As witnessed by many just over a year ago, Strapping Young Lad?s tour off the back of their third studio release was simply brutal sounding and relentless from start to finish.

Much has to do with the fact that main man Devin Townsend (Vocals and guitar) was a man inspired, and with the rest of his all star Strapping Young Lad crew (Guitarist/vocalist Jed Simon, bassist Byron Stroud, keyboardist Munesh Sami and drummer Gene Hoglan), the band certainly delivered the intensity of Strapping Young Lad out on stage night after night.

In celebration of the band unity (Both personally and in the music sense) on the tour, they?ve decided to show everyone just how the Strapping Young Lad puts on a show, with ?For Those Aboot To Rock? (Typical Townsend humour in the title) shot in front of a hometown crowd at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver (Canada).

The show pretty much packs in the best of Strapping Young Lad?s material into one huge show, with the epic introduction ?Dire? being played out in front of an expecting crowd as the band make their way onstage.

Then the assault literally tears the place apart. For the next seventy minutes, Strapping Young Lad punishes their instruments (Along with the crowds eardrums for that matter) with a set that covers most of the Strapping Young Lad album, along with the bands standards.

?Consequence?, ?Relentless?, ?Rape Song?, ?Devour?, ?Aftermath? (A particular favourite of mine from the last album) and ?Force Fed? all seem to be fleshed out in the live sense, and a lot more live sounding outside of the studio. Townsend?s demented stage persona is certainly evident with the newer songs (Which is only enhanced with the ridiculous one liners between the numbers, and performing with an oversized foam cowboy hat towards the latter part of the show!), while the remainder of the band are well represented with an awesome sound mix that allows them all to stand out.

For the other half, classics such as ?In The Rainy Season? and ?SYL? are lifted from 1995?s Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing, while 1997?s City is represented by ?Home Nucleonics?, ?Oh My Fucking God?, ?Detox? and ?All Hail the New Flesh?.

The encore is also worthy of a mention as Drew (Who happens to be an audience member) is brought up onstage to wail away through the final number ?Far Beyond Metal?. It might be painful to watch (And Listen to), but the look on the bands faces is certainly worth a smile.

Footage wise, the show offers plenty of visuals for the viewer with loads of split screen shots so none of the action is missed, without cutting across from shot to shot to much like many other live shows do.

Apart from the live show, there?s also ten minutes of interviews with the band and the crew (Interesting, but hardly noteworthy for the most part), as well as the promotional video clips for ?Detox? and ?Relentless? (Both are cool extras, but where?s the classic ?SYL? clip?).

While the packages claim naked cheerleaders has yet to be found (I?m still searching for it!), one Easter egg discovered is in the extras menu when you click on the band logo on the bong. You?ll get some two hundred photos (Which pass by very quickly) flashed up continually on the screen to the sound of alternative Canadian country artist Kent McAlister?s song ?The Things You Say?. While the question why McAlister was used has yet to be answered, both the song and the photos are pretty cool.

For Townsend?s first foray into the DVD format, For Those Aboot to Rock is essentially metal filled, with simply no filler to distract the viewer from the main event. Which in turn makes this a must for any Strapping Young Lad/Devin Townsend fan.

Blistering.com review by Justin Donnelly

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Enjoy

Y69