Slægt: The Whore & the Holy One
Isn’t it strange how certain countries can be breeding grounds for heavy metal, while others produce but a handful of show-stopping names? The lists of bands hailing from the likes of Finland, Sweden, Norway or Germany or seemingly endless yet, despite its geographical and cultural proximity, Denmark doesn’t quite have the same legions of extreme metal. Sure, the underground scene is thriving – as it is everywhere – and the you simply can’t overlook the contributions of MERCYFUL FATE and a little-known drummer who goes by Lars Ulrich. But outside of old-school death metal revivalists BAEST, there’s only really one other outfit from the shores of Denmark threatening to conquer the modern extreme metal scene at large: blackened heavy metallers SLÆGT.
Having toiled in the underground for years, there has to be a huge sense of satisfaction when a band jumps from a small, independent label to a major powerhouse in the genre. Such is the case with SLÆGT‘s move to Century Media Records for the release of their fourth LP Goddess. Comments of the professionalism and energy within the Century Media team are not unexpected, but for front man and band founder Oskar Frederiksen, it’s the weight of the legacy that means most. “It’s a great honour, because I know about the history, I know about the importance of Century Media. To be able to say that now SLÆGT are a part of their story… it’s something to be proud of. I have sometimes looked at the current roster of bands, and it’s amazing we’re on the same label as those guys.”
For those that haven’t followed SLÆGT over the years though, the jump into major label territory can’t come as a huge surprise. Formed in 2011 as a pet project by Frederiksen, it didn’t take long for the project to evolve into a fully fledged band, solidifying a steady line-up and carving out a niche for themselves blending abrasive black metal with the pomp and fun of NWOBHM. And this style of blackened heavy metal SLÆGT call their own has already led to a solid back-catalogue and a strong cult fanbase.
“I was the one who wrote most of the songs for early SLÆGT and the way we sound now was started there. For me, it’s because my two favourite genres in metal are black metal and NWOBHM, so there you go! I guess also sometimes musicians make what they think is missing out there. I wanted to hear this kind of music, but I couldn’t really find it anywhere. There are some bands out there that definitely also mix NWOBHM and black metal, but not in the way that we do.” Frederiksen muses on their niche blend of black and tradition metal, before commenting on the difference between Goddess and the band’s previous material. “I feel like this time around we didn’t need to try and find out what SLÆGT‘s music should sound like. We know what we can do now, so Goddess was more about what we could do within this frame we’ve created.”
Despite being formed as a solo project by Frederiksen, SLÆGT is far from a creative dictatorship. While staying true to his vision of IRON MAIDEN meets pure blackened vitriol, Frederiksen has developed a winning partnership with fellow guitarist Anders Jørgensen. “I still write all of the lyrics but I would say the music is more or less 50/50 between me and Anders. It has never been my plan for SLÆGT to be ‘my band’ – it’s about writing great music and whoever has the best ideas, we go with that.” Frederiksen comments on the song-writing within SLÆGT before moving onto the organic nature of recording Goddess.
“For us when we record, all the basic tracking is the four of us in the same room. And then we do a lot of takes, we listen to them and find the best one. Of course there’s fixing small mistakes here and there, maybe changing the guitar sound, but the main tracks is all of us together, because we need that energy we have playing together.”
On the subject of lyrics, Frederiksen is a little more reserved. Remarkably candid in talking about much of SLÆGT and Goddess, he generally prefers to leave the lyrics a bit more ambiguous – though he does offer one insight, showcasing the metaphorical nature of his writing. “Let’s talk about Hunt Again. I tried to set the scene there of being on a hunt in the forest starting early in the morning. Even though I have never hunted before, I just tried to imagine how it feels and then at the end, once the hunt is over, you reap your reward. But, at some point, you become hungry again, you have to hunt again. But with that being said, I tried to see it as a metaphor of the band. We’ve achieved a few things so far but that shouldn’t make you rest on your laurels and become stagnant: you have to stay hungry. On the surface, that song is just about a hunt. But in my eyes, it’s about SLÆGT also.”
In terms of the conceptual and thematic basis of Goddess, Frederiksen is far more open when discussing the stunning artwork of the record. An esoteric masterpiece from Slovakian artist Dávid Glomba, Goddess‘s cover is without a doubt the finest of SLÆGT‘s discography, inspired from the lyrics of Goddess. “We shared the lyrics with him, and I went into detail telling him about the ideas behind the title track. The title track is very much inspired by this Gnostic myth about this entity called Sophia. I had once seen an illustration of this entity that I really liked and I thought it would look cool on on a cover or artwork or something like that. So we also sent that along for some inspiration, but mostly we gave him free reign to express himself.”
Despite just releasing the strongest record of their career, SLÆGT have no intention to sit back and bask in their success – far from it. As Frederiksen hints, we could see the fifth SLÆGT record sooner rather than later, should things go to plan. “I don’t think it’ll be another four years before the next album – we really like looking back on bands in the 70s and 80s who released classic albums once a year. That’s the golden standard we are trying to reach.” With such momentum and untouchable song-writing prowess on their side, overlook the Danes at your peril. This is the decade of SLÆGT, and there is no stopping them now.
Goddess is out now via Century Media Records.
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