Ziltoid the Omniscient - Devin Townsend

Ziltoid the Omniscient (Devin Townsend, 2007)

1. ZTO - 1:18
2. By Your Command - 8:10
3. Ziltoidia Attaxx!!! - 3:43
4. Solar Winds - 9:46
5. Hyperdrive - 3:47
6. N9 - 5:30
7. Planet Smasher - 5:45
8. Omnidimensional Creator - 0:48
9. Color Your World - 9:44
10. The Greys - 4:15
11. Tall Latte - 1:03

What a trip!  An unholy alliance of progressive rock, death metal, Broadway, ambient, choral, spoken word, science fiction, and (most importantly) humor, Ziltoid the Omniscient charts the nefarious doings of the title character, a self-important, megalomaniacal alien who seeks to destroy Earth after the humans fail to deliver him the ultimate cup of coffee. The over-the-top story hides a fairly humble message: that behind the biggest bluster lies frailty and smallness.

Though every element of this album is pretty fantastic, my favorite part is the humor, particularly the spoken word portions. Everything is delivered with such a grandiose mock-seriousness, particularly Ziltoid's lines. Consider these chestnuts (though I feel like I should be typing them in all caps):

"If there were to be two omnisciences, I would be both! Prepare for the subjugation!"
"Check this out!" (crazy guitar solo) "Simple!  I am the greatest guitar player ever to have lived!"
"Curses! They must have jumped into hyperdrive. Phooey!  Indeed, phooey!"

The music is complex and intense, with layer upon layer of orchestration. Townsend plays all instruments, including the drum machine - and it qualifies as artistic use of what is often thought of as a cheat.  No one could play the drum parts on this album - he programmed unnatural, intense, brutal drums in the heavy sections, adding an alien musicality to his extraterrestrial narrative.  However, there are many moments of tender beauty and mystery in the music as well, particularly in "Solar Winds", "N9", and "Color Your World". Multiple vocal parts form harmonies and choirs at key points, and the emotional arc of the music matches the story.

The story isn't strictly an amusing sci-fi concept. It bleeds through to metafiction and metaphysics with ease, and it is easy to see the world-conquering alien who can't conquer a world as the ambitious musician trying to write "the greatest album ever". This self-deprecating twist makes the album endearing and humble, odd words for an opus that, on the surface, is a pretentious and demanding musical journey, and that certainly is a virtuostic and larger-than-life creation.

Arbitrary rating: 5 out of 5 self-deprecating twists