Line #33 Music/DarkMatters


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/devin_townsend_z2_dark_matters.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''Well... poop.'']]
3
4	-->''"Good evening. Come in, come in. Sit close.\
5	We have a guest for you.\
6	An Alien.\
7	A creature from the fourth dimension."''
8
9	''Dark Matters'' is the second disc of ''Z2'', the 2014 two-disc studio album by Music/DevinTownsend, and is sequel to the 2007 album ''Music/ZiltoidTheOmniscient''.
10
11	The album is a concept album about an extraterrestrial being named Ziltoid, who has infiltrated Earth society, pretending to be a beloved rock star in a costume, until he is outed as an alien. Meanwhile, a poozer from the planet Titan in Ziltoid's custody escapes and returns home, attracting the attention of Queen Blataria the War Princess. Now the forces of Titan are gearing to invade Earth and Ziltoid must join with the humans in protecting it and its supply of coffee.
12
13	----
14
15	!!Tracklist:
16
17	# "Z2" (3:59)
18	# "From Sleep Awake" (3:00)
19	# "Ziltoidian Empire" (6:26)
20	# "War Princess" (8:18)
21	# "Deathray" (4:43)
22	# "March of the Poozers" (5:18)
23	# "Wandering Eye" (3:41)
24	# "Earth" (7:39)
25	# "Ziltoid Goes Home" (6:20)
26	# "Through the Wormhole" (3:44)
27	# "Dimension Z" (6:13)
28
29	----
30
31	!!Personnel:
32
33	* Devin Townsend: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Programming
34	* Dave Young: Guitars, Keyboards
35	* Brian "Beevis" Waddell: Bass
36	* Ryan van Poederooyen: Drums
37	* Mike Young: Keyboards
38	* Anneke van Giersbergen: Vocals (backing)
39	* [[Music/StolenBabies Dominique Lenore Persi]] - Voice of Blattaria
40	* Wrestling/ChrisJericho - Voice of Captain Spectacular
41	* Bill Courage - Voice of the narrator
42	----
43
44	!! Ziltoid commands you to read his tropes!
45	* AdaptationalNonSapience: The Planet Smasher had his own song on the original album and told Ziltoid to get lost at the end of it. Here, he's just an animal, [[spoiler: albeit one that has a ''very'' powerful roar and ''still'' hates musicals]].
46	* AlienInvasion: By Blataria and her Poozers in ''Deathray'' and ''March of the Poozers''.
47	* AlternateContinuity: The original Ziltoid album had Ziltoid destroy Earth and ended with an AllJustADream ending. This album makes no mention of its predecessor, save for a BrickJoke near the end about the Planet Smasher's BerserkButton.
48	* AntiHero: Ziltoid.
49	* AscendedExtra: Captain Spectacular, on the original Ziltoid album, had two songs dedicated to him piloting the surviving humans to safety on another planet while briefly pursued by Ziltoid and his crew, and then then he [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse disappeared for the rest of the story]]. Captain Spectacular has a much bigger role here.
50	* AudienceParticipationSong: ''Z2'' and ''Dimension Z'' are unsual examples, given the fact that the audience participates '''on the album'''.
51	* BerserkButton: The Planet Smasher. [[spoiler: He hates musicals]]!
52	* BigBad: Queen Blattaria is the one who leads the alien invasion.
53	* BreakingTheFourthWall: [[spoiler: '''Why am I talking to myself??''']]
54	* BrickJoke: The Planet Smasher's [[spoiler: hatred of musicals]] was a throwaway line in his song on the original Ziltoid album. It comes back here as a plot point in the climax.
55	* CallBack: The Poozer speech in ''Deathray'' is one to ''Ziltoidia Attaxx!!'' from Music/ZiltoidTheOmniscient.
56	* ChronicVillainy: Ziltoid simply can't seem to keep away from being evil.
57	* CrowdSong: A lot of them, with two different crowds:
58	** The Poozers on ''Deathray'' and ''March of the Poozers''.
59	** The humans on ''Z2'' and ''Dimension Z''.
60	* DidYouActuallyBelieve: [[spoiler: Well, he signed it in pencil.]]
61	** [[spoiler: With his left hand!]]
62	* EmpathicWeapon: Herman the Planet Smasher! He uses a special kind of BreathWeapon ...
63	* TheEmpire: Queen Blattaria's Poozer empire on Titan.
64	* EnemyMine: Ziltoid is forced to team up with Captain Spectacular and the forces of Earth when Blataria invades.
65	* EvilMatriarch: Despite whatever she says, the War Princess clearly doesn't care about her poozer children. In-fact the narrator says that she is outright ''revolted'' by them. That said, she noticed when one of them happened to be missing (the one being held captive by Ziltoid). Considering that there's apparently ''millions'' of them, Blataria noticing the absence of just one is pretty impressive.
66	* EvilPlan: Ziltoid has an [[LaughablyEvil extraordinarily devilish one]], pretending to be Captain Spectacular's ally and betraying him in the moment of truth!
67	* EvilVersusEvil: The War Princess vs. Ziltoid.
68	* ForcedTransformation: The humans hit by the Deathray are turned into Poozers.
69	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: That is, saving Earth from Queen Blattaria.
70	* HarshVocals: Devin uses some growls on the album, especially on ''Ziltoid Goes Home''.
71	* HeelFaceTurn: Ziltoid makes one when he learns that [[spoiler:Captain Spectacular is his half brother.]]
72	* IWantSong: ''War Princess''. Queen Blattaria really wants that [[McGuffin coffee]].
73	* LaughablyEvil: Ziltoid and Queen Blattaria are two different shades of this.
74	* LighterAndSofter: It's [[Music/ZiltoidTheOmniscient precursor]] is much more abrasive in production and overall atmosphere, though this album still has its fair share of heavy moments. Story-wise, it counts as well. On the original Ziltoid album, Ziltoid destroys the world relatively early, whereas this story ends with the world being saved. The album also plays up the {{Camp}} that was present on the original album.
75	* LimitedLyricsSong: Zig-zagged with half the songs - "Z2", "From Sleep Awake", "Ziltoidian Empire", "Wandering Eye", and "Earth" - as most of them are very dialogue/narration heavy, but the "[[https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Devin_Townsend_Project/Z%C2%B2/553385 raw"]] version of the album shows that they only have a handful of lyrics without the spoken parts.
76	* MillionMookMarch: ''The March of the Poozers!''
77	* MustHaveCaffeine: Just like in ''Ziltoid the Omniscience'', coffee is still treated as AppliedPhlebotinum that Ziltoid is after. Here though, Queen Blataria learns about it from one of her poozers and begins to desire it too.
78	* RelatedInTheAdaptation: The original Ziltoid album gave no indication that [[spoiler:Ziltoid and Captain Spectacular were half brothers]].
79	* RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear: Blattaria does this at the beginning of "War Princess" with the Poozer that had just escaped from Ziltoid's captivity.
80	--> "So you're saying, [Ziltoid's] home planet is dying? ...and he needs to find a suitable place to colonize?"
81	* SelfBackingVocalist: Since it's Devin, this is a given, BUT it's not as frequent as on other albums, since the choir on several songs was sung by [[AudienceParticipation fans from around the world]].
82	* SequelEscalation: It's much bigger in scale than Music/ZiltoidTheOmniscient, adding one villain and a whole alien race to [[AlienInvasion invade]] Earth with [[InterstellarWeapon Insterstellar Weapons]].
83	* SequelHook: The album ends with [[spoiler:Ziltoid and Blattaria being sucked through a wormhole and waking up on a distant celestial body, along with a single bag of coffee]]. The narrator then says that this story is ToBeContinued...
84	* SpokenWordInMusic: A lot of the songs are dominated by dialogue/narration, with "Ziltoid Goes Home" being the only aversion (though "Deathray", "March of the Poozers", and "Dimension Z" have their spoken parts tagged at their ends). "Through the Wormhole" was omitted from the "raw" version of the album due to it consisting almost solely of dialogue.
85	* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: [[spoiler: ''[[DreadfulMusician Mmmmeeeeemoryyy..!]]'' ]]
86	* VillainSong: ''War Princess'' is this for Queen Blattaria.
87	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Ziltoid at the beginning. [[spoiler: It doesn't last long.]]
88	* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "We have - the same - '''mother'''!"]] - "Woah!!"
89	* WorldOfHam: Unlike the last album, this one has a much more campy, tongue in cheek feeling to it, making it seem more like a cheesy 50s sci-fi movie. Aside from Ziltoid himself we now have Captain Spectacular (unsurprising considering he's voiced by Wrestling/ChrisJericho), Blataria the war princess and even the narrator.
90	* YouCantThwartStageOne: Or stage two, for that matter. Stage three of Queen Blattaria's plan is so horrible, [[TakeOurWordForIt we never find out what, exactly, it even is]]. [[spoiler: Fortunately the Planet Smasher puts a stop to it.]]

Context Music / DarkMatters