Last week, I reviewed Alien by Strapping Young Lad, and I mentioned that they had an album from eight years before, called City, that was just as good if not better.  The fact that the band made two stellar metal albums so far apart speaks to the talents of Devin Townsend, and the bandmates he has playing with him.  Strapping Young Lad is a sheer monster of an extreme metal band, and City might be their magnum opus.

The album opens with a track called "Velvet Kevorkian," which prepares the listener for the beautiful chaos that follows.  And what follows might be the best three track sequence in SYL history. “All Hail the New Flesh,” “Oh My ****ing God,” and “Detox” is a triple threat of metal mastery.  Every song is blistering, and Devy flashes his vocal brilliance by ranging from screams of rage to high-pitched shrieks to melodic clean singing.  He also sings at a ridiculous pace in the middle of the three songs.  All in all, the album would be worth it if it were just these three tracks.

But, the album just keeps going, as the song “Home Nucleonics” starts with a voiceover saying “The beat starts here.”  And that it does.  “AAA,” “Underneath the Waves,” and “Room 429” all earn their place on this disc, and "Spirituality," puts a perfect cap on the madness that came before.  It’s fantastic stuff.

Let me backtrack to “Detox” for a second.  I may be biased, because this is my absolute favorite SYL song, but it is deserving of that esteemed post.  The song starts with a crunching guitar riff, followed by some vocals, and the guitars are then joined by the pounding drums of Gene Hoglan.  And pounding the song is.  It is five minutes of pure musical power, but features a perfectly placed clean section, which contains some of Townsend’s best SYL clean singing.  If anyone asks me what Strapping Young Lad sounds like, this is the song I send them or have them listen to. 

And for that reason, I think City is better than Alien.  Alien might be a more well-rounded album, but City’s “good” songs are just insane and outweigh everything else.  City is Strapping Young Lad.  The vocals are maniacal, the guitar work is blistering, and the drums are pounding and relentless.  It is what SYL is, and that’s a good thing. 

SYL has three other albums aside from City and Alien, but none of them come very close to the sheer brilliance of the former two.  Devin was at his best when he wrote these two albums, and it’s a shame the band is on hiatus.  But as for City, considering that Townsend was 25 when he wrote it, the metal community knew they had someone special on their hands, and a special band that would be around for many more years. 

City is one of those albums that every fan of extreme music should own.  Nothing will disappoint, and the listener will come back for more punishment every single time.  Where does the beat start?  The beat starts here.  10/10