Ziltoid frikkin rules.
I’m not usually a big metal guy, although occasionally some metal concept albums come along and just really, really do it for me. This is one of those albums. The epically grand, utterly batshit, balls out insanity that is Z2 Dark Matters.
There is a story here, about an alien named Ziltoid, Earth hero Captain Spectacular, an alien War princess and her… childreny… things… called Poozers. The story is completely tongue in cheek, utterly hilarious, and i gotta say, i had a utter and complete blast listening to this thing. If you are into metal and especially into prog metal, you’ve GOT to get this, although i suspect you’re already well aware of this.
The album was released as part of a two album package, although the second album, Sky Blue is completely unrelated. We are only focusing on the Z2 album at this moment.
Think symphonic metal, although instead of focusing on hyper dexterity, it’s all about epic bombast. The utter theatricality of it may turn off some, but i love that stuff, and it’s what sold it.
One very interesting facet of the album’s production is that he invited fans to participate in the choir sections. Fans were invited to record themselves singing the choir parts and these were then collected and mixed into the album. Why hire a choir when your fans can literally make up the choir? That is genius, right there. fans get to be on the album, Devin gets a massive choir for the album, everybody wins.
I’m including a youtube vid that has the entire album on it to review, although i must say, i am not comfortable with this and i urge you, if you like this, please, please buy it. How do you think artists live when you don’t buy the shit they spend their entire existence creating?
You can buy a download of the album here
Or, for not only physical CDs but also plush toys of the Planetsmasher (that is bloody GREAT idea. I should take notes on this merchandising approach) there’s lots of cool stuff at the Devin Townsend online store.
Here it is, in all its balls out, ridiculous brillaince, Z2 Dark Matters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9AcP3VHiak
But wait! Also included here are the 3 episodes from the Ziltoid TV episodes released as a prequel marketing campaign for Z2.
