Monday, August 3, 1998 - The Michigan Daily - 11 trap on for a fun ride ith Lad Adlin RoslI Aly Arts Writer The most criminally overlooked creative mind in music is quite possibly Devin Townsend, mastermind behind the aggressive metal but post-industrial group Strapping Young Lad. The man is a mad genius on par with Ted Kaezvnski. Townsend could actually collaborate with the bomber. Strapping They both employ a simi- lar method, after all, as each Young Lad Strapping Young Lad release is a package of pure No Sleep 'till explosive energy that leaves Bedtime the receiver blown away. * * * Strapping Young Lad now returns with another pack- Century Media age of pure napalm in the Records form of its live album, "No Sleep 'till Bedtime" (an homage perhaps to otorhead's "No Sleep 'till Hammersmith" - or perhaps The Beastie Boys' "No Sleep 'till Brooklyn"). Recorded during the band's trek to Australia, the album magnificently captures- the mayhem and beauty that is Strapping Young Lad. Tight and exciting live versions of songs from previous albums "Heavy as a really heavy thing" and "City" literally explode in your face. The two things that distinguish Strapping Young Lad from its peers are the acknowl- dgement of the ridiculous nature of rock VE catalogu Continued from Page 9 First u forgettable. You In "This song is dedicated to Nancy debut al Reagan," Ashcroft quipped, before in which launching into the slow and steady too-time pulse of "The Drugs Don't Work." was/ hat Throughout the show, Ashcroft (in could be a flawless Midwestern American again." accent no less) cracked jokes about Even d the audience's knowledge of the words m band's early material, guessing that seem to I most of the crowd was assembled of cance ret "people who just come out 'cause of affairs they like Nikes," since the band's hit Next single "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was side fror used in several of the shoe company's Symphon commercials. evening' After a somewhat limp and frazzled ered a t ersion of "Come On," it was clear that veins pr 1e show was approaching the outer soulful limits of greatness, but not quite har- sion and nessing euphoria. Then Robed in a see-through black t- stratosph shirt and white linen pants, Asheroft returned returned for two solo acoustic Symphon encores plucked from the rare and The SPICE Continued from Page 16 on, the girls also performed the song "Move Ccr" from their Pepsi commercial, red and blue Pepsi logos flying all around the video screens. Act 2 opened with two consecutive show stop- pers - the broadway-tinged "The Lady is a Vamp," and then "Say You'll Be There" Then Scary Spice announced that it was time to get naked. Scantily Clad Spice Boys unfolded giant screens to reveal the Fab Four in theirbirthday suits. Naughty parts were cleverly hidden by the fancy chairs they straddled, and we were treated to a throaty rendition of "Naked," one of the more obscure tracks from "SpiceWorld." A 30-year-old woman wearing one of those obnoxious stretchy British flag tank tops began to lambada with her male companion. The daddies in the audience took a trip to the refreshment stands, and the girls finished off their sex interlude with the expected "Two Become (one." And now it's time for the Spice Awards ... Best Hair Extensions - Sporty Most Unnecessary Gold Tooth - Sporty Least Successful Attempt at Cleavage - Sporty Most Tattoos - Sporty Most Tolerable Voice - Sporty Scary Spice Award for Body Piercing -Sporty Yes, Mel C, professionally known as Sporty Spice, won the prize for favorite Spice of the evening. Bouncing all over the stage like a sugar- pop Gwen Stefani, she delighted the little girls with her animated confidence. Six lightning-fast costume changes (these included the velvet bodysuit look, the sparkly t:xe- do look, and the sexy hippie look) added stimuli to this already-inflated extravaganza, and The Spice Girls ended the show with a three-song encore. -After two-and-a-half hours of non-stop, in-your- face Girl Power, it became very clear what the show was all about. Sure, there was mass consumerism, sickeningly catchy tunes,quasi-feministrantingsand gratuitous exploitation ofelunkyplatformshoes. But the crowd was not left unsatisfied. The elit- ist music critics and other intellectual non-believes can boo and moan and make fun all they want. We got exactly what we came for. We got Spice. Don't let the long hair fool you. This guy isn't Hanson's older brother - he's Devin Townsend, the lead singer of Strapping Young Lad. The band's new album, "No Sleep 'till Bedtime," explodes with energy and intensity. music and singer Townsend. Similar to the way Mr. Bungle defies, embraces and parodies rock and heavy music values, Strapping Young Lad rejuvenates the genre. This is best illustrated on the album with the previously unreleased song, "Far Beyond Metal," which Townsend explains is an exercise to show the "cheesy" aspects of "metal." But this band is no joke. Townsend possess- es one of the most amazing pairs of lungs known to man, other than perhaps Mariah Carey. Ile can go into an epileptic burst of barked rage and then a falsetto all in one swoop. On "Oh My God," he breezes through the delivery of the manic verse with lung capacity that Pavarotti could only dream about. As an added bonus, aside from "Far Beyond Metal," two other previously unreleased songs are also included - "Japan" and "Centipede." The gloriously crushing "Centipede" itself is well worth the purchase. - Strapping Young Lad has once again scored a winner with "No Sleep 'till Bedtime." The future of hard music's marriage with technolo- gy does not lie with Fear Factory or Two. It lies with Strapping Young Lad. Just like when Ted Kaczynski was on the loose, you should probably capture Strapping Young Lad while you can - before it strikes again. file of the Verve s expansive e. p was a stripped-down "See The Next One" from 1993's bum, "A Storm In Heaven," h Ashcroft crooned the all- ly lyrics, "I like the way it e the wav it is now" and "It a lifetime before I see you though Ashcroft penned these tore than six years ago, they have an almost spooky signifi- garding the band's current state s. up was "So Sister," a stellar b- m the domestic "Bitter Sweet ny" single, which marked the s high point. Ashcroft deliv- ender, sweeping vocal, neck otruding heroically, emitting a mix of self-confidence, preci- swagger. it was one final shot into the ere, as the rest of the band to key up "Bitter Sweet ny. Verve extended the signature song into a lengthy jam and spilled into several different sections, aided by the eerie electronic noodlings of the pedal- steel guitar. Only time will tell if The Verve can weather the many violent storms that are presently churning within its camp. It has taken the band eight years to reach its pinnacle of success, and the stateside demand for The Verve is only increasing with current single "Sonnet," the third hit off "Urban fyns," starting to sweep the air- waves. Although Ashcroft himself has previously admitted that it is impos- sible for the band to survive without McCabe, such apocryphal notions just might be put to rest very soon considering the strong live perfor- mance The Verve unfurled in his absence Wednesday night, the name Nick McCabe rang only the most muted bells, leaving instead the deafening sounds of a triumphant band deter- mined to let the music speak for create (15 1 it 1 r ' [AwR *x! Y 1RTY' Win a trip for two...