Sounds> Ziltoid and other things I'm hearing

Goodness, how much fun metal music can be! I just bought Devin Townsend's latest disc from an unassuming Sydney record shop and have now listened the concept album through three times. On the disc named after the galactic coffee-connoisseur, Ziltoid the Omniscient lands on Earth in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Allegedly, the record evolved from... a puppet show project. Alright. The story features the omniversal guitar hero Ziltoid, jumps in hyperspace, planet smashing, Captain Spectacular ("who sets out to expose Ziltoid for what he really is: a nerd"), and blisteringly fast guitar solos and double-kick drums grooves (courtesy of Toontrack's Drumkit from Hell). And along all the funny stuff, the compositions are ingenious. This is an album that makes me want to get rest of Devin's productions. The 2001 release Terria almost had that effect already.

In addition to Ziltoid, really good stuff I've recently ran into (linking to pages that provide samples) are:

Om: Pilgrimage (third album from zoner-rock heroes and my daily addiction)

Boris: Pink (track: Farewell) (a punky release from Japan's drone/sludge/experimental royalty)

SunnO))) & Boris: Altar (track: Etna) (drone rock with just enough variety to keep things interesting)

Giant Squid: Metridium field (progressive metal/punk. myspace page, since they seem to have missed a hosting payment in the last 5 days)

Wooden Shjips: Wooden Shjips (prog / stoner rock)

Alamaailman Vasarat: Maahan (progressive fictional world music)