Slough Feg
Atavism
Cruz Del Sur
2005
Just to make things clear, Slough Feg is the same band with The Lord Weird Slough Feg… it just decided to make the name more convenient! It really needs hard balls to turn your back to the sound of your most successful album, the one that everyone has hailed, and produce something completely different (approach-wise). Well this is what Slough Feg decided to do! After their amazing, yet very successful “Traveler”, they decided to adopt a different approach to their power metal (the mastermind of the band told us that it would have been boring to produce a similar CD – read the interview here). Consequently the “shiny”, futuristic and thunderous sound of the previous album gives it place to the raw, heroic, magical and lyrical “Atavism”. Sometimes the brave are rewarded. Thus, Slough Feg offer us here possibly their best album so far!
What is ever more important is that the band manages to create its own distinct sound, something that is extremely difficult for a power metal band these days, that the genre is saturated. I dare to say that despite the sometimes fast and marching riffs and songs the whole “Atavism” structure is based upon solid hard rock foundations. If you deconstruct the songs you can find premature rock elements (Gallagher, Queen, Beatles). Here the band allows us to understand their love for (the eternal Gods) Thin Lizzy – an inspiration that haunts all their songs. But it’s not only that: as Mike has told us (and to be honest I hadn’t noticed it earlier) some songs present even hardcore elements, deriving from bands like Black Flag and Dr. Know (listen for example to “Atavism II”). Slough Feg here work as a grinding mile that digests all the aforementioned influences along with the traditional heavy metal of Maiden, Priest, Sabbath and Manowar, the cult epic approach of Manilla Road (listen to “Eumaeus the Swineherd” and “Curse of Athena” and you’ll understand) and the folk bard atmosphere of Lizzy and Blind Guardian.
The result is a unique album of pure heavy metal music: monolithic riffs, acoustic bridges, “sticky” refrains, heroic atmosphere, thrashy elements, and lyricism. The band plays like there’s no tomorrow, catching the listener’s attention at once. You know that hits aren’t an ordinary album. Is a musical journey to nobler, magical eras? I urge you to discover this diamond. Does it now, so that is won’t end up a hidden treasure some ten years later and you have to spend a fortune to acquire it!
What is ever more important is that the band manages to create its own distinct sound, something that is extremely difficult for a power metal band these days, that the genre is saturated. I dare to say that despite the sometimes fast and marching riffs and songs the whole “Atavism” structure is based upon solid hard rock foundations. If you deconstruct the songs you can find premature rock elements (Gallagher, Queen, Beatles). Here the band allows us to understand their love for (the eternal Gods) Thin Lizzy – an inspiration that haunts all their songs. But it’s not only that: as Mike has told us (and to be honest I hadn’t noticed it earlier) some songs present even hardcore elements, deriving from bands like Black Flag and Dr. Know (listen for example to “Atavism II”). Slough Feg here work as a grinding mile that digests all the aforementioned influences along with the traditional heavy metal of Maiden, Priest, Sabbath and Manowar, the cult epic approach of Manilla Road (listen to “Eumaeus the Swineherd” and “Curse of Athena” and you’ll understand) and the folk bard atmosphere of Lizzy and Blind Guardian.
The result is a unique album of pure heavy metal music: monolithic riffs, acoustic bridges, “sticky” refrains, heroic atmosphere, thrashy elements, and lyricism. The band plays like there’s no tomorrow, catching the listener’s attention at once. You know that hits aren’t an ordinary album. Is a musical journey to nobler, magical eras? I urge you to discover this diamond. Does it now, so that is won’t end up a hidden treasure some ten years later and you have to spend a fortune to acquire it!