Author’s note: Dr. Slaggleberry are immediately after Dr. Dre in my music collection. Think of how surprised I was when I accidentally clicked “Bitches Ain’t Shit” instead of the opening track on The Slagg Factory. Just sayin.
Tech music usually contains these few key elements: blistering virtuosity at every instrument, odd time signatures, and no soul or cohesiveness. There are tech bands that manage to break this formula – Orgone, Augury, Starring Janet Leigh, Sikth, (old) Ion Dissonance come to mind – and they are the ones that, ultimately, stand out from the herd (heh). However, for the most part, tech music (especially the kind done by every eighteen year old scenester that can sweep), is painful noise that has a cool riff here and there. Dr. Slaggleberry enter the scene as part of the new breed of technical music, combining everything from math metal to jazz. Sounds like every other band doesn’t it?
And yet, Dr. Slaggleberry stand out from the pack (even with their slightly ridiculous masks – Slipknot anyone?). On The Slagg Factory, they seem more akin to an entirely instrumental blend of Meshuggah‘s heavy chugging and The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s chaotic antics. This means that there is a huge focus on rhythms, and the trio makes good use of them; many ideas are often circulated around the rhythm section, with leads that feel almost alien-like making their way into the fray as well. The jazz and experimental ideas that are tried out are often used as compliments to the metal, rather than entirely different segueways that interrupt the flow.
Album opener “Feed Me a Stray Cat” provides the longest and most thought-out seven minutes on the disc. Ideas develop seamlessly, the rhythms are intricate, and the leads are weird – everything you’d expect from a band called Dr. Slaggleberry. “Grades of Filth” is more of the same, but is still captivating. “4 5″ is the most “different” track on the album. There is a long intro section of jazzy clean guitar playing that acts almost as an interlude, before the band returns to its formula. However, by the time you get to “Basterd Brew”, the novelty of the masks, the weird, and the cool, all kind of fades away. What you’re left with is still a competent mix of technical prowess (that is, without a doubt, better than that other tech band), but it still feels a bit hollow. Skipping “Basterd Brew”, “Gone Devil” is actually one hell of a closer.
Luckily, the album is only five tracks long, which makes it good for a bunch of spins before getting tired. Dr. Slaggleberry has found a formula that at its core, works. It is the fact that the band hardly ventures from it that makes The Slagg Factory a bit stale after awhile. This is a band that already has the basics down, they just need to expand outside of their realm (and into ours a little bit) to join the ranks of the elite tech bands.
(7.0/10)
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