if these two collaborated now? I'd be down for hearing it anyway.

This is all part of Devin's journey, and who knows if he'd ever have made a career in the music biz without this break. Who knows, but it's worth listening to for that alone. I can say that I'd revist it every few years or so.

Now, onto IR8 vs. Sexoturica. I listened to this and honestly thought I was listening to the wrong thing. I can't hear Devin on this at all. I thought he was supposed to be on vocals, but surely that isn't him?!. He must be just playing guitar right? It sounds more like Max Cavelera or Lars-Göran Petrov. This little side project is fine, and nothing particularly new. I wouldn't revisit this again, I think I got all I got out of it from one listen. If this was the sort of music Dev and Newsted were doing together, I'm glad they didn't pursue it any further. Either way I feel sorry for Newsted as I feel it was an insecure dick move from Hetfield and Ulrich in shutting him down.

Keep 'em coming dude.

[Zantera]

I think Devin's career is pretty interesting and his podcast is definitely worth a listen. You don't get many musicians who are hand picked to play a key role as a vocalist on a project in the spotlight who then leaves to go his own way and has to work his way up almost from nothing again. Usually there's bands who grind their way to Hollywood but Devin basically got the LA taste right away and then went his own path.

[Buddyhunter1]

I think his podcast got way too rambly after the first few episodes, but there's definitely some good insight in there, especially for the Ocean Machine-Terria era.

[twosuitsluke]

I think Devin's career is pretty interesting and his podcast is definitely worth a listen. You don't get many musicians who are hand picked to play a key role as a vocalist on a project in the spotlight who then leaves to go his own way and has to work his way up almost from nothing again. Usually there's bands who grind their way to Hollywood but Devin basically got the LA taste right away and then went his own path.

Yea it's what I consider a real success story. He's doing what he loves, by his rules.

I think his podcast got way too rambly after the first few episodes, but there's definitely some good insight in there, especially for the Ocean Machine-Terria era.

I went through a period of watching any interview I could find with the guy. I think I pretty much watched every interview on YouTube. I've heard him talk at length many times about his create process, breaking down the confines of what a 'metal' artist can and can't do etc. I can listen to Devy talk for hours, and have done.

It's been a few years though so I think I might give the podcast a go. I possibly listened to the first one, I can't remember.

[Buddyhunter1]

They're a bit hard to find now (I think some of them were removed from YouTube) but his album commentaries on the four DTP albums are goldmines.

[Metro]

I actually have all of those commentaries, plus the ones for Epicloud, both Casualites discs, and Empath.

I was thinking about uploading them to YouTube once we got to the DTP era. But if they were taken before it would probably happen again. We’ll see.

The podcast has been a great source of info for these write-ups, but yeah there is way too much rambling. When you listen to enough of Dev’s rambling, you realize he pretty much says the same stuff every time. 

[Buddyhunter1]

I was thinking about uploading them to YouTube once we got to the DTP era. But if they were taken before it would probably happen again. We’ll see.

If you set them to unlisted you should probably be fine.

[Stadler]

I think Devin's career is pretty interesting and his podcast is definitely worth a listen. You don't get many musicians who are hand picked to play a key role as a vocalist on a project in the spotlight who then leaves to go his own way and has to work his way up almost from nothing again. Usually there's bands who grind their way to Hollywood but Devin basically got the LA taste right away and then went his own path.

Blabbermouth blows, but this is a fairly insightful bit.  I've actually seen this in other arenas (not music).   I sort of bristle to this day over the trope of "do what you love" for a job.  There's nothing like fame and money to beat that hippy shit right out of you. 

[twosuitsluke]

When you listen to enough of Dev’s rambling, you realize he pretty much says the same stuff every time. 

Yea he really does, but it's all so genuine I sort of don't mind. He does love to talk about himself and 'the process' 

I think Devin's career is pretty interesting and his podcast is definitely worth a listen. You don't get many musicians who are hand picked to play a key role as a vocalist on a project in the spotlight who then leaves to go his own way and has to work his way up almost from nothing again. Usually there's bands who grind their way to Hollywood but Devin basically got the LA taste right away and then went his own path.

Blabbermouth blows, but this is a fairly insightful bit.  I've actually seen this in other arenas (not music).   I sort of bristle to this day over the trope of "do what you love" for a job.  There's nothing like fame and money to beat that hippy shit right out of you. 

Nice read Stads. I guess it all happened the way it did for Dev partly because of that experience. Wonder how his career would've gone without that break.

[Metro]

I think Devin's career is pretty interesting and his podcast is definitely worth a listen. You don't get many musicians who are hand picked to play a key role as a vocalist on a project in the spotlight who then leaves to go his own way and has to work his way up almost from nothing again. Usually there's bands who grind their way to Hollywood but Devin basically got the LA taste right away and then went his own path.

Blabbermouth blows, but this is a fairly insightful bit.  I've actually seen this in other arenas (not music).   I sort of bristle to this day over the trope of "do what you love" for a job.  There's nothing like fame and money to beat that hippy shit right out of you. 

Coincidentally, Borivoj Krgan, who signed Dev to Century Media, founded Blabbermouth.

[Metro]

Strapping Young Lad - Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
Released April 4th, 1995



Tracklisting:
1. S.Y.L.
2. In the Rainy Season
3. Goat
4. Cod Metal King
5. Happy Camper (Carpe B.U.M.)
6. Critic
7. The Filler - Sweet City Jesus
8. Skin Me
9. Drizzlehell
10. Satan’s Ice Cream Truck

Bonus Tracks
11. Japan (2006 Remaster Bonus Track)
12. Monday (2006 Remaster Bonus Track)
13. Exciter (Judas Priest Cover) [2006 Remaster Bonus Track]

Personnel:
Devin Townsend (Credited as Nived) - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
Jed Simon - Guitar (Critic, Skin Me)
Mike Sudar - Guitar
Ashley Scribner - Bass
Adrian White - Drums

Additional Musicians:
Chris Byes - Drums (Critic, The Filler - Sweet City Jesus)
Smokin’ Lord Toot (Real name unknown) - Drums (Cod Metal King)
Chris Meyers - Keyboards (Goat, Skin Me)
Greg Price - Additional Drum Programming (Skin Me, Drizzlehell)
Stooly (Byron Stroud) and E. Val Yum (Chris Valagao) - Backing Vocals



Strapping Young lad was meant as an outlet for the aggression and frustration that Dev felt after his experience with the Vai band and being jerked around by record labels. He wanted to write something “apocalyptic”, and started listening to bands like Carcass, Fear Factory, Cop Shoot Cop, and Morbid Angel. The first SYL album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, was recorded in a week in December 1994 at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver. It features the original SYL lineup of Dev, Jed Simon, Mike Sudar, Ashley Scribner, and Adrian White. Some of the songs here were written for the Noisescapes Demos from ’92: Goat, Skin Me, and Filler. The chorus to the bonus track Japan would later reappear on the song The Death of Music from Ocean Machine: Biomech.

A music video was made for S.Y.L.
https://youtu.be/WwyuM0PODuY



Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing was released on April 4th, 1995. It sold only 142 copies in it’s first month. The band did very little touring for this record. They played a live show broadcast from KZSU Radio Studio in Stanford, CA, seen partially in this video: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM7DcSxXkcM&t=201s

Three songs from that performance can be found on the Ancient cassette (Tracks 9-11)

S.Y.L. (Live)
Home Nucleonics (Live)
Bodies 13 (Live)

Home Nucleonics would end up on SYL’s second album, City, released in 1997.
Bodies 13 wouldn’t end up on any album, but aspects of the song would turn into future songs like Oh My Fucking God, Detox, Force Fed, and Color Your World.

SYL wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, and it wasn’t meant to be his main project. But that’s what it ended up becoming, at least for the first part of his career. In recent years, Dev has dismissed this album as “a couple of good songs and a bunch of demos.” Century Media invested very little money into SYL, and despite the album’s lack of success, they kept Dev signed on. Dev showed Century Media the demos he was working on for a project called Ocean Machine, but they weren’t interested in releasing it. Sony Japan contacted Dev and told him that if he started his own record label, they would distribute Ocean Machine. So he started HevyDevy Records, his own record label for his own music. With this, he recorded and finally released his first solo album…

——————————————————————————————————————————————

And now for something completely different…

Punky Brüster - Cooked on Phonics
Released March 19, 1996



Tracklisting:
1. Recipe for Bait
2. Fake Punk
3. EZ$$
4. Metal Dilemma
5. Oats Peas Beans and Barley
6. Wallet Chain
7. Heinous Anus
8. Heavy Metal Mama
9. Crusty’s at the Ivanhoe
10. Picture of Myself
11. The Girls Next Door
12. Larry’s O
13. Metal Heads are Punk Rockers (Bonus Track) [Parody of the Ramones song “Sheena is a Punk Rocker”]

Personnel:
Devin Townsend (Credited as Dr. Skinny/Lord Stenchlor) - Guitar/Vocals/Narration
John Harder (Credited as Squid Vicious/Jokor, King of the Orcs) - Bass/Vocals
Adrian White (Credited as Dances with Chickens/Underwator) - Drums and hysteria

Additional Personnel:
Bob Wagner - Additional drums
Chris Valagao - Vocals (Oats Peas Beans and Barley)
Jed Simon - Backup vocals
Byron Stroud - Backup vocals



Welcome to (technically) Dev’s first solo album. Not what you were expecting, right?
Cooked on Phonics was released under the name “Punky Brüster” in 1996. The album was recorded in 1995 at Red Stripe studios, and took “A week and a half to write, 6 days to record, and 12 hours to mix.” according to Dev. The record was written as a parody of the growing Pop-Punk scene at the time, specifically bands like Green Day and The Offspring. It features Ocean Machine bassist John Harder and former SYL drummer Adrian White.

Cooked on Phonics is a concept album. It tells the story of a fictitious death metal band called Cryptic Coroner, from South Central Poland, who decide to become a Punk band called Punky Brüster to make more money. Their story is narrated by Dev. Tracks 1-10 cover the main story. The Girls Next Door is a part of the story but for whatever reason comes along after the story has ended. Larry’s O doesn’t seem to be a part of the story. Same with the bonus track, Metalheads are Punk Rockers. As someone who loathes most Pop-Punk…I kinda like this record. The songs are fun and catchy even if the story is silly. Some standout tracks are: Fake Punk, Metal Dilemma, and Wallet Chain.



This is the full artwork for Cooked on Phonics. Only a section of it was used for the HevyDevy Records re-release.
The full artwork was condensed and used for the cover of the Japanese version of the album, seen below.



Punky Brüster simultaneously is and isn’t indicative of where Dev’s music would go. While Punk music isn’t something that would appear in his music again, the idea of a concept album with narration and goofy voices is something he would revisit years down the line…

Punky Brüster was released on March 19, 1996. At first it was only released in Japan, but eventually was made available for the rest of the world through Dev’s fan club. Upon release, it made no impact whatsoever. Punky Brüster never played any live shows, and the album really is nothing more than a novelty in Dev’s catalog. Made just for fun on the side while Dev worked on the first SYL album and Ocean Machine.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Tree of the Sun / Blastula
Recorded in October 1995, Limited release. Extremely rare.



Tracklisting:

Side A - Tree of the Sun

1. Phoenix
2. Athena / Red

Side B - Blastula

1. Contain Us
2. Spaztech

Personnel:

Jason Newsted - Bass/Vocals
Devin Townsend - Guitar/Vocals
Scott Reeder - Bass/Vocals
Dale Crover - Drums/Vocals



Dev met up again with Jason Newsted again in October 1995 along with drummer Dale Crover from the band Melvins, and bassist Scott Reeder, formerly of Kyuss. They recorded songs under two different names: Tree of the Sun, and Blastula. Some sources call Blastula “Count Blastula and the Satanitones” but the tape just says Blastula.

Not a lot is known about this project, other than that it happened. The only info I can find about it now comes from a Melvins forum thread from 2004.
https://www.themelvins.net/forum/index.php?topic=1094.0
The thread contains a (now dead) link to an MTV article from 2002. Thanks to the nifty Wayback Machine, we can still read the article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20031212175944/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459315/12272002/metallica.jhtml

Other Chophouse projects slated to surface soon include the Black Sabbath-like Tree of the Sun, which features Townsend, the Melvins' Dale Crover and ex-Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder; the "full death metal" Blastula; and the Satanitones

Like IR8, this project was just done for fun, with no possibility of becoming a full time band. I've never listened to this demo. I've been trying to hunt it down for years now, but no luck. Some say that Jason would hand out tapes from these Chophouse projects like this and IR8 after shows. Jason made one song from the project available for download at some point, but it's no longer available anywhere. Surely Jason has the tapes somewhere, but it’s unlikely that this project will ever get any kind of wide release. I doubt this project is some long lost gem waiting to be uncovered, and the few reviews I’ve seen say that it sounds like shit, but regardless I do hope it surfaces someday.

In 2017 Scott Reeder posted a photo on Instagram of the four guys from these sessions, seen above.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZBsj1ghrT5/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=63ff80e4-2e33-4fb6-93bb-32863029c4c5

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Thanks for the support, I'm glad you guys are enjoying this. 
The next update will come this Monday, the 20th, covering the SYL album City. I've been typing for a week straight and I need a break to eat some carrots or something idk.

[Kwyjibo]

I could never get into SYL, I tried several times, I even own The New Black, although I understand that that is regarded as one of the weaker records, I sampled the other records a couple of times but it just doesn't work for me. It's not that it's aggressive and heavy, I've got no problem with that, but the music just doesn't work for me.

I heard that Punky Brüster record only recently, back then it was hard to get. Listened to it once or twice, it's nice for what it is but it's not really something I would revisit frequently.

[Zantera]

Despite having heard Devin for the first time maybe a decade ago and becoming a fan, I actually didn't listen to SYL at all until this year when I decided I would go through their discography chronologically before seeing him live. Just felt like a blind spot I could easily correct. I didn't avoid SYL for any particular reason before, just one of those "I'll get to it one day" and one day becomes 10 years.

I will say about Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing that my first listen was pretty solid but over the next 4 listens or so I just thought less about it with each time. Particularly when you revisit this album after City or Alien, it's just nowhere near that level. I think it's okay for what it is. I think it has that raw feel of a debut album where you can tell the elements are there but they're not clicking yet. Kinda like On the Sunday of Life by Porcupine Tree or even When Dream and Day Unite by DT. I think also considering City is a fantastic album, it just makes this one feel a bit lacking. I don't think it's required listening for any Devin fan unless they are curious.

Punky Bruster is an album I think of even less. I don't wanna say it's bad but I listened to it once or twice on youtube out of curiosity and for me it didn't even feel worth to download because it would take up space on my drive and I don't see myself revisiting it. But it's okay. Really Heavy as a Heavy Thing is better in my opinion but if I ranked his discography both of these would be close to the bottom, if not in the bottom 3-5.

[twosuitsluke]

Before I do a listen through of these today, just wanted to post some thoughts.

Strapping was my first exposure to Devin, back in 2005. I got a copy of Metal Hammer magazine that had a free CD featuring Love?. I loved that song from the off, and bought the album, but didn't listen to anything else Devin related for about 6 or 7 years.

Zantera, I share the same views with you, in that City and Alien are my go to Strapping albums. Every other release just seems to be missing that special something. Heavy as a Really Heavy thing may be the Strapping album I've listened to least. I'd be surprised if I've heard it more than 10 times.

I'll give it a spin today, but I will say that I watched the music video for S.Y.L. earlier and forgot how good that song is, especially the chorus.

Punky Bruster I've never checked out, but unlike you Metropolaris I DO like pop punk. It's something I've meant to get round to but never have. I have a feeling I won't be that into it, based on the premise, but we'll see.

As for Tree of the Sun / Blastula & The Satanitones, I've never even heard of this project! Unsurprising, as it seems so steeped in mystery. I hope someone can find some audio, it's gotta be out there somewhere. Just a comment on Blastula and the Satanitones, it sounds like it could be related to Ziltoid 

Oh, also Metropolaris (or anyone who can answer), the comment I made yesterday about IR8 not sounding anything at all like Devin. That's not him singing right? Does he just play guitar?

Edit: Ignore me, I've just reread the post and it's Jason on vocals, obviously 

[Zantera]

Zantera, I share the same views with you, in that City and Alien are my go to Strapping albums. Every other release just seems to be missing that special something. Heavy as a Really Heavy thing may be the Strapping album I've listened to least. I'd be surprised if I've heard it more than 10 times.

For me the SYL catalogue is pretty easily divided into 3 categories. City & Alien - fantastic, top tier stuff. SYL & The New Black - mostly good, a bit more inconsistent but some great stuff. Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing - OK. 

[twosuitsluke]

I'll start with a few thoughts and comments on Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, then move to Punky Brüster later on.

As I said earlier, it's possibly the Strapping album I've listened to the least, and City/Alien are generally the ones I stick on if I'm in the mood for SYL.

I will say that on a more focused listen today, the first track S.Y.L. is really good. The intro starts with a kid saying something about "playing for Devy" and "a bear, a big bear. And he ate the kids"   I'm sure I read somewhere that this audio is a young Devin, but I could be misremembering. I love the chorus on this song, and it's clear that the lyrical content is reflecting on the Vai experience. You gotta respect his faith in himself as the 'coming of a new age'. Also, the final line in the song is 'Strapping Young Lad. Cheesy Metalhead'. Classic.

The next few songs are just alright (which is kind of my view on the album as a whole). I noticed on this listen that Goat has a part (and riff) that sounds just like Pantera's 'Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills', from Far Beyond Driven, which came out the year before.

Er, Happy Camper, did they often perform this live as I'd love to see Devin perform this vocally, like how would he even do that. To be fair it sounds like incoherent rambling for the most part, so that's probably how.

I haven't got much to say about the rest of the album proper. It's heavy, and the start of something for Dev, and Strapping as a band, but there is better to come.

I will just talk about the bonus tracks though. I've not heard them before as I don't have that version. The first two aren't as extreme as Strapping, and feel like testing the waters of where his solo work will take him. Was that the purpose? Did he release them as bonus tracks to test the waters as such? They're not bad, either way. Lastly is the Judas Priest cover, Exciter. I'm not really a Priest fan, but I thought this was great. Apparently I prefer artists covering Priest rather than the actual band (see Death's cover of Painkiller).

Metropolaris, you mentioned Priest contacting Devin about joining the band on vocals. Do you know if this cover was before or after that? I love the idea of Priest hearing it and going "wow, this is really cool, we should sign this kid up". However, I think it would be a total Devin thing to do, to turn them down THEN record a cover like "look what you missed out on"

[Zantera]

Metropolaris, you mentioned Priest contacting Devin about joining the band on vocals. Do you know if this cover was before or after that? I love the idea of Priest hearing it and going "wow, this is really cool, we should sign this kid up". However, I think it would be a total Devin thing to do, to turn them down THEN record a cover like "look what you missed out on"

I don't know the answer to this but I remember hearing about the Judas Priest thing and I believe Devin said something like "I turned it down because nobody wants to hear me as the singer of Judas Priest" and it just made me chuckle to myself. A lot of people would just jump at that chance and I love that he saw it from the fan perspective that no matter how good you are, you will never be better than Halford as a Judas Priest vocalist. 

[twosuitsluke]

Metropolaris, you mentioned Priest contacting Devin about joining the band on vocals. Do you know if this cover was before or after that? I love the idea of Priest hearing it and going "wow, this is really cool, we should sign this kid up". However, I think it would be a total Devin thing to do, to turn them down THEN record a cover like "look what you missed out on"

I don't know the answer to this but I remember hearing about the Judas Priest thing and I believe Devin said something like "I turned it down because nobody wants to hear me as the singer of Judas Priest" and it just made me chuckle to myself. A lot of people would just jump at that chance and I love that he saw it from the fan perspective that no matter how good you are, you will never be better than Halford as a Judas Priest vocalist. 

Yea, plus he was so young and.... well, he's Devin. If he went up on stage and was just his weird self I can't imagine any of the hardcore fans being able to take the band seriously 

But even if he did take the gig, there's no way he'd be able to fake it for long.

[Metro]

Pretty sure the cover came after the offer from Priest.
Dev also mentioned in his biography that they announced Tim Owens pretty much immediately after he responded, so they likely made their decision by the time he got the offer letter

Dev apparently blacked out in the vocal booth recording Happy Camper, so I’m surprised to see that they performed it live at least 10 times, according to Setlist.fm

[Buddyhunter1]

In recent years, Dev has dismissed this album as “a couple of good songs and a bunch of demos.”

Yeah, this is pretty accurate. The first two songs are decent, but the rest of the album isn't anything I'd recommend to anyone. Though as others have pointed out, Happy Camper is worth a listen just to hear that ridiculous vocal performance, even if the song itself isn't that good.

[billboy73]

Really enjoying this thread so far.  Pretty cool to read about the offers from Geezer and Judas Priest and learn more about his early years in music.  I really need to pickup his book.

I knew about Strapping Young Lad when they were active, and I had heard them, but I didn't really give them a chance until after I had taken the plunge on Dev's solo stuff/DTP stuff.  I don't listen to the 1st album all that often, but I think Dev's description of it is pretty accurate.

I checked out the Punky Bruster record a few years back, and I enjoy it.  I can get down with some pop-punk. I really like Bad Religion, Lagwagon, NOFX, MXPX.  It is a pretty cool concept and a fun record too.

[twosuitsluke]

After listening to Punky Brüster I get it. There's not really much point in discussing the songs etc, as this is really a further statement on Devin's frustration with the music industry. It lines up with where he must've been at, mentally, at this time.

It is a fairly accurate commentary on the American punk scene in the mid 90s, and the crossover into the mainstream. It also comes across like an episode of South Park or something

I love punk rock in general, but particularly the 90s American skate punk scene. My first introduction to punk was bands like Green Day and The Offspring (the bands he is aiming this at), and I loved them (and actually still do). My favourite punk bands now are NOFX, Rancid and Bad Religion. These three reached huge commercial success in the 90s, crossing over into the mainstream. I genuinely don't think any of these bands started off with the intention to make a lot of money, it just wasn't there for punk bands in the 80s and early 90s. Green Day kinda kicked down the door and why wouldn't these other bands want to make money and play to bigger crowds? Yes the music is simple and straightforward, but that doesn't mean it's bad. There were bands out there trying to make a quick buck of the trend, but they definitely all weren't.

Either way, I get Devin's frustration, and the point of the record. It's a 'fuck you' to those bands, and 'look how easy it is to write a record like this'. In some respects I get where Devin's frustration is coming from but I also think it makes him seem like a bit of an elitist dick, who is jealous of the fame and fortune these bands were achieving. He's long since let go of that frame of mind, and this album is what's left of those sentiments.

My own feelings towards the scene he is jabbing at puts me in a place where I feel myself getting defensive. I feel like he was in a place where he was digging at the scene, but if the album had been a success, he'd have taken the cash. That doesn't line up with the Devin I feel I know from reading and listening to interviews, but this is '96 Devin. I can't remember what he says about it in the book, I'll have to go back and read it.

I'd like to think that he would've purposefully made it bad enough not to sell (which is arguably what he did), but I feel he comes across as bitter, from reading the lyrics. It's kind of a juxtaposition to Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, as on that album he's saying 'fuck you, I'm the future, and I'll do it my way' whereas Punky Brüster is 'fuck you, I'm pissed I'm not making easy money'.

Just my two cents, buuuuuuuuuuut 90s American skate punk fucking rules! As Billboy73 said, bands like NOFX, Bad Religion, Lagwagon, MXPX kick ass!

Dev apparently blacked out in the vocal booth recording Happy Camper, so I’m surprised to see that they performed it live at least 10 times, according to Setlist.fm

Holy shit    listening to it, that fact doesn't surprise me.

[Stadler]

After listening to Punky Brüster I get it. There's not really much point in discussing the songs etc, as this is really a further statement on Devin's frustration with the music industry. It lines up with where he must've been at, mentally, at this time.

It is a fairly accurate commentary on the American punk scene in the mid 90s, and the crossover into the mainstream. It also comes across like an episode of South Park or something

I love punk rock in general, but particularly the 90s American skate punk scene. My first introduction to punk was bands like Green Day and The Offspring (the bands he is aiming this at), and I loved them (and actually still do). My favourite punk bands now are NOFX, Rancid and Bad Religion. These three reached huge commercial success in the 90s, crossing over into the mainstream. I genuinely don't think any of these bands started off with the intention to make a lot of money, it just wasn't there for punk bands in the 80s and early 90s. Green Day kinda kicked down the door and why wouldn't these other bands want to make money and play to bigger crowds? Yes the music is simple and straightforward, but that doesn't mean it's bad. There were bands out there trying to make a quick buck of the trend, but they definitely all weren't.

Either way, I get Devin's frustration, and the point of the record. It's a 'fuck you' to those bands, and 'look how easy it is to write a record like this'. In some respects I get where Devin's frustration is coming from but I also think it makes him seem like a bit of an elitist dick, who is jealous of the fame and fortune these bands were achieving. He's long since let go of that frame of mind, and this album is what's left of those sentiments.

My own feelings towards the scene he is jabbing at puts me in a place where I feel myself getting defensive. I feel like he was in a place where he was digging at the scene, but if the album had been a success, he'd have taken the cash. That doesn't line up with the Devin I feel I know from reading and listening to interviews, but this is '96 Devin. I can't remember what he says about it in the book, I'll have to go back and read it.

I'd like to think that he would've purposefully made it bad enough not to sell (which is arguably what he did), but I feel he comes across as bitter, from reading the lyrics. It's kind of a juxtaposition to Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, as on that album he's saying 'fuck you, I'm the future, and I'll do it my way' whereas Punky Brüster is 'fuck you, I'm pissed I'm not making easy money'.

Just my two cents, buuuuuuuuuuut 90s American skate punk fucking rules! As Billboy73 said, bands like NOFX, Bad Religion, Lagwagon, MXPX kick ass!

I think it's safe to say that in HIS brain, his record wasn't going to sell.  Whether he tanked it or not, there's no precedent for that to have happened.

And look, I'm not bagging on what you like - hell, the live "Jesus of Suburbia" from the "Bullet In A Bible" set is transcendent - but Dev's not wrong.  Green Day is to punk what Nirvana (as compared to Mud Honey, Soundgarden and Green River) are to grunge and what Poison (as compared to Maiden, Sabbath and Motorhead) is to hard rock/heavy metal.   They're the palatable, safe version.  There's no harm no foul in that, but I can imagine for someone like Devin, who at the time felt like he was invested to the maximum in an industry that wasn't either receptive or complimentary of that effort, it was a difficult pill to swallow.

One thing I will say about Devin: I don't know him, I've never met him, but in terms of the "nakedness" he puts in his art, and the candidness of his autobiography and the openness he shows in interviews, I'm not sure there's an artist I can name that has grown - MATURED - so discernibly and so publicly.