Alright, so this is a little late, but I’ve been listening to Devin Townsend’s new album Ziltoid The Omniscient lately and wow, this album kicks ass! I’m not a huge Devin Townsend fan myself, in fact aside from skimming through some Strapping Young Lad—which I didn’t care for at all—this is the first DT album I’ve heard. So, I came to Ziltoid with fresh ears and it sure was a treat.
Ziltoid The Omniscient is an outrageous sci-fi rock opera. It combines the best of old campy science fiction stories with over the top metal antics. Basically, Ziltoid is a self proclaimed omnidimensional guitar hero from the 5th dimension. As such, he has control over all time and space, unfortunately this power can only be harnessed when fueled by the universes finest cup of coffee. As everyone knows, the only place coffee grows is on Earth. Thus sets the stage for an epic intergalactic battle between Ziltoid’s armada and Earth’s greatest hero Captain Spectacular.
Like I said, I’ve been loving on this album. It’s not just the campy sci-fi plot that I love—that doesn’t hurt tough—ZTO is just an all around great album. For the most part the music is straight up heavy metal, driving guitars and pounding drums maintain a frantic pace throughout the album. I can appreciate the pace especially considering that a couple of the tracks come close to hitting the 10 minute mark. In addition to Devin’s guitar wizardry that keeps ZTO chugging ripping along, the songs are heavily layered. Each song is thick, creating this tasty soup for your ears—mmmmm, ear-soup.
After listening to ZTO a couple times I formed a new appreciation for Devin Townsend’s vocal abilities, which are phenomenal. This guy can sing in so many crazy-assed voices that he could give Jim Henson—bless his soul—a run for his money. While the voices are funny, Devin pulls them off in such a serious manner that you really don’t get the impression that you’re listening to a goofy cartoon.
So, I give Devin Townsend’s Ziltoid The Omniscient a big fat thumbs up. If you are fan of the old Heavy Metal movie, campy sci-fi, rock operas, or just have a perverse fascination with big green sock puppets then you’ve got to check out this record.
“…if there were to be two omniscients, I would be both.”
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