Strapping Young Lad

House of Blues, Anaheim

All I can really say about SYL is that they fit in with the rest of the bands on that particular night I saw them. Stuck between Full Blown Chaos and Superjoint Ritual, they played an unexceptional 40-some-odd-minute set of mostly mediocre metal. Don't get me wrong, I like metal as much as the other head-banger, but after coming off of two weeks of shows including performances by Static-X and Type O Negative, I was more than a little disappointed by the entire lineup. Singer/guitarist Devin, who looks something like a cross between an 80 year old metal head and the Cryptkeeper, led his other four band mates which included another guitarist, bass player, keyboard player and a drummer. Devin was somewhat entertaining at least, if not highly comical. Spending half of the time between songs exhorting the almost totally male audience to come up and suck his dick was a new twist I hadn't really experienced before ... especially at a metal show. But all hilarity aside, they played well and sounded tight, but for one reason or another their music and stage presence really didn't strike a chord with me. The 3/4 full audience seemed to appreciate them a lot more than I did, so maybe they're more of an acquired taste. Go if you really really really really really like metal ... if you don't it's gonna be a grind.

You can find SYL's homepage here.