Slough Feg is an American Heavy Metal and Folk Metal band originating from Pennsylvania but currently based in San Fransisco. The band is known for their dramatical lyrics, solo heavy sound, and general retro approach which have earned them comparison to bands like The Sword although Slough Feg have been around for much longer. Originally founded in 1991, the band released their independently produced EP in 1996 and have released 8 more studio albums since then.
The band was originally called The Lord Weird Slough Feg but officially shortened it in 2005 in the interest of brevity (and to make them easier to find in record stores, since everyone called them "Slough Feg" for short anyway). As of 2019 they seem to have begun referring to themselves with the "Lord Weird" part again. The Lord Weird Slough Feg is the name of the main villain in the British comic book Sláine, which the band are big fans of.
Members:
- Michael Scalzi - Guitars / Vocals (1990-Present)
- Angelo Tringali - Guitars (2005-Present)
- Adrian Maestas - Bass (2001-Present)
- Harry Cantwell - Drums (2007-Present)
Former Members:
- Omar Herd - Vocals
- Chris Haa - Guitars
- Andrew Sebba - Guitars
- John Cobbett - Guitars
- Justin Phelps - Bass
- Scott Beach - Bass
- Jon Torres - Bass
- Jim Mack - Bass
- Dave Passmore - Drums
- Stu Kane - Drums
- Greg Haa - Drums
- Antoine Reuben-Diavola - Drums
Discography:
- The Lord Weird Slough Feg (1996)
- Twilight of the Idols (1999)
- Down Among the Deadmen (2000)
- Traveller (2003)
- Atavism (2005)
- Hardworlder (2007)
- The Slay Stack Grows (2008) (Compilation)
- Ape Uprising! (2009)
- The Animal Spirits (2010)
- Made in Poland (2011) (Live Album)
- Digital Resistance (2014)
- New Organon (2019)
Tropes include:
- Badass Boast: "I'm a proud warrior sunken low, I got no place to go, I can run, I can steal, I can hide, but you know I'll never lose my pride! You can see me in the forest at night with my eyes wide open and my leather pulled tight. You can see me in the forest at dawn, hiding in the shadows with my battle beak drawn!"
- Big Rock Ending: "Traders and Gunboats."
- Blood Knight: "Highlander."
- Call-and-Response Song: "Shakedown at the Six."
- Celtic Mythology
- Concept Album: Traveller is their most traditional one, telling a story set in the eponymous game’s universe, but several of their other later albums revolve around a unifying theme.
- The Animal Spirits is about theology and religion.
- Digital Resistance is about romanticising the past and rejecting modern technology.
- New Organon is about philosophy.
- Cover Song: Fast Taker, Gloves of Metal, Dearg Doom, The Tell-Tale Heart, Diamonds and Rust as well as Street Jammer by Manilla Road and The Wizards Vengeance by Legend.
- Horrible History Metal: Starting with Atavism, Slough Feg began to write lyrics about actual history and not just Fantasy and Comics version of the same. Examples include: "Hiberno-Latin Invasion."
- "I Am" Song: "Marauder," "High Passage / Low Passage," and "Emaeus the Swineherd."
- I'll Kill You!: "I Will Kill You / You Will Die." The lyrics aren't about killing people per se though, but about evolution.
- Large Ham: Mike mentions how as a child he heard Richard Burton sing in Camelot and noticed that he wasn't a very good singer but he had a great voice. The same theatrical execution can be heard in Mike's performance.
- New Sound Album: Starting with Atavism the band has shed most of the Proggy and Folksy sound of their old albums in favour of a more straightforward traditional heavy metal sound.
- Sequel Song:
- "High Season I-II", all one song, is found on their 1993 demo.
- "High Season III" and "High Season IV" are found on their self-titled debut album.
- A remake of "High Season II" on Twilight of the Idols.
- A remake of "High Season I" simply titled "High Season" on Down Among the Dead Men.
- "High Season V" on Atavism, which funnily enough has more musical and lyrical similarities to "The Final Gambit" from Traveller than it does to any of the previous High Seasons.
- There’s "Warrior’s Dawn" on Down Among the Dead Men and "Warrior’s Dusk" on Digital Resistance.
- "Magic Hooligan" on Digital Resistance and "Exegesis/Tragic Hooligan" on New Organon.
- "High Season I-II", all one song, is found on their 1993 demo.
- Sky Pirate: "Sky Chariots" although technically it would be Sky Vikings.
- Space Pirates: Forget it, "High Passage / Low Passage" is THE Space Pirates song.
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Spiritual Successor: To old-school American Traditional Heavy Metal and Power Metal like Manilla Road, Brocas Helm and early Manowar. - Unishment: In the story of Traveller, When Baltech Budapest is infected by spores and turned into a Vargr he blames professor Rickets for it, and subjects him to the same fate. Rickets is overjoyed since he considers it to be a vindication of his theories.
