Slegest – Vidsyn

A Norwegian Blackened Doom Metal quartet with six years worth of experience, Slegest has in said six years released one EP and two full-length records in that time. The recent of these carries the name Vidsyn, and will be the focus of my scutiny today. First off, Vidsyn does have some Black Metal influences (mostly through the heavily gruffled and low growl that the vocal tracks provide), albeit the old-school Doom Metal sound is the all-dominating theme present throughout all of the album. And while the before-mentioned Black Metal influence definitely affects the overall feel of the band, it seems quite clear that Slegest draws primarily from the slow and melancholic bands of the seventies, most noticeably Black Sabbath, as far as I can tell. These two aspects combined does create a rather unique feel and sound, even though it does have several draw-backs as far as I am concerned. First off, the music comes off as a bit stunted to some extent, as if it could have been so much more. This is the biggest problem I have with Slegest, who otherwise comes off as quite a great band. Secondly (which can be seen as an extension of the first point) I would have loved for Vidsyn to have a significantly more depressive, melancholic and intense sound, as Doom Metal benefits exceptionally well from such an approach. And while it will always be a matter of perspective and personal taste, I would like to prove my point by linking to the first track off the record (entitled ”I Fortida Sitt Lys”) below as an example of a very decent song, that just shows promise of so much more. Sure, I can imagine that quite a few fans of the Sludge and seventies Doom Metal scene would disagree, which I can relate to to some extent. Nevertheless, given a few more years and a bit more tours under their belt and I can easily see Slegest as becoming a lot more.

https://www.facebook.com/slegest/