- Feb 1, 2004
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Slough Feg - Hardworlder
Cruz Del Sur Music - Cruz24 - 2007
By Jordan Knoll
Forgive me, o metal gods of the infinite cosmos for I have sinned. I admit, I have ignored this long heralded and long running Californian heavy/power/folk metal outfit up until recently and I ask for forgiveness. After receiving this album for review and being quite literally stunned at the quality of classic metal spewed forth throughout its thirteen tracks I immediately tracked down as much of The Lord Weird Slough Feg’s back catalogue as I could. After all, how could I presuppose to do an accurate review of their latest work if I neglected their long-standing history? Not surprisingly, much of what I heard was absolutely brilliant-save a few a select tracks here and there and the generally underwhelming Atavism. The question remains, however, how does Hardworlder stack up against such an impressive catalogue? The answer: quite well as it seems M. Scalzi and company have not exhausted their particular brand of power/heavy/folk metal in the slightest.
Tracks such as 'Tiger! Tiger!', 'Hardworlder', 'Karma-Kazee' and Galactic Nomad in particular showcase a band at the top of their game utilizing nearly every trick in the riff-basket from heavy down-picked attacks to sweet as sugar melodic counterpoints; foregrounding the impressive range of the band. Scalzi, returns with his unique, but still brazenly heavy metal, vocals that echo the genre’s top brass coupled with a unique, highly evocative warm tone that remains, quite simply, unmatched in the contemporary metal-verse. Not all is perfect, however, in Lord Feg land as some of the tracks suffer from abrupt endings and underdeveloped ideas. 'The Sea Wolf', despite all its folk/heavy metal badassery in particular, builds toward an epic conclusion that never comes. Instead, the song simply ‘ends’ with little or no indication that it has finished, leaving a slightly under-whelmed listener confused in its wake. This trend manifests itself in other tracks such as ‘The Spoils’ but is, fortunately, relatively self-contained to select instances that end up taking only very little away from the ensemble when all is accounted for.
Hardworlder may not be Slough Feg’s finest hour, that honor belongs to either Twilight of the Idols or Down Among the Deadmen (I can’t decide which!), but it is certainly a marked improvement from 2005’s offering, Atavism. Fans of the Feg have no doubt already purchased this stunning piece, but for all others who are like I once was (ignorant) they would do wise to seek this out ASAP, no matter what shade of metal they are into. Yes, it is that good.
Official Slough Feg Homepage
Official Cruz Del Sur Music Homepage
Cruz Del Sur Music - Cruz24 - 2007
By Jordan Knoll
Forgive me, o metal gods of the infinite cosmos for I have sinned. I admit, I have ignored this long heralded and long running Californian heavy/power/folk metal outfit up until recently and I ask for forgiveness. After receiving this album for review and being quite literally stunned at the quality of classic metal spewed forth throughout its thirteen tracks I immediately tracked down as much of The Lord Weird Slough Feg’s back catalogue as I could. After all, how could I presuppose to do an accurate review of their latest work if I neglected their long-standing history? Not surprisingly, much of what I heard was absolutely brilliant-save a few a select tracks here and there and the generally underwhelming Atavism. The question remains, however, how does Hardworlder stack up against such an impressive catalogue? The answer: quite well as it seems M. Scalzi and company have not exhausted their particular brand of power/heavy/folk metal in the slightest.
Tracks such as 'Tiger! Tiger!', 'Hardworlder', 'Karma-Kazee' and Galactic Nomad in particular showcase a band at the top of their game utilizing nearly every trick in the riff-basket from heavy down-picked attacks to sweet as sugar melodic counterpoints; foregrounding the impressive range of the band. Scalzi, returns with his unique, but still brazenly heavy metal, vocals that echo the genre’s top brass coupled with a unique, highly evocative warm tone that remains, quite simply, unmatched in the contemporary metal-verse. Not all is perfect, however, in Lord Feg land as some of the tracks suffer from abrupt endings and underdeveloped ideas. 'The Sea Wolf', despite all its folk/heavy metal badassery in particular, builds toward an epic conclusion that never comes. Instead, the song simply ‘ends’ with little or no indication that it has finished, leaving a slightly under-whelmed listener confused in its wake. This trend manifests itself in other tracks such as ‘The Spoils’ but is, fortunately, relatively self-contained to select instances that end up taking only very little away from the ensemble when all is accounted for.
Hardworlder may not be Slough Feg’s finest hour, that honor belongs to either Twilight of the Idols or Down Among the Deadmen (I can’t decide which!), but it is certainly a marked improvement from 2005’s offering, Atavism. Fans of the Feg have no doubt already purchased this stunning piece, but for all others who are like I once was (ignorant) they would do wise to seek this out ASAP, no matter what shade of metal they are into. Yes, it is that good.
Official Slough Feg Homepage
Official Cruz Del Sur Music Homepage
