ZILTOID THE OMNISCIENT

When I first heard Ayreon's The Human Equation album, I was intrigued by a number of the voices that I heard on it, Devin Townsend's being one of them. To be honest, I was a bit intimidated to delve into his discography because I thought his speed metal tendencies might not be to my taste. But after reading a couple of favorable reviews of this album with the silly name, I thought it might be time to give the Canadian hard rocker a try.

Well, I'm sure you've already noticed the number of stars I have given this album, so I think it's obvious what I thought. Surprised...Stunned...Amazed. This album left me speechless. Are all of those voices really Devin's? This is a fabulous album in the prog metal genre.

Things start off with a searing speed-metal introduction to the concept's main character, Ziltoid. I love this start for a number of reasons. First, the music and the concept quickly let the listener know that this is going to be a tongue-in-cheek musical, with quality humor and even higher quality music. Second, the very first minute of music incorporates much of what makes this album so nice: impressive speed metal sections combined with richly layered vocal tracks, another fine rendition of Townsend's patented "wall of sound."

I especially enjoy the more melodic parts of this album which can be found in the tracks "Solar Winds", "Hyperdrive", "Color Your World" and "The Greys" with these latter two songs being my favorite part of the album as there is a huge build-up and a very dynamic finish in "Color Your World" with the "Creator of the Omniverse" screaming at a defeated Ziltoid that "WE ARE ALL PUPPETS!", only to fade out with the beautiful closing in "The Greys."

Well done Devin! Thanks for singing on The Human Equation as it would have taken me much longer to find out about you. This is definitely a prog metal masterpiece worthy of five stars.