The cover art is, for lack of a better word, interesting. It surely refuses to reveal the content and one could only be so wrong about his guesses. Personally I thought this was some kind of extreme underground metal act playing some form of grim, dark and cold death metal. Well, I wasn't even close.
Lord Weird Slough Feg, which is the band's original name, has certainly got to be one of the most bizarre monikers I've ever heard. Now using the Slough Feg handle, this San Francisco-based band plays a curious mix of Celtic metal with 70's hard rock and touches of beautiful Irish folk. I know it seems weird, but that's what this short album is comprised of. Often walking in the path of Thin Lizzy, they write short songs, which very rarely exceed three minutes, using 70's guitar tones and song structures. The harmonies are quite powerful at times, but lack consistency. Also, some of the songs ("Postcullis", "Climax of a Generation", etc) are very short instrumental passages that are placed in between the tracks and serve the purpose of bridging the longer cuts. The songs are heavy but not Manowar-heavy. They are more in the "Cirith Ungol meets Di'Anno period Maiden with folky melodies" vein. The title track is perhaps the only exception, as it begins and ends with slow acoustic guitars centred around a very memorable Irish folk theme.
"Starport Blues" is the band's most direct foray into Thin Lizzy inspired blues rock with a nice jam session that segues into the last two tracks of the album, one of which is the sequel of the title track. Truth be told, it is a bit hard to evaluate a band with only 38 minutes of music that consists of so many bizarre influences. It's certainly worth checking out, but whether it will have appeal value for a huge metal fanbase is debatable.
Track Listing
- Robustus
- I Will Kill You / You Will Die
- Portcullis
- Hiberno-Latin Invasion
- Climax of a Generation
- Atavism
- Eumaeus the Swineherd
- Curse of Athena
- Agnostic Grunt
- High Season V
- Starport Blues
- Man Out of Time
- Agony Slalom
- Atavism II
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