Devin Townsend and his band of merry mayhem makers seemingly painted themselves into a corner with the City album in 1997, as it established SYL as a force to be revered rather than merely reckoned with (‘cuz nobody had the nads or chops to do so). The self-titled follow-up (2003) and Alien (2005) were heralded as genius by some and unpalatable noise by others, seen overall as inferior to City by the vast majority of fans in that they didn’t possess the same “it.” And while The New Black may earn its share of detractors, fact is this is as close as Strapping has gotten to City and in some cases has actually surpassed the majesty of said platter. The melodic, streamlined and dynamic City sound has returned, with Townsend seemingly less intent on bludgeoning the masses into submission. Not that the band has lightened up - not by a long shot. Drummer Gene Hoglan is an absolute monster, tearing the world a new one on ‘You Suck’ and ‘Wrong Side’, putting in a “don’t try this at home, kiddies” performance on the oddly infectious ‘Almost Again’. Townsend, meanwhile, screeches bloody murder (as expected) from beginning to end but allows his Synchestra persona to make some brief and welcome appearances. Lyrically he makes Zakk Wylde and Alexi Laiho sound like pansies with his creative use of the almighty “F” word. He also does a fair bit of tongue-on-ass-cheek praise of metal, as if to show cheesemongers Manowar how it should be done. The album is loaded with high points – ‘You Suck’, ‘Decimator’, ‘The New Black’, ‘Fucker’ – but the orgasmic pinnacle for many SYL diehards will be the highly anticipated studio version of ‘Far Beyond Metal’ which originally appeared on the live outing, No Sleep Til Bedtime. It is THE tribute to metal, reproduced in all its glory for the band’s followers right down to the Simon/Townsend guitar solos. The Devin/left channel, Jed/right channel guitars that run through the whole album are also a beautiful touch. No doubt some people will whine that The New Black isn’t as heavy and abrasive as Alien, they’ll complain about Bif Naked appearing on ‘Fucker’ and about the horns on ‘Antiproduct’. But bitching about what Townsend And Co. do is like bitching about a hurricane: no matter what you say or do, it’s coming down so you might as well shut up and deal with it.