Strapping Young Lad – No Sleep ‘Till Bedtime – Review

Strapping Young Lad

No Sleep ‘Till Bedtime (Century Media)
by Scott Hefflon

If you don’t know who Devin Townsend and Strapping Young Lad are, put down this magazine (or get offline, whatever) and go get Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing and City (or this live “greatest hits” record if you’d rather). Heavy… is not only one of the most creative, mind-blowingly heavy industrial metal albums ever, it’s also funny as shit. And you know how rarely aggression and humor mix. While City is a more straight-ahead cyber roar, it’s worth picking up simply because it’s Devin (and Gene Hoglan on the drums), and you ain’t gonna find a better produced and executed record if you already have everything by Meshuggah. And No Sleep…? Hell, I’ve never seen ’em, but now I know they can “rip you a new asshole and leave you turned inside out like a discarded sock” live. On top of the six tracks culled from the two aforementioned albums, there’s a live version of the unreleased “Far Beyond Metal” and two studio tracks, “Japan” and “Centipede,” previously released only in Japan. The studio tracks are classic SYL, but it’s the mock-metal chorus and Helloween-esque guitar duel of “Far Beyond Metal” that totally wins me over. There’s enough of a fresh look at the released material to make this worth a fan’s money, plus it’s a good glimpse at the smirking madness that is Strapping Young Lad for those who, for whatever reason, have never checked these nuts out.
(2323 W. El Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne, CA 90250)