Strapping Young Lad — The New Black

intothewellsabyss
Jul 10, 2023
9 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

16 years ago, Strapping Young Lad left us with their final studio album, “The New Black”!

On July 11th in 2006, "Strapping Young Lad" released their fifth and final full-length studio album, “The New Black” via Century Media Records.

When asked by Justin Donnelly (Blistering.com) about the title of the album, and whether SYL were trying to make a bold statement, Devin Townsend answered;

“I don’t think we would be as bold as to say that Strapping Young Lad is the new black. Maybe Gene Hoglan would say that, because he actually named the album. I can’t actually speak for Hoglan and explain exactly why he chose that title, but I really like the title. Hoglan just mentioned the phrase, and we all thought it was pretty cool. It was simply the way it sounded that sold us. The cover is predominately white, so maybe the new black is white?”

Background:

Century Media imposed a strict deadline on the release date of the album: it was to be ready before the 2006 Ozzfest festival.

“All we knew beforehand is that we had all these tours coming up, and we had to get some new Strapping Young Lad material done. We just let it lead us where it wanted to, and ‘The New Black’ is where it did! (Laughs) The album wasn’t rushed. But having said that, there was definitely pressure to get it done by a certain date. We had enough time to finish the album properly. And I think it worked out for the best in the long run. We had a bunch of touring commitments, and basically, if we hadn’t gone into the studio at the time we did, we simply wouldn’t have had the time to do this album whatsoever. I’m happy to say that it all kind of lined up.” — Devin Townsend (Blistering.com)

Despite this, Townsend stated the recording was not rushed, and “The New Black” became a critical, as well as a commercial, success. It was more melodic than any of the band's previous albums and brought back the debut album's tongue-in-cheek humour. While in Germany on tour promoting the album, Devin Townsend also spoke with Justin Donnelly from Blistering.com about “The New Black” and it’s musical direction;

“When it comes to making Strapping Young Lad albums, it’s just a matter of me picking up the guitar and starting to write something. Whatever feels like coming out at that given time dictates the direction Strapping Young Lad takes. There’s no real conscious decision to make things sound the way they do. I simply start writing and go for it. This time around there a little more groove, a little more melody and a lot humour. It’s simply what we came up with at the time. Every album we’ve done has been unique unto itself, and “The New Black” is no different in that regard. It’s never preconceived. It’s not like we sit down and determine whether it’s going to sound like this or sound like that.

We had the opportunity to make this album, and with that in mind, the most honest thing we could do is just let it all come out and let it be what it wants to be. I think maybe this album wanted to be a little more melodic, a little less chaotic and a little easier to relate to. I think the humour plays a big part of that equation. Overall, I’m pretty happy with this album. I’m not hoping for this album to do anything more than what our other albums have done in the past. I don’t care about that. As soon as you put hopes on something, it kind of breaks it down. “The New Black” is just another album in a long line of albums. I’m just happy that we did a good job on it, and that it came out sounding good. The only hope I have is that people enjoy it for what it is, and that we can move on from this.”

"Decimator" references "Depth Charge" from “Accelerated Evolution” (from the Devin Townsend Band). "Far Beyond Metal" is a studio recording of a tour song previously released on “No Sleep 'till Bedtime” and “For Those Aboot to Rock”. "Almost Again" emulates the keyboard-heavy ending of "Truth" from “Infinity” (Devin Townsend solo release). "Polyphony" shares a riff with "Judgement" from “Synchestra” (from The Devin Townsend Band). A riff from "Monument" was later used as the bridge riff of "Lucky Animals" on “Epicloud” (The Devin Townsend Project). An instrumental version of "Fucker" was released on “Contain Us” (Boxed set from The Devin Townsend Project).

(𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚄𝚜)

When asked by Justin Donnelly (Blistering.com) about the technical aspects of “The New Black” and the differences between it and SYL’s previous releases, Devin Townsend said;

“That’s the whole thing that makes this album really stand out more. This album is different on consecutive listens than it is one the first couple I think. As you said, on the first couple of spins, you tend to think that it’s fun, and kind of a rocking Strapping Young Lad album. But it’s only when you live with it a bit more that you realise its just the same old Strapping Young Lad, only presented in a whole new way! (Laughs) You can’t compare “The New Black” with anything else we’ve come up with. For me, what makes the Strapping Young Lad catalogue so effective is the fact that each album is unique unto itself. This one is no different. There’s no thought of comparing it to “Alien”, “SYL” or even “Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing”. I know I can’t, but that’s because I think as an artist it’s not healthy. If you end up comparing albums, you inevitably end up reproducing them in some way. I think “The New Black” has its own identity, only it’s coming from the same place.”

“The New Black” featured guest appearances by GWAR vocalist Oderus Urungus (Who is otherwise known as Dave Brockie [R.I.P.]) as “The Maggot Master” on the re-recorded studio version of “Far Beyond Metal”, a song that up until now had only been performed live, but never saw a proper studio recording. Below, Townsend explains why they finally did a proper recording, and why Brockie was chosen to guest on the song;

“Well first off, the reason why we decided to re-record the song is because the live version didn’t really have any lyrics as such! (Laughs) The other reason was because it had never been represented on an album to the point where it was recorded properly. So we just thought that rather than record somebody else’s song, we would cover our own and beat ourselves to the punch. I’m happy that we chose to do that. In the original version I had lyrics that I borrowed from a GWAR vocalist Oderus Urungus song, and since I had been working with GWAR vocalist Oderus Urungus at the time (As co-producer of their then-upcoming album “Beyond Hell”, I asked Brockie to help out on vocals. He was really cool, and really happy to do it. It turned out pretty cool.”

And then Cam Kroetsch (Guitarist and vocalist for Hoglan’s side project The Almighty Punchdrunk) appears on the very tongue-in-cheek track, “You Suck”. Here, Townsend explains;

“Kroetsch is just Hoglan’s roommate. The song just needed an extra voice, and we figured that Hoglan’s roommate was a singer and easy to get a hold of, so we brought him in. It was as simple as that.”

Canadian punk rocker Bif Naked also makes an appearance, performing lead vocals on (what has been referred to as the anti-single) “Fucker”. Speaking on Bif Naked’s appearance, Townsend explained;

“She’s been in the Canadian music scene for as long as we have, so I guess you can say that freaks unite! (Laughs) We always figured that if we had a female singer on one of our albums, we had to at least get one that looks like a metalhead. ‘Fucker’ is an interesting song because we were told to write a pop song, so we delivered that one! They’re not going to play it anywhere, so fill your boots! (Laughs) Nobody was going to tell us to write a pop song!” (Blistering.com)

Townsend also decided to add a horn section to the song “Antiproduct” to stir things up. This fueled the debate that the line between Townsend’s solo projects and Strapping Young Lad seemed to be blurring with every new project.

Townsend says;

“They’re actual horns too! I was never cool, so I always decided to do uncool things when most people wouldn’t. So it shouldn’t come to any surprise to find me putting horns and flutes in a Heavy Metal song. Some people might find that it dubious decision, but for me, it sounds like “West Side Story”. I think it sounds good. I kind of had it in my head from the beginning to have brass on there, even though it’s a song for Strapping Young Lad. As for what you call the blurred line, in terms of sonically and the melodic elements, I would say that be a fair statement. But overall, this album definitely comes from a Strapping Young Lad headspace no matter how melodic it may be.” (Blistering.com)

The album came packaged with a second CD featuring a sampling of various other Century Media artists. The European version contains two bonus tracks: "The Long Pig" and a cover of (the) Melvins' "Zodiac". The Japanese version contains "The Long Pig" and the instrumental "C:enter:###" (which was also released as an EP).

(𝙲:𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛: ### 𝙴𝙿)

Promotion & Touring:

A music video was shot in late May to accompany the sole single from the album, "Wrong Side", and another video, done in CGI, was made for the non-single song "Almost Again".

In June 2006 Strapping Young Lad embarked on a short festival tour of Europe, including performances at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany, and the Download Festival in England, which was followed by a second stage appearance at Ozzfest in July and August, where they played to some of the largest audiences in their career.

Critical Reception:

Stylus Magazine's Cosmo Lee described it as "heavy, catchy, and with no filler", and About.com's Chad Bowar was also positive giving the album four and a half stars out of five, stating that "this is a CD that's dense and heavy, but also has some memorable hooks".

Having sold more than 4,000 copies during its first week, “The New Black” reached No. 200 on the Billboard 200 chart, No. 15 on the Top Independent Albums, and No. 8 on the Top Heatseekers charts.

Dissolution of SYL:

“The New Black” would unfortunately be the last studio album to be released by SYL, as Devin Townsend decided to dissolve the band sometime after the tour in support of the album.

Townsend recalls that after “Alien”, he already knew that he wouldn't want to continue SYL as a project, and that he already wished to abandon SYL after the release of “City” already, considering the project's purpose fulfilled. In an interview conducted by Terrorizer in August 2006, Townsend explained why he decided to put the band on hold;

“At the end of the day, man, I'm just tired, and old, and bald, and fat, and grouchy, and bored. You know? So I was just like, I'm going to make this record, and do this stupid Ozzfest thing, and tell a bunch of stupid jokes in front of a lot of people at Download, then I'm just going to fuck off for a while. The bigger this gets, the less I care, to the point where I just need to go spend some time with my family. I don't wanna bastardise Strapping and all these other projects by doing it for the money. Strapping was about the big middle finger, and it still is, but I don't think it needs to go any further than this.”

Although Hoglan initially denied the definitive break-up of the band, saying they would go on tour in March 2007, he later stated Strapping Young Lad is on "extended hiatus", and might never reunite again.

In May 2007, during a press conference held to promote his new solo album, “Ziltoid the Omniscient”, Townsend announced his plans to retreat from public view, including giving interviews and touring, to concentrate on his family, and producing solo albums, as well as other people's music. As a result, Strapping Young Lad were effectively disbanded.

Townsend discussed his future projects in a May 2007 Metal Hammer interview, where he stated "there may be some stuff I do in the future that is as brutal and heavy as Strapping, it's just not going to be Strapping". At the time, Townsend's decision to dissolve the band caused a rift between himself and the remainder of the band, who considered SYL to be at the peak of their popularity and potential at the time; according to Simon, the rest of the band remained estranged from Townsend as a result for a time.

Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

▶ Click this link to listen to “The New Black” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-new-black/1045652093

▶ Click this link to listen to “The New Black” via Spotify: The New Black https://open.spotify.com/album/5FOYtDiDDSEXsJ6FAm6kQv

▶ Click this link to watch the official music video for “Wrong Side”: https://youtu.be/xXfnr0pxQQI

▶ Click this link to watch the official music video for “Almost Again”: https://youtu.be/zwuReRw23_0

▶ Click this link to follow the Strapping Young Lad page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044576113870

▶ Click this link to follow Devin Townsend on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dvntownsend

▶ Click this link to follow Gene Hoglan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeneHoglanOfficialPage

▶ Click this link to follow Jed Simon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jed.simon.3

▶ Click this link to follow Byron Stroud on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byronstroudofficial/

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells

Strapping Young Lad — The New Black

Background:

Promotion & Touring:

Critical Reception:

Dissolution of SYL:

Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

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