Apparently Devin Townsend was to disband SYL after ‘97’s City album, which would have been a tragedy. But they say September 11 rekindled the anger and aggression in him sufficiently to resurrect the Metallic beast , and the result was ‘03’s ‘SYL’, a more organic, although no less devastating release.
Now in early ‘05, Devin and co. unleash ‘Alien’, and upon initial listens the word devastation springs immediately to mind again. Once again, the band signals it’s intentions from the get-go, with the typically blistering, but symphonic ‘Imperial’ (and it’s immortal opening line ‘We have returned’!)
And once again Devin and his loyal sidemen take us on an apocalyptic journey through the scariest imaginable industrial flavoured soundscapes, but tempered with very Devin-esque glimpses of melody. You may have read that Alien seems to combine the noise of City, with the organic clarity of SYL. I believe this to be the case, and it culminates in Alien being Strapping’s strongest and most appealing release to date.
No standouts here – the album is wall to wall strength, with the song writing and playing being of as world conquering calibre as you would expect. Even the quite piece ‘Two Weeks’ is a very nice surprise. Devin is yet again in very fine fettle, vocally, especially in ‘Thellamus’
Overall, stunning results. But then we’ve come to expect nothing less of Mr Devy Townsend. Strapping deliver on every possible level yet again.
Alien gets ****1/2
A quick word on the accompanying DVD. It’s an excellent documentary on the making of the album. Definitely one of the more worthwhile DVD’s I’ve seen with an album release I’ve yet seen.
Classic Album Review – Strapping young lad – Alien
Dream Theater – Black Clouds and Silver Linings
I have every DT album ever made, and I was looking back over their back catalogue the other day. I realized that they have released a brand new studio album every two years, without fail, since 1997’s ‘Falling into Infinity’.
Add into this equation numerous live albums, ‘official’ bootlegs, plus the fact that they tour their arses off for months and months on end and all have side projects and solo ventures when they’re NOT doing DT, and you have one hell of a ridiculously prolific bunch of musos. These blokes must live, eat, sleep and shit music!
The upshot of all of this DT is an incredible band to be a big fan of. You can rely on them to have something brand new out by the time you’ve fully ingested the previous one! Plus most of their fans can get to see them live too if they want to. They’ve even started coming here regularly!
But of course, questions remain (and their fickle fans tend to ask them in a very overt and demanding fashion!). What does the prolific nature of their output do to the QUALITY of it? Do their extra-curricular activities have an effect? And, oh yeah, what’s the new album like? (yes, I’m getting there!)
Well, let’s just say that Black Clouds and Silver Linings is a damn fine DT album. It ain’t their best, and I’m one who believes that they don’t actually have a ‘worst’ album, just their absolute ball-tearers and their really really good ones. This one is in the latter category, where I would place every one of their releases since ‘Train of Thought’, which was their last ball-tearer and finest moment, in this fan and writer’s humble opinion.
The songs themselves are rock solid epic length Dream Theater tours de force, as we come to expect. There are heavy, almost thrashy moments, there are some semi-cheesy ballads (actually possibly a little too much of this), there’s moments of soaring melody, twists and turns, complexity, odes to previous tunes and of course levels of musicianship light years beyond the aspirations of mere mortals.
In a nutshell, let’s just take the easy road and use a couple of clichés. Black Clouds and Silver Linings is par for the course, business as usual for these legends of prog! Bring on the tour.
It gets ****.
Brown hair and busty Rose
Self-confident Rose is a pure poem exibition, every single photo of her tells more than a thousand words. Wrappend in beauty – it’s no real surprise to know that she normaly works as a personal trainer.
Lady Gaga and the Vienna Sausage Mystery
Mister Gaga?
Lady Gaga. Kind of a strange chick. My wife decided to by her last CD – you know the one with the song “poker face” and something about wanting to ride your disco stick? Yeah, that one. I listened to her – she’s not too bad, I suppose. Her looks remind me of Cher. Remember Cher? Holy Shit do I remember Cher. She was very – ethnic looking and awfully damn sexy. And Lady Gaga seems to share those qualities, too (I guess). But, evidently, Gaga was filmed dancing on stage and it sparked rumors across celebrity gossip websites that she is (du du duuuunnnhhh) a hermaphrodite.
SEE CONTROVERSIAL FOOTAGE HERE.
Hollyscoop.com reports there’s a rumor spreading like wildfire on the internet that Lady Gaga has both male and female reproductive parts and she’s reportedly even addressed it in the past.
”It’s not something that I’m ashamed of, just isn’t something that I go around telling everyone. Yes. I have both male and female genitalia, but i consider myself a female,” she reportedly wrote in a blog back in December 2008. “I think this is a great opportunity to make other multiple gendered people feel more comfortable with their bodies. I’m sexy, I’m hot.” And you have a dick. How many multi-gendered people do we have in the world? Actually -The term “intersex” has been used and preferred by many such individuals, encouraging medical professionals to use the term. 
Lady Gaga raised eyebrows during the Glastonbury festival in England when the footage of her was shot and has since hit YouTube.
But Lady Gaga’s manager has told media outlets including ABCnews.com that the rumors of her being a hermaphrodite were “ridiculous.”
Hmmm.
There are roughly 307 million people in the United States, 50 million of which do not have health care. That’s roughly 16.4% of the population. Does it strike you odd that the rest of the United States, 83.6% of us, are not real interested in giving up our standard of health care? The main problem is, they cannot afford to raise the healthcare of the 16.4% to the same level of care that the 86.3% have, and so – they plan to lower the playing field so that everybody gets crappy healthcare. And of course the 86.3% get to pay for it. As if we don’t pay enough for healthcare as it is. We’re not too happy about that and we are letting our voices be heard as Congress takes their summertime break. Townhall meetings across the US are showing a lot of pissed off people. I will tentatively agree that something must be done to bring healthcare prices down, but I whole heartedly believe that Obamacare is simply NOT the answer.
What the answer is - I don’t know – Wouldn’t even PRETEND to know – but I do know that a government run healthcare system as broad and as far reaching as this plan is just one step closer to socialism.
Ain't she cute?
Nude photographs of “Twilight” star Ashley Greene have hit the Internet — and the actress’s attorney has a warning: post them and you’ll likely get sued. “The photos in question, which appear to be of our client, are illegal and are being unlawfully displayed,” Greene’s lawyer said in a statement. “Our client intends to take legal action.” Greene, 22, appeared Sunday at the Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles, California, where she picked up the Choice Fresh Face Female award. In total, “Twilight” netted 11 trophies at the awards show. The actress is the latest starlet involved in a nude photo scandal. Recently, Leighton Meester denied the existence of a long-rumored sex tape. And in 2007, naked photos of Vanessa Hudgens surfaced online, forcing the actress to apologize to her fans. Now, not that I wouldn’t want to see young Ashley with no clothes – I don’t want anybody posting those pics here – - (you can post links, though 
)
So we have a new member here at Ozami: Veni Vidi Vici – A renaissance man – wears make-up and chases deer and elk through the woods with sharp pointy sticks. Yep, you guessed it – He’s (probably) Canadian. No way, eh? Be sure to drop him a line or two in the forums - – he seems to be buying everybody beer – which means he is either Canadian or a Politician.
Which brings me to this joke:
An American, a Scot and a Canuk (American slang for a Canadian) were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.
“Well,” said the American, “I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and that for a donation of $100, we could return to the earth.”
He continued, “So of course, I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $100, and the next thing I knew I was back here.”
“That’s amazing!” said one of the doctors, “But what happened to the other two?”
“Last I saw them,” replied the American, “the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay for his.”
