Always a pleasure to see Stig Ese and his cohorts return. It’s been four years since Introvert where I noted that the heavy metal was definitely in the ascendancy over the black metal so I was interested to see if their sound had swung back or moved forward.
Well with a happy little whistle, a lovely fuzzy bass line, a metal punk riff and a bouncing punk rhythm ‘Innsikt’ pulls in. Whilst the melody is sometimes black metal it rolls and rocks into a laid-back metal and punk vibe. Cool stuff indeed. Following that ‘Evigheit Pa Evigheit’ is pure punk metal rock and roll, Supersuckers with gnarly vocals and just such a sharp rocking hook to it. Slegest just have this zero fucks given low slung style to their writing that could pull even me out into the dance floor.
The black metal has been dialled back even more here it is apparent. It might even be fair to say that they now straddle (with over extended legs maybe) that punk and metal divide. Supersuckers, Nashville Pussy, Turbonegro? But like those three they have their own style. It’s melodic, occasionally almost grim with the vocals and the melody they drop into but still so damned infectious. And when they hit the accelerator you just want to headbang so hard. And then they hit something like the cool ‘Gate’ which is downright brooding NWOBHM style heavy metal. With saxophone. And a weird call back to Quo’s riff in ‘Whatever You Want’ just darker… Status Quo? Hang around…
Downsides? Well this is getting picky but sometimes the unrelenting rhythm can get a little much in some songs but really its ok. These are straight down the line rockers so it ain’t broke and they don’t need to fix it.
It is also weirdly…quieter than previous affairs. But that’s fine as songs like ‘Er Det Deg Livet’ fit nicely into that. And when ‘Til Det Storste Som Finst’ rattles out it has the power and the melody it needs perfectly balanced.
Oh and Quo? The closer is a cover of ‘Oh Baby’ from (I think) Piledriver, still a fantastic album. And this is a fantastic cover – stacked full of that boogie riff and heavy heavy blues. Perfect.
Slegest continue their curious little journey and I continue to fall for their punky, metal charisma big time. If you have the January blues, maybe swap them for this.
(8/10 Gizmo)
Leave a Reply