ZTO

Does anybody else feel like Ziltoid The Omniscient might be somewhat autobiographical? In the audio commentary in "Physicist," he refers to the fact that he had a Christ complex at one point in his life, and his own insecurities tend to be a theme in his music. Perhaps Ziltoid finding out that he's really not all that Omniscient is sort of a metaphor for reaching a (certain) state of mental maturity. Or it might just be about a fourth-dimensional alien who wants to control the Earth's supply of coffee.

Ziltoid hovers above Earth demanding coffee. He needs the coffee so he can bend time, an ability he plans on using to go back in time and make himself look like a badass, not the nerd he actually is.

Ampulex_Compressa - As someone who once had a bit of narcissistic personality disorder in the past (though I don't know the extent of Devins so I can't say how well I understand his position) this album does touch me in a few spots. For me it comes to a head in Planet smasher when he comes face to face with real power and sees how poorly he stacks up in comparison when he announces himself grandly and the planet smasher just shrugs him off as unimportant.

I think it's annoying when people automatically assume a humorous song doesn't have a serious meaning. Humor is a healthy and effective way of dealing with things and I use it in my own songs to deal with subjects that are important and even painful to me in a fun way. I get the feeling Devin is doing the same thing here.

In an interview he said that he wrote the album after giving up drugs and drink and the like and replacing it all with coffee. He said that when the album came out he was amazed that people kept refering to it as a funny album as he thought it was dark as hell. I agree; when I first heard the album I hated it because I felt like I was intruding on his massive withdrawal, it never occurred to me that the bits that sounded funny where actually supposed to be funny.