SLOUGH FEG GO APESHIT
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 12:00pm by Satan Rosenbloom
A nearly twenty-year-old band with a disc called Atavism in its catalog on a label known for its pre-1985 metal jones releases another retro heavy metal record? Get outta here! Next you’re gonna tell me the new Hatebreed’s got breakdowns in it. As with every other album in their catalog, Slough Feg’s seventh, Ape Uprising!, defiantly bucks two decades’ worth of progress in the metal world. It’s even tough to reconcile the term “new album” with Ape Uprising!’s analog, leather-clad, early-80s swashbuckling sound. This is the hard rock/metal hybrid your older stepbrother would bump at a teenage sausagefest in his mom’s basement, singing “Never coming down from the trees! / Never bending down on my knees!” with fists shaking at the sky.
Who needs the new school when there’s still so much life in the old? There’s more vitality in the earthy Iron Maiden gallop of “Overborne,” and the raw Thin Lizzy guitar twinnage in “Shakedown at the Six,” than in any of the hyper-compressed tech-metal and deathcore coming out these days. Mike Scalzi and Angelo Tringali’s axes jig, rumble and thrash through the ten-minute title track like the epic melee it portrays, and shred the fuck out of “Ape Outro” and “Nasty Hero.” Scalzi possesses a throaty baritone ready for battle, capable of roaring “It’s fight or flight / Our strife continues on / You found the might in / Your opposing thumbs” without a hint of cheekiness.
If you couldn’t piece it together from the album title and lyric quotes above, Ape Uprising! documents a successful simian insurrection against a race of enslaving humans, told from the point of view of the apes. Concept-wise it’s ripped straight from the Planet of the Apes mythos, but in Slough Feg’s version there is no mercy for humankind, only hatred and domination. In the swinging, acoustic-tinged “White Cousin,” the race of men sound repulsive: “They come with pink eyes / And lily-white skin / They hide underground / And burrow within / White cousins – Albino slaves.” Who wouldn’t want to destroy us? Slough Feg’s sincerity (not to mention Scalzi’s balls) turn a silly album conceit into an indictment of the corruptive cycle of power.
There’s an uncomfortable tension between the upbeat melody coursing through Ape Uprising! and the dark Hobbesian worldview it portrays, and that dynamic helps elevate Slough Feg above their countless anachro-metal peers. The advancements over their last album, Hardworlder, are slight (e.g., Slough Feg recall a new old band – Black Sabbath – on the doomy opener “Hunchback of Notre Doom”), but you don’t look to Slough Feg for novelty. You look to them for vintage metal tunes and blazing performances, and Ape Uprising! delivers on both counts.
(3 1/2 out of 5 horns)
- SR
I give it 4/5 myself. Another awesome album from an awesome band.
Agreed. Still, doesn’t touch the work former Slough Fegian (is that a word?) John Cobbett is putting out with Hammers Of Misfortune.
I never really “got” Slough Feg. Too much Maiden worship and not enough originality for my taste.
I can’t believe you guys actually reviewed this ! Slough Feg are great…. I actually just got this yesterday, along with the new Destroyer 666 and only had time to listen (headband) to the new Destroyer…. I will be checking this out tonight.
Ziltoid- I understand your Maiden worship point, but Maiden is my favorite band, so I’ll take it ! I think Slough Feg write some amazing riffs, and their dualling leads are top tier. Have you heard their album “Traveller” ? I think it is their best, just listen to the song(s) “High Passage/Low Passage”. that says it all about this band. Terribly original ? No. But catchy and excellent musicianship without resorting to mindless guitar wank? Yes.
seriously, seek out Traveller.
I just listened to the new Deströyer 666 a couple weeks ago for the first time and dug it… it’s been on my mp3 player ever since.
I dig it, especially “The Barricades are Breaking” and “A Stand Defiant”….however, the rest of the album is rather forgetable to me. Thats a big let down, because Destroyer are one of my favs and I’ve been looking forward to this album for 7 fucking years since “Cold Steel…” came out. This new one just doesn’t have the great riffs that their older material possessed. Nothing ’stands out’ besides the two tracks I mentioned. I’ve listened to it about 8 or 9 times….maybe a few more spins will change my opinion, but I doubt it.
I’ve heard Traveller, and I really wanted to like it. I think the problem is that I’m not too into Iron Maiden. I really like a few of their songs from all of their good albums (especially Wasted Years), but over the span of an album, I just get bored. SF do borrow a lot from Maiden, so for the (many) Maiden fans of the world, this is a great band. But just like with Maiden, I got bored with every SF album I tried, including this new one. They’re a fine traditional metal band and are good at what they do, just not my cup of tea (this subgenre as a whole really isn’t my thing tbqh).
Gotcha. At least you’ve heard enough of it to make an informed decision. Glad to hear that you’ve got love for Wasted Years….I’ve got the somewhere in time Eddie tattood on my fucking leg…and the 7th Son eddie on my other leg….yup, I kinda like Maiden.
Best album I’ve heard this year I think but I’m still discovering it. 3 1/2 is a bit too low. I love Slough Feg and this is way better than Hardworlder, less maiden-y and much better drumming. I’m proud to be their labelmate Hail Cruz del Sur!!!!!
Agreed, this beats the crap out of Hardworlder. Better than Atavism as well, in my opinion.
Can’t wait to hear the new stuff live next month here in Chicago.
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