When Stig Ese left Norwegian act Vreid, where he did the guitars (we’re talking about the year 2010), he had some specific ideas he wanted to canalise by means of an own project, which eventually was called Slegest. In 2012 he debuted with a self-called mini-album under this moniker, which was pretty positively accepted. Ese, playing everything (vocals, guitar, bass and drums) himself, recorded new material in mean time at his own studio (Systrond Studio), with some parts registered at Conclave & Earshot Studio with Bjørnar E. Nilsen (Dead To This World, Vulture Industrial, Taake, Byfrost, Helheim, Black Hole Generator etc.). The mastering, by the way, was done by Enslaved’s Herbrand Larsen. And that’s what this second album is all about.
The eight-track album Løyndom (running time: thirty five minutes) combines rather classic Doom Rock / Metal in the vein of, well, let’s keep it simple and mention Black Sabbath once again (actually, some drum patterns and especially some bass riffs sound very sabbathesque), with elements from Post-Black, rather inspired by Khold or Triptykon. There’s a certain groove, as well as an oppressive atmosphere, and the sound is truly cool: foggy and heavy at the same time. The main tempo is slow, but there are some faster parts, yet no lightning blast stuff.
This kind of Doom-laden Post-Black Metal might not sound extremely renewing (cf. the likes of Tulus / Sarke / Khold, Satyricon, Celtic Frost / Triptykon / Dark Fortress etc., mixed with a nice does of Black Sabbath-heaviness), but there are more pros than cons: the song writing and performance, the vocals, the production; it’s just a glimpse of this project’s pseudo-excellence. no, Slegest are not renewing or border-trespassing, but I do really enjoy this material. If you can appreciate the bands I just mentioned, you will too.