The New Black

The New Black is the fifth and final studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on July 11, 2006, debuting at No. 200 on the Billboard charts. A music video was shot for the album's sole single, "Wrong Side", and another video, done in CGI, was made for the non-single song "Almost Again".

Background
Century Media imposed a strict deadline on the release date of the album: it was to be ready before the 2006 Ozzfest festival. Despite this, Townsend stated the recording was not rushed, and The New Black became a critical, as well as a commercial, success. It was more melodic than any of the band's previous albums and brought back the debut album's tongue-in-cheek humour.

"Decimator" references "Depth Charge" from Accelerated Evolution. "Far Beyond Metal" is a studio recording of a tour song previously released on No Sleep 'till Bedtime and For Those Aboot to Rock. "Almost Again" emulates the keyboard-heavy ending of "Truth" from Infinity. "Polyphony" shares a riff with "Judgement" from Synchestra. A riff from "Monument" was later used as the bridge riff of "Lucky Animals" on Epicloud. An instrumental version of "Fucker" was released on Contain Us.

Promotion and touring
A music video was shot in late May to accompany the sole single from the album, "Wrong Side". In June 2006 Strapping Young Lad embarked on a short festival tour of Europe, including performances at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany, and the Download Festival in England, which was followed by a second stage appearance at Ozzfest in July and August, where they played to some of the largest audiences in their career.

Packaging
The album comes packaged with a second CD featuring a sampling of various other Century Media artists. The European version contains two bonus tracks: "The Long Pig" and a cover of Melvins' "Zodiac". The Japanese version contains "The Long Pig" and the instrumental "C:enter:###".

Release
The New Black was released on July 11, 2006. Having sold more than 4,000 copies during its first week, The New Black reached No. 200 on the Billboard 200 chart, No. 15 on the Top Independent Albums, and No. 8 on the Top Heatseekers charts.

Critical reception
Stylus Magazine's Cosmo Lee described the album as "heavy, catchy, and with no filler", and About.com's Chad Bowar was also positive giving the album four and a half stars out of five, stating that "this is a CD that's dense and heavy, but also has some memorable hooks".

Personnel

 * Devin Townsend – vocals, guitar, production
 * Jed Simon – guitar, backing vocals
 * Gene Hoglan – drums, percussion
 * Byron Stroud – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Will Campagna – keyboards, backing vocals
 * Cam Kroetsch (The Almighty Punchdrunk) – guest vocals on "You Suck"
 * Oderus Urungus (Gwar) – guest vocals on "Far Beyond Metal"
 * Bif Naked – guest vocals on "Fucker"
 * Chris Valagao Mina (Zimmers Hole) – guitar, backing vocal
 * Shaun Thingvold – engineering
 * Mike Fraser – mixing
 * Ryan Van Poederooyen – drum technician
 * Travis Smith – artwork and photography