Alien (album)
| Alien | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Studio album by Strapping Young Lad | |||||
| Released | March 22, 2005 | ||||
| Recorded | 2004 at The Armoury, Vancouver | ||||
| Genre | Extreme metal, technical death metal, industrial metal | ||||
| Length | 54:45 | ||||
| Label | Hevy Devy, Century Media | ||||
| Producer | Devin Townsend, Strapping Young Lad | ||||
| Strapping Young Lad chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Devin Townsend chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Alien is the fourth studio album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on March 22, 2005. The album was written by Devin Townsend and Gene Hoglan over a six-month time period.
The album reached No. 32 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and No. 35 on the Top Independent Albums chart. "Love?" became the album's single and had a music video which aired on Headbanger's Ball. The video (a tribute to the movie The Evil Dead) depicts the band performing in a haunted cabin in the woods.
Townsend and Hoglan were the primary writers of the album, since Simon and Stroud were busy with other commitments. To prepare for the recording of Alien, Townsend had stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder; he explained that the final track, "Info Dump", is a reflection on the panicked state of mind that ensued when he stopped taking his medication. Townsend has stated that the easiest track to record for the album was "Zen", and the most difficult track to record, "Skeksis", was also his favourite. The making of Alien was documented and made viewable online on Century Media's official site in February 2005. It was also available as a bonus DVD of the limited first edition of the album. The band recorded a cover of Tom Jones's "What's New Pussycat?" that was scheduled to appear on Alien, but it was not recorded entirely because "it did not fit the flow" of the album. The song is not expected to be released anytime, even though Blabbermouth.net has reported so.
Due to some kind of error, the unmastered promotional release of Alien (and subsequently the early leaks of the album on the internet) contained the longer version of "Love?" and a version of "We Ride" which had most of the guitar solos missing. Also, on this promo release the track "Thalamus" was credited as being called "Landscape". Previous to the promotional release, press releases credited "Thalamus" as being called "Mega Bulldozer".
The Morse code in "Info Dump," which translates to "om", was later used to create the rhythm used at the end of "Colour Your World" on Ziltoid the Omniscient.
...
Wikipedia