Hidden Gems: Slough Feg

If you’re visiting this site you’re probably a rabid devourer of all things pop culture, constantly looking for some new stuff to take in.  This is where I come in.  Every two weeks I’ll bring you a hidden gem, something that should be part of our pop culture lexicon but hasn’t quite made it yet.  This will usually be a film or a filmmaker but I’ll also delve into music, comics and other areas from time to time.  Either way you will leave with knowledge of something great that you can spread to your friends, who will think you’re super clever and interesting.  You’ll probably get laid.  For this installment let’s take a look at little known cult metal band Slough Feg.

Sick tribal face tat bro!

I’m a metal nerd.  I wear it loud and proud.  As such I absolutely LOVE concept albums.  You get a fully fleshed out story along with some awesome tunes.  In today’s economy that a deal no one should pass up.  This is why I find it so troubling that almost NOBODY I know has heard of Slough Feg (shortened from the more awesome The Lord Weird Slough Feg).  Slough Feg’s music is crack for metal nerds for a plethora of reasons.

Their affinity for tiny dogs is not one of those reasons.

First off is their sound.  They have this excellent sound that seems locked in a time capsule from the 1980s and in no way do they sound ironic.  I’ve heard their sound likened to early Iron Maiden and I’d say that’s pretty accurate.  On their early albums especially the guitar leads sound ripped directly from some lost Di’Anno era Maiden demos.  Why is this approach important?  Simple: most modern Maiden-worshipping metal BLOWS.  Ninety percent of these bands are of the power metal persuasion: the overly cheesy, sickeningly happy genre that brought us bands like Dragonforce.  Slough Feg has no time for such silliness.  They’re too busy rocking your face off with glorious metal anthems.  Oh and did I mention the vocals?  They also fucking rule.  The leads and the vocals are both provided by one Mike Scalzi, a dude who by day is a philosophy professor at Diablo Valley College.  If you have taken a class with him I assume you’ve left with your face melted off.  Scalzi has a seasoned and genuine voice, one that rings with conviction.  This makes it a lot less cheesy when he’s singing about intergalactic genetically engineered werewolf soldiers.

Yeah you read that right.

See Slough Feg decided in the middle of their career that unlike most cheesy fantasy based metal, they were going to focus on nerdy as hell sci-fi storylines.  Their fourth album, Traveller, is the aforementioned werewolf soldier album and it fucking rules.  The story basically follows a space pirate who is hired by a mad professor to gather some spores that will turn people into Vargrs (werewolf people).  If this sounds like some D&D level madness you’ll be happy to know that this is all based on an obscure pen and paper RPG also called Traveller.  That’s right, while mainstream power metal guys rip off D&D all the time, Slough Feg hipstered them and went for a super obscure one.  Anyway the album starts out rocking and awesome but the highlight is the excellent ballad Baltech’s Lament, a song so awesome that Scalzi performs a costume change every time they play it.

The awesome sci-fi themes don’t end there either.  Two albums later we get Hardworlder, a “half-concept” album (the first few songs follow a story, the rest don’t).  This is all based on “The Stars My Destination” a science fiction novel based partly on the Count of Monte Cristo.  I don’t care how little you think you care about space stuff, you will bust a full on space nerdgasm when Scalzi yells out “I’m trapped behind baaarrrrss/On the gateway to Maaarrrsss.”

Their new album, Ape Uprising, is basically the soundtrack to “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and is probably way better than that flick will end up being.  We basically get the uprising story from the point of view of the apes and oh boy do we feel their plight.  If the lyrics to the awesome Simian Manifesto don’t make their way into the movie I will stab Hollywood in the face.  (Sadly I do not have a knife big enough to stab Hollywood’s huge non-existent face).

If you like awesome music and are a huge nerd Slough Feg is your favorite band you’re not listening to.  They have eight albums out and if you can’t find the above three don’t worry because they all fucking rule.  Check them out immediately.  You’re welcome.