The band name came first, we were both up really late one night (probably not sober at this point) talking about slugs and wondered why nobody had created a sludge metal band entirely about slugs. We didn’t exactly stick to the genre, but we ran with the idea anyway. I (Matt) still can’t pronounce the band name properly.
Your last album talks about a giant slug that dominates the world, Am I wrong?
Why are you obsessed by slugs? It's the most "anti-metal" animal of the world
The album is more about several giant slugs that rule over multiple universes, the principle deity in the pantheon is an uncreated entity called Greatfather Mollusca. We’re obsessed about molluscs in general. Squid, Octopus, Clams, Gastropods etc. There is a mollusc that lives in the deep ocean that has grown an iron plated skin and shell, so with that in mind i’d say they’re probably the most metal creatures in existence; literally!
Is there a storytelling that links your albums?
There is yes, but we’ve tried to be as vague as possible on purpose. Anyone who’s familiar with the fiction of HP Lovecraft will probably understand why. That being said there are recurrent themes, the main one being a creation myth about Mollusca self replicating and creating new universes in his/her realm (the Garden of Slish) and perpetually harvesting them as a source of energy to support his ever growing complexity. He/she also sings alot, but the song is pretty disturbing, and he/she doesn’t use autotune.
Did you expect that Gastronomicon would have been so appreciated?
No, infact we made great efforts to make sure people would be immediately put off. Apparently that didn’t work and here we are talking about slugs again. I’m very glad people do listen, although we’d still be making it even if they weren’t.
3 words to describe your kind of music
Unruly, DIY, slime.
3 artists who were essential to your musical growing
For me i’d say Napalm Death, Carl Orff, Akercocke. Kev would almost certainly say Decapitated, as for the others i’m unsure, probably Dimmu Borgir and I know Cannibal Corpse were an early favourite when he started playing drums when he was a kid, unfortunately he’s not here to ask.
Do you know some italian heavy metal bands?
Not many personally, I know some guys from the grindcore bands Shitfuckingshit, and Ken Park who I don’t think are going anymore unfortunately. Cripple Bastards and Fleshgod Apocalypse I suppose is the obvious one! I’ll be in Rome in december so perhaps I can check some out if there’s any around!
Are some labels looking for Slugdge?
Not if they have any sense. We never intended to pursue a record deal, I think with the advent of file sharing and piracy those days are mostly behind us, and i’m mostly glad!
Do you think Slugdge could be a live band?
It’s quite possible yes, we’ve talked alot about this, we have the people to play live, unfortunately they’re all spread out across the country. It’s just a case of finding time to organise it.
What do you think about the modern Death Metal scene? Is there to much attention to the level of difficulty of the songs and less to the "Death Metal" and its meanings?
I'm not saying to talk about satan or other bullshits, I'm talking about the music, the chords, the atmosphere of the songs.
In my opinion Slugdge are one of the few band that understood the evilness that Morbid Angel carried into the genre, not a specific inspiration but a same viewing about the extreme music.
There’s room for everything. Death metal’s a very diverse genre to the trained ear. There’s time to be a purist and there’s room for experimentation. We’re all building on the works of others. Bands like Morbid Angel were massively influential to me growing up, and if someone takes a even one idea from my band and builds on it, then i’ll be content that i’ve furthered the development of extreme metal in some small way. Our species is great like that, despite what some of the slugs think.
The Sludgelord blog did not a review of Gastronomicon, you're not too much "Sludge"
Nah we’re not, we have sludge metal influences, from Eyehategod to Primitive Man and Black Sheep Wall, but Sludgelord specialises in Sludge metal as the name implies. I read their stuff though, downloaded one of their compliations I think. There was some good stuff on there.
Do you think that a giant slug could be the solution for the worldwide peace?
When people realise we’re all the same scared little organisms trying to make sense of something that makes very little sense, then maybe a cosmic slug that lives outside of our physical perception is the best option for everyone. Mollusca also doesn’t mind what you do with your alone time!
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