Review Summary: 3/4 SYL+The Heathen=Yum...
When You Were Shouting at the Devil...We Were in League With Satan
Strapping Young Lad was a band that unleashed unrelenting heaviness on the listener musically and vocally, but sometimes combated that with comedic breaks to keep the listeners’ heads from exploding. Well, three-fourths of the members of SYL decided to release their more comedic side in a band named
Zimmer’s Hole, which they formed in 1994. 2008 finds the Comedic Thrash-Metal band releasing
When You Were Shouting at the Devil...We Were in League With Satan adding drum aficionado Gene Hoglan to the mix. The result is a fantastic album that will fill the hunger of SYL fans, Death Metal and Thrash fans, and comedy fans all at once.
When You Were Shouting at the Devil...We Were in League With Satan doesn’t tread too far away from the tried and true approach of SYL. Elements of death metal, industrial, and thrash are combined with an outrageous vocal performance by Stan AKA The Heathen (Chris Valagao). Outrageous is one way to describe Valagao’s vocal approach here. From screams, to growls, to power-metal vocal explosions, Valagao displays impressive range. His lyrics combine the perfect amount of metal cheesiness and comedy. The title track displays all of his range in vocals from the power metal blasts of “When you were shouting at the devil” to the growls of “We were in league with Satan.” The song is about how good metal is and how every other style of music is, quite frankly, “gay.” After the vocals, the next thing the listener will notice is Gene Hoglan. His drumming, as always, is superb. Every moment of the album, he keeps the drums intense, fresh, and perfectly fitting for the intensity of the music. The drumming to open [i]We Own the ***ing Land[i] is simply stupendous, not utilizing insane technicality, but still sounding tight as the living daylights. Every track of the album displays why Hoglan is considered to be a legend.
The guitars of the album, however, are not too shabby either. Jed Simon and Chris Stanley create sharp and crushing riffs in each of the songs that provide a strong backing to the insanity of the drums and the vocals. Unlike on most Strapping Young Lad releases, there is a much greater Thrash influence. There are more solos on this album then the first four SYL albums combined and they are all very well-done always complimenting their respective songs perfectly.
Devil’s Mouth features some fantastic riffs throughout that lead to some superb soloing. Byron Stroud is on the bass and though he’s still not audible a lot of the time, when he is heard, it’s solid. All three guitarists step it up on this album and show their ability much more clearly on this album than on SYL albums of the past.
What’s My Name…Evil! truly embodies everything the band is. Guttural growls throughout compliment the chugging riffs and double bass work. A pair of fantastic solos are also found here. The track and album end with the sound of animals growling at each other, backwards vocals, and one final growl. It’s the perfect combo of quirkiness and insanity to end this beast of an album.
The comedic elements of this album cannot be overlooked.
Anonymous Esophagus goes into detail about groupies pleasing members of the band with their mouths and throats.
Fista Corps discusses the wonderful world of Necrophilia. Nathan Explosion from
Dethklok also makes an appearance on the stand-out comedic track,
The Vowel Song which is just that, a song in which “A,E,I,O,U, and sometimes Y” is growled in dual vocals by The Heathen and Nathan. Zimmer’s Hole provides a breath of fresh air in that they are a metal band with a vast amount of talent that doesn’t take themselves too seriously.
This album does have some negatives. First is the style of humor. It’s not what most would refer to as extremely intelligent or high-brow. The comedy is immature, vulgar, and even juvenile throughout. The cheesiness of some of the lyrics could also be off-putting, however this is more of an ode to classic metal acts of old rather than to be taken seriously. This definitely would not be for those who only enjoy extra-serious listens. The bass is also not too high in the mix, though it’s much better here than on any Strapping Young Lad album. Neither of these things greatly takes away from this generally excellent album.
With
When You Were Shouting at the Devil...We Were in League With Satan, Zimmer’s Hole release an excellent album that not only will tickle old SYL fans, but one that people who didn’t especially like SYL could also get into. Thrash elements have been added in great degrees with fantastic solos and crushing riffs. The stupendous production, by Devin Townsend (had to mention him once), makes the album sound clean and crisp. Hoglan is fantastic as usual and The Heathen’s range will keep fans of every vocal style happy. Any fan of death metal that is able to take the music as it is, a fun exercise of cheesy metal awesomeness, will find something to like on this album.
Recommended Tracks
When You Were Shouting at the Devil...We Were in League With Satan
We Rule the ***ing Land
The Vowel Song
My Name Is…Evil!
