San Francisco true metal troubadours SLOUGH FEG have rejoined Italy’s Cruz Del Sur Music, the label behind the band’s heralded “Atavism” (2005), “Hardworlder” (2007) and “Ape Uprising!” (2009) albums.
San Francisco true metal troubadours SLOUGH FEG have rejoined Italy’s Cruz Del Sur Music, the label behind the band’s heralded “Atavism” (2005), “Hardworlder” (2007) and “Ape Uprising!” (2009) albums.
Comments vocalist/guitarist Mike Scalzi: “We are happy to announce that we are back with Cruz Del Sur Music and will begin recording a new album in July! We believe that a smaller ‘boutique’ label such as Cruz Del Sur is appropriate for our sound, fanbase and work ethic, and look forward to working with Enrico [Leccese] and company again.”
“I am extremely excited to have SLOUGH FEG back on Cruz Del Sur!” says Leccese. “It is always nice when bands you like track you down. It’s even more special when it’s someone you’ve worked with for about ten years and established a friendly relationship. It’s a recognition that we were doing something right in the past. I can’t wait to hear the new album and share it with the metal world.”
Continues Scalzi: “The new album will be called ‘The New Organon’, and the songs are somewhat of a return to the heavier side of our sound: more rustic, heavy, churning, medieval/Celtic and proggy sounding riffs, as opposed to the more ’70s rock sounds of more recent albums. But don’t worry: there will be a couple of rockers as well! We will also have some newer, experimental songwriting styles, mixing heavy rock and metal with the melodic sounds of ’50s and ’60s pop. Imagine DEL SHANNON singing for BLUE CHEER! After all, it wouldn’t be a SLOUGH FEG album without some bizarre surprises!
“So, journey we more into the vaults of the Voi-vaudevillian…the Epic-cure for all Epicurean Angst and Ennui. The Celtic cacophony continues!”
One of the most inventive and unique bands to emerge from the American metal scene, SLOUGH FEG was originally formed in 1990 in Central Pennsylvania under the name THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG. Later that year, the band relocated to San Francisco, which has remained their home base ever since. After releasing a series of demos and their debut self-titled album in 1996, the band signed to Dragonheart Records for the release of 1999’s Celtic music-infused “Twilight of the Idols”. The sprawling “Down Among the Deadmen” would follow in 2000, setting the stage for their monumental sci-fi epic “Traveller”, which was released in 2003.
In 2005, the band shortened their name to simply SLOUGH FEG and signed to Cruz Del Sur Music. That year’s “Atavism” brought SLOUGH FEG into international prominence, with the metal scene hailing Scalzi’s innate brand of storytelling and the band’s penchant for NWOBHM-like dynamics, as found on songs such as “I Will Kill You / You Will Die”, “Hiberno-Latin Invasion” and “Man Out of Time”.
2007’s “Hardworlder” would follow up “Atavism” in grand fashion, with the band effortlessly blending compact, twin guitar-driven motifs on “The Return of Dr. Universe” and the title track, while showcasing Scalzi’s gruff, one-of-a-kind vocal delivery on the folk-oriented “The Sea Wolf”. The heavier and more straightforward “Ape Uprising!” would see the light of day in 2009, with the band embracing its pure metal and progressive rock music roots on the doomy “The Hunchback of Notre Doom” and vibrant “Simian Manifesto”.
SLOUGH FEG’s 2010’s “The Animal Spirits” saw a joint release by Canada’s Profound Lore Music in North America and Cruz Del Sur in Europe, before moving on to Metal Blade Records for the box-set reissue of the “Twilight of the Idols”, “Down Among the Deadmen” and “Traveller” albums in early 2013. Metal Blade then released SLOUGH FEG’s ninth studio album, “Digital Resistance” in February 2014.