The New Black
The New Black gives Strapping Young Lad more room for melody without removing their extreme side. Devin Townsend's singing can sound open and recognisable before disappearing back among busy guitars and drums. The songs pay more attention to their individual layers. This makes the album more approachable, though still far from calm.
Decimator establishes that balance immediately. Its heavy foundation meets a melody that comes forward more clearly than you might expect from such a fierce band. Wrong Side then makes convincing use of the combination. The voice rises while the guitars remain active underneath. The song has force and a chorus that gives the activity direction.
Monument develops the switch between screaming and melody. Almost Again moves further towards the more openly melodic side, with singing that holds its place against racing drums. Gene Hoglan provides much more than speed. His playing also brings movement to the dense arrangements and keeps attention on the performance.
Hope builds more gradually before keyboards, guitars and drums make the sound increasingly crowded. This also exposes a tiring side to the presentation. So much sound makes every layer difficult to follow clearly. The deliberately crude humour does not always work either. Fucker feels more like an interruption than an essential part of the whole.
Enough convincing songs remain to balance those problems. The New Black shows that this band can expand their extreme sound without simply playing it less forcefully. The mixture of aggression, melody and occasionally overplayed jokes is uneven. At their best, though, the songs have enough character to compensate for the weaker passages. It is a broader version of Strapping Young Lad that still retains the energy which makes their music distinctive.
