Released February 11, 1997 Length 39:22 Label Century Media Records | Recorded 1996 Release date 11 February 1997 | |
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City
(1997) No Sleep 'till Bedtime
(1998) City
(1997) No Sleep 'till Bedtime
(1998) Artists Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend Genres Heavy metal, Thrash metal, Industrial metal, Industrial music Producers Devin Townsend, Daniel Bergstrand Similar Strapping Young Lad albums, Progressive metal albums | ||
City is the second album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 1997. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art. Frontman Devin Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record City, including prolific drummer Gene Hoglan, and Townsend's former bandmates Jed Simon on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass. The album was critically acclaimed with Revolver naming it one of "the greatest metal albums of all time", and it is widely considered Strapping Young Lad's best work.
Contents
Velvet kevorkian all hail the new flesh strapping young lad
Background
After releasing the first Strapping Young Lad album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, as a solo album, Townsend recruited a permanent line-up for the second album: Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass and Gene Hoglan on drums.
Devin moved to the UK to work with the Wildhearts, before moving back to Vancouver to work at a restaurant. He then decided to move to LA and "move in with some mutual friends and (I) slept on their couch and wrote "Ocean Machine" and "City.". The album was written about the city of Los Angeles.
City was remastered and re-released in 2007, and included several unreleased tracks, as well as a Japanese bonus track and the video for "Detox". The album was re-released in 2012, and includes a CD version of For Those Aboot to Rock: Live at the Commodore as a bonus disc. Teddy Möller (credited as "Septic Ted") from Loch Vostok appears as a guest saxophonist on the joke-track "Headrhoid".
Bonus track "Centipede" is featured on all versions of No Sleep 'till Bedtime, and samples a percussion loop from "Happiness in Slavery" by Nine Inch Nails.
Reception
City received highly positive reviews. Kerrang! praised the album for its heaviness, claiming it sounded like "sticking your head into the jet nozzle of a Stealth Bomber", while Metal Hammer ranked it No. 13 on its "Top 20 Albums of 1997" list. The album gained a cult following and a loyal fan base for the band. City is considered to be the band's best effort by a large number of fans and critics alike.
In 2002, the album was No. 45 on Revolver magazine's "69 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" list, and was on their "Must Have Metal Albums" list in 2005. It also appeared on the "100 Most Important Albums of the Nineties" list conducted by Terrorizer. Townsend himself stated City "is the real Strapping record. That's the ultimate one out of all of them". City sold over 9,000 copies its first week. The song "Oh My Fucking God" was later covered by fellow Canadian extreme metal band Cryptopsy, for a compilation album by Century Media.
Public reception
City was very well received by the public. On Rate Your Music the album has an average rating of 3.85 of 5, based on more than 1,100 ratings, and on Sputnikmusic the album has a "superb" average rating of 4.4 of 5, based on more than 1,050 ratings.
Track listing
All tracks written by Devin Townsend, except as noted.
Strapping Young Lad
Additional musicians
The Cruxfrog Choir
Val (Chris Valago), Stoolie B. Flames (Byron Stroud), The Tower, Pete "this beer reminds me of the beaches in Portugal" Maia
Additional personnel
Songs
1Velvet Kevorkian1:17
2All Hail the New Flesh5:24
3Oh My Fucking God3:35