Slugdge - Born Of Slime review
| Band: | Slugdge |
| Album: | Born Of Slime |
| Style: | Blackened death metal, Sludge metal |
| Release date: | June 19, 2013 |
| Guest review by: | Mattybu |
01. All Shell Perish
02. Slime Traveler
03. Eyehatesalt
04. Killing Fields
05. Pod Hates Us All
06. Deus Ex Mollusca
07. War Prayer Of Slish
08. Day Of Sludgement
I will admit that before hearing this album, the only time I heard about slugs in my music was listening to Biggie Smalls and the like. However Slugdge is here to change that, and don't let the gooey gastropods they sing about fool you - these guys are the real deal.
Now, right from the start, I'll get to what makes Born of Slime work. I imagine most people's reactions to a blackened sludgy death metal album thematically centered around slugs would be a laugh - which is reasonable. What makes it work and gives the album a more genuine feel is the fact that it is so musically sound. Basically, Slugdge's sound is driven by dirty and thick guitar lines, backed by equally weighty drumming with a mixture of raspier black/death style vocals and cleaner vocal parts. The songwriting is quite dynamic and every song goes somewhere without getting boring, and the riffs have enough melody to them to keep the album engaging. On top of the songs being written well, the combination of genres presented here works well and is enough to keep the album fresh. It is an imaginative and fun (never thought you would hear that word in reference to blackened death metal, did you?) journey through a world besieged by carnivorous slugs.
I won't lie, animals (especially underwater animals or weird ones like slugs) do fascinate me so right off the bat the scales are tipped towards me liking stuff like this. But I can't stress enough that Slugdge delivers the goods musically, and if you like sludge metal or death metal with a bit of a melodic inclination, Born of Slime is probably a safe bet for a good time. It is certainly one of the best albums I've heard in 2013.
It's free to download on bandcamp as well. Can't really ask for a much better deal than that, so head over there and see if the slug life is for you.
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 8
Visited by: 62 users
| Doge of Venice Posts: 442  |
I do find the whole slug thing to be glorious. The lyrics and the song titles are glorious.
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589  |
Written by Doge of Venice on 07.12.2013 at 17:10 Right? There's obviously some light-hearted intentions behind some of this but the lyrics in songs like Killing Fields go a long way in terms of painting an epic picture in my mind, totally agreed.
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| Doge of Venice Posts: 442 |
Written by Mattybu on 07.12.2013 at 18:07 Yeah, I do quite enjoy the mixture. It's not really my style of metal, but I'm enjoying it. Also, I said glorious once too many times there.
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589 |
Written by Doge of Venice on 07.12.2013 at 21:03 I like death metal and since there are fairly dominant death metal influences in here I can't say it's totally not my thing, but even as a very cursory listener to sludgy metal I find this very enjoyable. Never a bad time to throw an extra glorious or two into a sentence either haha.
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| Doge of Venice Posts: 442 |
See, I'm not much of a death kinda guy. I don't mind me some Black, but I prefer the atmospheric stuff. I do enjoy sludgy stuff, but in general I'm not the greatest fan of harsh vocals (which is what essentially limits my ability to like Death Metal), so that definitely aids my liking of this band. True, true.  EDIT: I mean, I don't mind some harsh vocals, but in my mind everything else has to more than make up for it in many cases. I'm not sure what it is, but I just find it hard to listen after a while, so I like alternating clean and harsh vocals.
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589 |
Fair enough, harsh vocals certainly aren't for everyone. I don't mind the alternating when it's done properly as well, and it definitely works on this album. Come to think of it more often than not I am totally fine with clean vocals in more extreme bands.
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| Doge of Venice Posts: 442 |
The musical aspect of death certainly draws me (I quite enjoy the more extreme methods of guitar playing) towards it, for sure. In my eyes, the vocals aren't necessarily an indicator of how extreme a band is, and that's why I share a similar view to your last point.
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| RonnieDan Posts: 1 |
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