Customer Reviews

Ape Uprising

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After a somewhat confusing yet ultimately rewarding foray into classic rock territory on its previous album, Slough Feg decides to play on its strengths on this bizarre conceptual album about apes revolting against mankind, inspired without a doubt by the fourth installment of the Planet of the Apes saga.

The album's first track, a tongue in cheek take on 70s inspired doom metal aptly titled The Unchback of Notre Doom, gives the impression that the band is still struggling to exorcise its classic rock demons, but as soon as the first riffs of Overbone hit the listener like a speedy jackhammer, it's crystal clear that the band is back on full pedal to the metal business, and as the final notes from Nasty Hero go by, one cannot feel but anger about the fact that outside its rabid cult following, this band is still relatively unknown.

It pains me to no end seeing how Judas Priest and Iron Maiden routinely sell truckloads of mediocre albums out of fan loyalty and brand recognition while Slough Feg churns out masterpiece after masterpiece without expanding its small circle of followers. This band is still vital and creative enough to keep your fist pumping for more than ten minutes straight on a single track like Ape Uprising, something present day Judas Priest or Iron Maiden simply can't or aren't willing to do... just check the formers' ridiculous Loch Ness "epic", or almost any track the latter has done since its much publicized comeback.

If you love traditional heavy metal as much as I do, get this or any Slough Feg album for that matter, you won't be disappointed.

I do not know why someone would be so harsh on this album I think it is a work of genious totally BRILLIANT to say the least it keeps getting better as the songs go by it is like a mix of Thin lizzy and Iron Maiden total masterPiece Of Mind [remember that monster from 1983 still my favorite Bruce Dickinson sung Maiden album] any way there are so many riffs it should be against the law just like the first 5 Maiden albums just KILLERstuff [OOPS there I go again with the Maiden refferences}

just buy this thing already

so far 2009 album of the year

I think that Slough Feg is one of the most brilliant bands of recent years, which perhaps means I'm being a bit too harsh on them with this review. I loved Hardworlder, and all of their previous releases, but I'm having a whole lot of difficulty finding something to like about this new release.

The lyrics and a lot of the music are pretty straightforward, as a previous reviewer stated, and that's not a good place to start. Whether they opt for the slightly goofy ("I am in space, I bet you know my name"), or the quietly sophisticated (like almost anything on Atavism), the lyrics are a high point for this band. Here, the lyrics are goofy, but not in a good way. It's about monkeys taking over the world, or something like that.

Slough Feg's attempt at Doom in "the Hunchback of Notre Doom" falls in the territory of boring, and the next track is about as memorable as your lunchtime meal three years ago to the day. The 10-minute epic is pretty good, but you have to sit through 3 minutes worth of uninspiring vocals before it gets interesting. Many of the rest are strange rock-inspired tunes or rambling, chorus-less pieces of blah. "Unmemorable", if it's a word, is the best word for this mess.

I know that the band has been experiencing some turmoil lately, and I can only hope that this latest effort is a product of the fact that Scalzi seems to be the only person who's consistently working on this effort. Hopefully they'll get it better next time.

A crime I say. Hunchback of noter-doom and simian manifesto alone make this album worth four stars. This band is so great buy everything they put out.

I'll start this review by stating that I am a big fan of Slough Feg. Been listening to them for years, and still do.

That is why I was so disappointed in this album. After the schizophrenic brilliance of Atavism and the solid sci-fi beats of Hardworlder, Ape Uprising! simply did not stack up.

Let us start with the lyrics. If you're a Feg fan, you probably love the crazy stuff that the group usually comes out with. They are almost always original, and contain hidden meanings and subtext that are not apparent until you've listened to the same track a few times. You will not find this here. I found the lyrics on AU! to be be both repetitive and derivative - while the Feg usually skates the thin line between brilliant and B-movie, the brilliance just does not show here.

The tracks themselves are, without an exception, mediocre. Riffs and leads tend to be repetitive and are occasionally out-of-place. The vocals are at times unclear and difficult to understand. This is where the real disappointment lies, for the vocals and guitar solos are delivered with the same conviction and hard-edged skill as before, but without the structure and cheeky innovation shown in prior albums.

Bottom line - I cannot recommend this album. Get any of their other albums instead. Any of them, seriously. Pass this one by.