Dr Slaggleberry eh? …Just listen to the latest offering ‘The Slagg Factory’ from these three technical London noiseniks, and you will realise that what initially seems a totally absurd name is actually rather fitting with the music… strange with a huge stamp of professional authority.
Formed in 2008 Dr S. were initially 3 drummers, two of which then taught themselves guitar. As a result Dr Slaggleberry evolved from a bunch of skin smashers to an experimental jazz-metal monster, leaving stamps and traces of their tub-thumping rhythmic heritage throughout their musical adventure.
In short ‘The Slagg Factory’ is 22 minutes of controlled insanity. Right from the opener ‘Feed Me A Stray Cat’ you know you have an intricate but well crafted beast on your hands. Cascading polyrhythms and atonal riffing overlaying somewhat understated jazz backbeats form the basis of the trio. Their sense of rhythm is superbly precise whilst still seeming aloof with much of the guitar work, but you wouldn’t expect anything less originating from three drummers. The opening track promises complete insanity to explode throughout the album as the jazz based boundaries are tested.
The rhythm prevails as these nutters launch into ’13 Grades Of Filth’, more technical exploration in what now seems to be an overly controlled environment, and herein lies the problem with this EP. This track and the following ‘845’ doesn’t quite mutate in to what you hope it would be, it all seems a tad too subdued, although the latter half of ‘845’ does pack a bit more of the required grunt. ‘Bastard Brew’ is the closest to hitting the nail on the head from these boys. It actually explodes into life right from the off, but then stagnates a little. These guys have the capability of producing something truly mind blowing and this isn’t far off. It’s all about exploration and testing the boundaries.
Compare this EP to trekking through a forest… Dr Slaggleberry should be taking us on a mystery tour exploring every inch, even climbing some of the trees, but this EP only covers about half the area and offers a bit too much of a direct route across from one side to another.
Tis a little bit my kind of thing!!
loving this band 🙂
progressive industrial hillbilly metal