Local
Grooves
Lord
Weird Slough Feg
Traveller (Dragonheart)
Traveller is the fourth album by San Francisco "Celtic
epic metal" quartet the Lord Weird Slough Feg, and it absolutely
rules. In fact, it's easily the best concept album by a local metal
band since Hammers of Misfortune's The Bastard from a couple
of years ago – no real coincidence, since the two bands share the
same pair of guitarists. Traveller shifts the setting from the
medieval forest backdrop of The Bastard to a less typical setting
for this type of Iron Maiden-descended power metal – namely, outer
space. The story line here, as the press sheet helpfully summarizes,
deals with "interstellar espionage in the asteroid mining trade"
and "bizarre genetic experiments of a mad scientist bent on ruling
the galaxy through his hybrid race of cloned dog-men." It takes
a special kind of band to journey into such realms of absurdity and
come out sounding heroic and dignified, but Slough Feg pull it off.
Give credit to leader Mike Scalzi's authoritative baritone – a
contrast to the shrill, nuts-in-a-vice approach favored by most vocalists
in this genre – as well as the dual-guitar wizardry of Scalzi and
co-lead guitarist John Cobbett. The cover drawing of a robotic dog-man
holding his fist in the air is merely the icing on the cake.
(Will York)
From Monument to
Masses
The Impossible
Leap in One Hundred Simple Steps (Dim Mak)
Imagine flipping through mainstream news channels, watching the media
circus of the war on terrorism while simultaneously blasting Fugazi
and plotting a peace rally. If you could get through the sensory overload
to find a rhythm, a melody, and a clear message amid all of the
noise, you would come close to approximating the From Monument to Masses
experience.
The band's second full-length, The Impossible Leap in One Hundred
Simple Steps, is laden with post-hardcore guitar meanderings, looped
melodies, and precision live drumming. The odd drum machine and solid
dub bass lines are mixed in throughout. Of course, The Impossible
Leap includes the group's trademark sampling of historic speeches
and monologues critical of the institutions and systems in place in
our society – that's the voice of From Monument to Masses. In that
sense, the album isn't breaking any new ground for the Oakland
trio, but rather finds them sticking to the unique sound they defined
on their self-titled debut. It's a potent formula, and one that has
worked well for them. The problem for FMTM has been getting the intense
driving energy of the live show down on record, and in that The Impossible
Leap shows a clear progression. The energy and intricate instrumentation
come through smoother and brighter this time around – all of which
serves to make the message that much more powerful. From Monument
to Masses play Thurs/5, 924 Gilman, Berk. (510) 525-9926. (Martin
Przybyla)
