Slough Feg

Originally called the Lord Weird Slough Feg, this San Francisco institution of fantasy metal was formed by Hammers of Misfortune singer/guitarist Mike Scalzi in Pennsylvania in 1990. Scalzi has since shortened the name to Slough Feg to make life easier on both record store clerks and fans trying to figure out where their albums are located in a given store. Slough Feg has always played a sort of pirate-friendly combination of folk and metal, bearing a few resemblances to Hammers of Misfortune but separated mainly by the lack of harmonized twin guitar leads and a more traditional take on fantasy metal. Where Hammers takes Iron Maiden in a decidedly experimental direction, Slough Feg tends to celebrate the simpler joys of shouted anthems and blaring guitar shred at the solo. Much like Hammers, however, Slough Feg plays a kind of metal virtually no one else is playing today.