''Ziltoid the Omniscient'' is the tenth studio album by Canadian

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

musician

Devin Townsend Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also ...

, released on his own

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

HevyDevy Records in May 2007, and distributed in America and Europe by

InsideOut Music Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Med ...

. The album is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Some ...

about an extraterrestrial being named Ziltoid from the planet Ziltoidia 9. Ziltoid travels to Earth in search of "your universe's ultimate cup of coffee". A cup of coffee is delivered to him and he is promptly appalled by its taste, declaring it "fetid", and summons the Ziltoidian warlords to attack Earth, facing the full might of Earth's army. Townsend describes the album as a mix between

Strapping Young Lad Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, '' Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing ...

and

The Devin Townsend Band Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also h ...

, with a storyline like that of

Punky Brüster Punky may refer to: *Punky can be used as a nickname for Penelope (given name) * ''Punky'' (TV series), an Irish animated television series * ''Punky Brewster'', an American sitcom television series * ''Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics'', the ...

's ''

Cooked on Phonics Cooked may refer to: * '' Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation'', a book by Michael Pollan * ''Cooked'', a 2005 TV pilot starring comedian Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor ...

''. The album is a solo album, with all music written, mixed, produced and performed by Townsend. All drum tracks were produced with EZdrummer, a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

drum machine, using the ''Drumkit from Hell'' expansion. Townsend played a world exclusive ZTO concert in

Tuska Open Air Metal Festival Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, commonly shortened to Tuska ( fi, pain, agony), is a Finnish heavy metal festival taking place annually in Helsinki. The first Tuska took place in 1998 and the festival has since grown larger every year. The locati ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

on July 2, 2010, where the whole Ziltoid album was played, with a regular

Devin Townsend Project Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also h ...

set the next day. Townsend published a series of online videos involving Ziltoid in a series titled ZTV. In 2014, Townsend announced the recording of ''

Z² ''Z²'' (short for ''Ziltoid 2''; pronounced " zed squared" or alternatively "zee two") is a double album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend and his musical project Devin Townsend Project, released on October 27, 2014. It consists of two album ...

'', a sequel to the original rock opera. The recording of ''Z²'' started in May 2014, and the album was released on October 27, 2014.

Background

Townsend's wife, Tracy Turner, gave birth to their first son, Reyner Liam Johnstan Townsend, on October 4, 2006. Around this time, Townsend withdrew from touring with his

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band

and his

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

group

, explaining that he was burnt out on touring and interviewing. Townsend released an ambient album, ''

The Hummer ''The Hummer'' is the ninth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and his second ambient album. It was released on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records, on November 15, 2006. Music The album chiefly consists of interwoven low frequency ...

'', around this time. Townsend then began work on his next solo album, ''Ziltoid the Omniscient''. "And I really mean solo, in the true sense of the word", explained Townsend. "Nobody was around. For four months I worked completely on my own. I recorded each instrumental track and I also programmed all the drums. ... I was sound engineer and producer and I mixed every note in my cellar with a minimum of gear. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it all on my own." Townsend programmed the drums using ''Drumkit from Hell'', a software drum machine provided to him by

Fredrik Thordendal Fredrik Thordendal (born 11 February 1970) is a Swedish musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the extreme metal band Meshuggah, of which he is a founding member. Along with Meshuggah's rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagst ...

Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer To ...

. "Color Your World" uses a rhythmic pattern spelling "om" from "Info Dump" on SYL's ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

''. It also references "Voices in the Fan" from '' Ocean Machine''. "Hyperdrive" was later re-recorded for '' Addicted''.

Release

''Ziltoid the Omniscient'' was released May 21, 2007, on Townsend's independent label HevyDevy Records. It was distributed in Canada by HevyDevy, in Japan by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, and in Europe by

InsideOut Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Med ...

. A special two-disc edition was also released with three bonus tracks and various multimedia features.

Track listing

The bonus video material contains a "guitar instructional", in which Townsend plays extracts from the songs "Wrong Side" by

and "Truth", and talks about the equipment he uses for recording and live performances. Five webisode skits performed with the Ziltoid puppet, originally broadcast on MySpace, are also included.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, keyboards, programming, production, mixing,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

* U. E. Nastasi – mastering *

– drum support * Dave Young – additional engineering, additional voices * Mike Young – additional engineering * Brian Waddell – additional voices * Marcus Rogers – Video producer / Director. puppet production * Rae Reedyk – puppet production * Travis Smith – artwork

References

External links

''Ziltoid the Omniscient''
(MySpace)
''Ziltoid the Omniscient''
(InsideOut) {{Authority control 2007 albums Science fiction concept albums Devin Townsend albums Inside Out Music albums Puppets Albums produced by Devin Townsend Albums with cover art by Travis Smith (artist)