Ziltoid the Omniscient 
Artist: Devin Townsend 
Label: InsideOut Music 
Length: 11 tracks / 53:45 min 

Clip: http://www.myspace.com/ziltoid  

The madman of metal, Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad) has been watching far too many sci-fi “B” movies and drinking copious amounts of java.  But good for us!  The result is the wonderfully zany Ziltoid the Omniscient, a heavy metal space opera, the plot revolving around the alien Ziltoid, who threatens to destroy the Earth after being presented with a “fetid” cup of the bean.

The album is largely instrumental, with spoken dialog introducing most tracks.  The dominant styles are airy, ethereal soundscapes contrasted with overkill, double bass drums, no doubt the result of a few double espressos.  In the softer parts, Townsend adopts a subdued-to-theatrical baritone, but to get an idea of his vocal style when he really gets going, imagine the Tazmanian devil singing in such a way that you could just understand most of what he says.

Ziltoid the Omniscient might come off as just a really heavy Porcupine Tree if it were a typical album, but everything works surprisingly well in the context of the plot and the silliness of the entire project, typified by the following exchange between Ziltoid and the Creator:

Creator: What's on your mind, bro? 

Ziltoid: Modular forms and elliptic curves! Infinite fire revolving around infinite parallel fractals of infinite reality, each cascading, gliding in an infinite wheel. Tell me the true nature of my reality! 

Creator: You gotta chill, man.

Dan Singleton 
December 8, 2007