ZILTOID: LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

I must admit: Im a big fan of this guy! Yet I haven´t really enjoyed his previous live dvds. I just couldn´t connect with them. But this just amazing to me. Espcially the second set with the requested songs. I have never seen a metal act look so happy, as matter of fact I haven´t seen any band look as happy on stage. Another great thing is the awesome between songs banter. "Progressive heavy metal: it´s an adult sport." I smile just thinking of this DVD. No other music DVD has made as happy as this one.

I think this is probably the best place to start getting into Devin. I would suggest that anyone reading this who has not heard Devin before to look from youtube the video for Bastard, or Heatwave or the entire second set. If after watching them, you don´t feel obligated to hear everything this guy has done, then there is something wrong with you. Just joking. I´m sorry. I just haven´t felt like this about a new release in a long time.

Five big hipster stars for this. All bow before the grand master of humorous prog metal!

Ps. I really wish Devin would do a world tour as a stand up comedian!

It took one year and a half of preparation for this project to see the light in Royal Albert Hall. The previous shows on smaller venues were modified versions of what he did on this Blu-Ray. The first set is the whole Ziltoid 2 album with the Ziltoid character, which begins to take shape when Devin saw the movie "Dark Crystal" at 8 years old. Don't try to understand how this character of a space alien had an influence on Devin over the years and what is the meaning behind that story. The music is what it counts and this musician succeeds to create some intense atmosphere with his unique Progressive Metal, where the melody find his way out of a dense and chaotic wall of sound. I wish we could hear more the keyboards sound and the bass that seems to be overshadowed by the guitars and the vocals. The second set is songs request by fans on Facebook. Yes, I think we're going to have more of this kind of thing in the future. If you want to have success on your tour, ask the fans what songs they want and we'll give them! It's not a surprise that the second set has some inconsistency in the quality of the songs for my personal taste. Some songs are a bit too raw if we compare the set list of the previous DVD "Retinal Circus". But this one has a better picture quality and better visuals with a lot of projections on the big screens. The song "The Death of Music" was a nice discovery for me with his slow pace and the nice ending when the vocals are getting louder. It sounds a lot like "Biko" of Petre Gabriel in the Devin Towsend style.