ZILTOID THE OMNISCIENT

"Ziltoid The Omniscient" is the ninth full-length studio album by Canadian artist Devin Townsend. The album was released through HevyDevy Records (Townsend´s own label) in May 2007. It´s the successor to the ambient/drone/experimental music album "The Hummer" from November 2006. After having recorded and released albums with both his solo project and Strapping Young Lad, and having toured relentlessly since the turn of the millenium, Townsend felt burnt out and withdrew from the scene. His first child was born in October 2006, which probably also contributed to his decision not to tour as much as he had done in the previous years. But in true Townsend style that didn´t mean he stopped working on new music, and the material for "Ziltoid The Omniscient" was written, recorded, produced, and mixed during a four month period in early 2007. It´s truly a solo release as Townsend did everything on the album including producing and mixing the album, and programming the drums using the Drumkit from Hell software. After the release of "Ziltoid The Omniscient" Townsend went on a longer hiatus (at least it was long considering his usual output and touring rate), which he spend rediscovering himself. A journey which led him to stop abusing drugs and alcohol and to spend more time with his family.

"Ziltoid The Omniscient" is a concept album/progressive metal opera featuring a comedy sci-fi story about the Alien Ziltoid from the planet Ziltoidia 9, who comes to earth and demands to taste earth´s best cup of coffee...but becomes furious when he is handed a poor tasting cup of coffee. He then declares war on earth and wows to destroy it. He summons The Planet Smasher for the purpose...and you´ll have to listen to the album to learn how the story ends (which actually makes great sense). Obviously this is a very silly story, but it´s not the first time Townsend has made a comedy themed album, as he already released the "Cooked on Phonics" album under the Punky Brüster monicker in 1996. It´s a similarly silly comedy themed album, although that album´s story is centered around a death metal band who turns into a punk rock group, when they find out that there´s money, fame, and groupies to be made.

Stylistically the material on "Ziltoid The Omniscient" covers a lot of musical ground, and the various sounds and styles from previous Devin Townsend and Strapping Young Lad releases are represented here in some sort of hybrid form. The album therefore features both heavy aggressive riffs and raw screaming vocals, but also melodic parts with clean vocals, multi-layered atmospheric parts, and generally complex and intriguing songwriting. While Townsend is often praised for his drum programming on this album, my ears don´t quite agree, and I think the drums have an artificial quality to them, a human drummer could have eradicated and a more organic tone could possibly have increased the quality of the release. It´s not a major issue, but it´s not exactly a positive either. I understand the reasoning for using drum programming (Townsend´s need for isolation), but I don´t think it was a great idea.

The 11 tracks on the 53:46 minutes long album ebb and flow and one minute the listener is pummeled by aggressive heavy riffs and various extreme forms of vocals, and the next they´re transported to a tranquil place filled with pleasant atmospheric sounds and mellow vocals. The best example of the latter is probably "Hyperdrive". While the re-recorded and re-arranged version of the song, which appears on Townsend´s 2009 "Addicted" album, featuring Anneke van Giersbergen on vocals, pretty much blows this original version out of the water, this version of "Hyperdrive" is actually a great version too. It´s such a pleasant, melodic, and atmospheric track, which is a nice variation after the dramatic and progressive three-song opening to the album. And that´s one of the strengths of "Ziltoid The Omniscient". Other than the silly comedy story line and even more silly narration (the latter which is probably an aquired taste), the album is nicely varied which makes for an engaging listen all the way through the playing time.

The album features a layered, detailed, and powerful sounding production job, but it´s one of Townsend´s more tangible and less ethereal productions. So it´s a more easy listen in terms of sonic output. Overall "Ziltoid The Omniscient" is still a highly adventurous and progressive metal release by one of the most unique artists on the scene. While it may not be Townsend´s most rewarding or representative album, it´s certainly a standout release in his discography. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)