 Townsend 's next project took several years to come to fruition . After the creation of the IR8 demo tape , Townsend and Jason Newsted had begun work on a new project called <unk> , which they described as " heavier than Strapping Young Lad " . When the IR8 tape was leaked , Newsted 's Metallica bandmates James <unk> and Lars <unk> learned of the project . <unk> was " fucking <unk> " that Newsted was playing outside the band , and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects . With the project stalled , Townsend instead wrote the album himself , <unk> it Physicist . Townsend assembled his Strapping Young Lad bandmates to record it , the only time this lineup was featured on a Devin Townsend album . The thrash @-@ influenced Physicist was released in June 2000 , and is generally considered a low point in Townsend 's career . Hoglan and the rest of the band were dissatisfied with the way the sound was mixed , and Townsend considers it his worst album to date . 
