Alien

Alien is the fourth album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on March 22, 2005. The album was written by Devin Townsend and Gene Hoglan over a six month time period. The album reached No. 32 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and No. 35 on the Top Independent Albums chart. "Love?" became the album's single and had a music video which aired on Headbanger's Ball. The video (a tribute to the movie The Evil Dead) depicts the band performing in a haunted cabin in the woods. Critics praised Townsend's inventiveness and the dynamism of the songs in which "melody and discord meet midway"; Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wrote "Strapping Young Lad have raised the bar yet again", while Blabbermouth.net's Krista G. called it "a total and complete metalized SHIT FIT" and one of the best albums of the year. Townsend himself has gone on to state that "Alien" is the Strapping album that he's "most proud of".