Ziltoid the Omniscient

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Ziltoid the Omniscient
Studio album by Devin Townsend

Publication
(s)

May 21, 2007

Label (s) HevyDevy Records

Genre (s)

Progressive metal

Title (number)

11

running time

53:46

production

Devin Townsend

Studio (s)

The Devlab

chronology
The Hummer
(2006) 		Ziltoid the Omniscient Ki
(2009)

Ziltoid the Omniscient is the ninth studio album by the Canadian musician Devin Townsend . It was released on May 21, 2007 on his own record label, HevyDevy Records . The concept album is about an alien being named Ziltoid from the planet Ziltoidia 9.

Emergence

The idea for the character Ziltoid came to Devin Townsend during a party with friends when it was decided that everyone should create a doll out of socks and with the help of paint. Townsend's sock puppet looked like an alien and was named ciltoid. Townsend described Ziltoid as a kind of self- parody and said of the album that for all its superficial seriousness it was intended as a fun album. The story is about Ziltoid's quest for the ultimate cup of coffee, especially the final song, Tall Latte, intended to show that it's just a coffee shop employee's rambling daydream. Townsend described the album as a very important point in his artistic career, on the one hand he was able to clean his thoughts and ideas with it and on the other hand dared to start again.

Townsend recorded the album from November 2006 to March 2007 at his home studio Devlab in Vancouver , Canada. In the beginning he had neither finished songs nor a finished album concept and began with the songwriting . He played all the instruments himself, only towards the end of the recordings he got support from Dave and Brian Young, with whom he had already worked in The Devin Townsend Band . For the drum recordings , Townsend used a setup called The Drumkit from Hell , which was designed by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah for their album Catch Thirty-Three .

Track list

  1. ZTO - 1:17
  2. By Your Command - 8:09 am
  3. Ziltodia Attaxx !!! - 3:42
  4. Solar Winds - 9:46
  5. Hyperdrive - 3:47
  6. N9 - 5:30
  7. Planet Smasher - 5:44
  8. Omnidimensional Creator - 0:48
  9. Color Your World - 9:44
  10. The Grays - 4:15
  11. Tall Latte - 1:03

Reviews

Michael Edele from laut.de characterizes the music as "typical Devin Townsend bombast, paired with staccato drums and flexible vocals" by Townsend. Hyperdrive in particular shines “with great melodies”, while songs like Planet Smasher have brute guitar riffs in the style of Strapping Young Lad . Cosmo Lee from Allmusic praises the incomparable songwriting and production of the album and calls Townsend the " Frank Zappa of modern metal". Michael Rensen criticizes the radio play-like interludes that take away part of the magic of the music. Musically, the listener can expect a "surprise bag with ... Strapping Young Lad-like attack squads and many inspired, colorful overbombast hymns".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pete Woods: An audience with Devin Towsend & Ziltoid The Omniscient. (No longer available online.) MTUK Metal Zine, 2007, archived from the original on April 11, 2009 ; accessed on December 12, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metalteamuk.net
  2. ^ A b Justin Donnelly: Devin Townsend Feature Interview. (No longer available online.) Blistering.com, archived from the original on December 9, 2007 ; accessed on December 12, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blistering.com
  3. ↑ a b Mark Carras: Devin Townsend Interview. RockMyMonkey.com, June 16, 2007, archived from the original on December 5, 2007 ; accessed on December 12, 2010 (English).
  4. ↑ DEVIN TOWNSEND: 'Ziltoid The Omniscient' North American Release Date Announced. (No longer available online.) Blabbermouth.net, March 29, 2007, archived from the original on August 21, 2007 ; accessed on December 12, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.roadrunnerrecords.com
  5. ↑ Michael Rensen: Devin Townsend: Ziltoid the Omniscient. Rock Hard, accessed October 9, 2012 .

Web links