The world needs mavericks… nay, eccentrics like Slough Feg (ne The Lord Weird Slough Feg). If you have never heard them an off the cuff one liner is difficult: There be a bit of a Celtic folk influence somewhere for sure and the notion that they never produce less than one hundred percent effort. And eccentricity. But for me they’ve always been the US heavy metal band whilst likely to be on and perfectly suited to some ‘Keep It True’ festival bill, they could equally hold their own at a prog festival. Or a power metal one if the audiences ever get fed up of dragons. They’ve written songs based on Alfred Bester novels and albums based on the Traveller role playing game. Metal, musical virtuosity, science fiction uber-geeks and Irish folklore aficionados with lyrical depth undreamt of by yer average band.
But very human. While their ambition never outstrips their ability (it would be bloody hard) some albums naturally resonate with me more than others. I never got on with Ape Uprising! for example but loved Hardworlder. Others madly disagree. Every album is different but unmistakably Slough Feg with guitarist/singer Mike Scalzi’s steady hand on the tiller.
This one, ‘Digital Resistance’, isn’t a concept album. There is a shared theme threaded through two or three songs though. Technology, how it isn’t necessarily making us smarter but more lazy, the changes it is imposing on society. Thoughts not wholly from some outsider position either, but more the resistance within. First song (excuse me here…) ‘Analogue Avengers/Bertrand Russell’s Sex Den’ (!) is immediately, utterly Slough Feg. Scalzi’s voice rises over a rhythmic tune led by twin guitar melodies rather than riffs and dancing organ notes; not the heaviest band on the planet but heavy metal nonetheless and athletic in its light footed notes. The bad thing is simply there’s no lyric sheet with the digital review copy (kind of ironic really) so theme is tricky to pin It’s a great opening number though. Next song the title track follows in heavier mode but greater hooks and a fine set of lyrics directed at computers, automated life and drones.
‘Habeas Corpsus’ is one of those album gripping moments. It’s a gut wrenching song of violent murder, with a drum driven and almost gentle melody. It’s a truly beautiful, hairs standing up song. The way Scalzi’s voice imbues it with real emotion is compelling, the drum work and bass is hypnotic and the guitars perfectly bringing a soul tearing sense of loss. Honestly, this is one of the best songs they have ever written; a perfect moment of dark affecting musical storytelling. And they follow it up with ‘Magic Hooligan’ which is just a bouncing ball of adrenaline rush joy. Do not listen to while driving; it skitters, drives and bounces around like a speedfreak on a sugar rush and gleefully encourages the listener to do the same. Hedonistic, glorious, freewheeling energy with that feel of a Moorcock or Farren counter-culture anti-hero.
Wow.
The quality does not let up on this album: Spooky goings on in the tricksy, Hammer Horror melodies of ‘Ghastly Appendage ‘, ‘Laser Enforcer’ with its more direct maidenesque prog ‘n’ roll attack, ‘The Price Is Nice’ seemingly dipping into Roger Corman’s Poe films and 80s US rock with a soft stepping beat; the songs are short and to the point, their endings often sudden but neatly judged. Slough Feg have never believed in repetitious fade outs as a musical tool. Together it’s like a fine themed short story collection, gathered by an excellent editor.
‘Curriculum Vitae’ is allowed an almost trademarked long Slough Feg musical introduction of almost half its five minute length before the vocals kick in. It really is just how they write good songs; sparse lyrics as scene setters and the music as the story in superbly articulate hands. ‘The Luddite’ seems to hark back to the album’s theme, also drawing on Scalzi’s profession as a teacher and the changes he has seen in how his students learn, or don’t. Not a song of optimism. ‘Warriors Dusk’ returns to the Gaelic folklore roots with rolling riff and a tale of war.
‘Digital Resistance’ is a profound but also highly enjoyable and excitable album. It sees a band fully aware of the age within which they live but debating how much they wish to engage with the bad that inevitably but ever more seductively comes with the good. It looks at how much technical achievements also lay over the world a new type of consumption, forcing us into an ever more passive majority and a tiny manipulative ruling majority. This sees Slough Feg at their most zeitgeist aware, pressing us to think for ourselves rather than be the ever open, ever hungry mouth waiting to be fed. It is also possibly their most musically engaging and enjoyable work too, combining for an essential album.
Wakey wakey people. The Digital Resistance needs you!
(8.5/10 Gizmo)
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