Press Pack:
Album Reviews:
Metal Hammer Magazine (Issue 216, March 2011)
A depraved barrage of homicidal noise rock, infused with the scariest punk, the ugliest metal and a flesh-rending avant-garde streak, Slab’s second album extends their progressive sickness and takes extremity into truly frightening territory. Another reason to regard Birmingham as the beating heart of heavy. (8 out of 10)
Zero Tolerance Magazine (Issue 39, Feb 2011)
This is the second full-length release put out by Birmingham metal trio Slab, and it is a massively impressive headfuck of discordant thunder. Brooding, dark power, frenzied aggression, wild sonic violence, frenetic and breathlessly busy, and yet shot through with melody and housed in defined structures: Voivod and Fugazi in a blender with huge helpings of death metal and punk and garnished with a conceptual and lyrical intelligence. There are lessons to be learned here, and they’re driven home with an iron fist. ‘Tetradon Zombie Voodoo Ritual’ is a personal highlight, but it’s all bloody devastating. Definitely music to be handled with care. (4.5 out of 6)
MidlandsRocks.co.uk (Feb 2011)
Possibly the best unsigned extreme metal band doing the rounds in the Midlands right now, Slab combine everything from metal to punk to hardcore with all kinds of extreme metal nastiness to create a phenomenal sound. Their latest, Megafaunal Genocide, has been on constant rotation recently as its one of the few albums that with every listen brings ever-rewarding returns.
Acoustic opener ‘Vigil’ is a daunting and hauntingly beautiful acoustic piece and no preparation for what is soon to be unleashed. ‘Thylacine’, an extreme metal masterpiece, quickly shifts the album into even darker territory. The album could end right there and I’d be happy. But no. ‘Kevorkian’ digs deeper and is pure dirt. Then comes ‘Physeteric Faith Disaster’, ‘Pockets of Resistance’, ‘The Bite’ (with a monster bass riff in the intro), and ‘The Nihilist’: an incessant torrent of gigantic blow after gigantic blow. And still the intensity continues. From ‘Tetradon Zombie Voodoo Ritual’ and ‘Pigshifter’ to ‘Animal Faced God’ and ‘Human Rain’, like razor wire drawn slowly through a clenched fist, the album is one intense track after another: excruciating bliss. The structures are of such complex brilliance: discordant, relentlessly dynamic, and always immeasurably heavy. Acoustic closer ‘Connaisance’ ends the album as it begins, bleakly melancholic, But here, the listener is dazed at what has just befallen, blissfully battered and bruised.
This three-piece has a sound whose sum is much more than its elements. Jim’s bass and Jake’s guitar work together in such a way that every hole is filled and the balance never falls one way or the other. Both complement each other flawlessly. Andy’s drum work is astounding at every turn, refined and aggressive, a lethal combination. And vocally, Jake is the size of many big things. Big and scary and very angry things, that is. Together, Slab is solid concrete. (Okay, I was trying to avoid the obvious metaphor, but it is very heavy after all.) I am deeply indebted and eternally grateful to fellow MR-scribe Chop for heaving this disc my way and I’m sure he’ll agree on two things: firstly, it’s a fucking crime that when I hammer the name Slab into the interweb, very little proffers itself in terms of reviews, promotion, or even mere mention. And secondly, that it’s a fucking crime that Slab remain unsigned.
9 out of 10
Live:
Midlands Rocks reviews:
Scruffy Murphys, Birmingham – 4th November 2011 (supporting Xerath)
In these times of insecurity and flux, there is one thing that remains constant, and that it is that Slab don’t do bad gigs, Slab do great gigs. Every single time. Off stage, Jake looks happier than a comparative clause. But stick a microphone in front of his face and hang a guitar around his neck and he becomes a monster with a voice ravaged in wrath and riffs that treat the neck as an enemy to be overthrown – and he always wins! Jim’s bass sound is gigantic and his lines counter Jake’s riffs perfectly, bouncing off them and flooding the nether regions with melodic thunder. And sat behind the kit, Andy effortlessly works the kit to lay down mighty groove on groove and colouring the songs with flourishes and fills that, put simply, kill. Tighter than a Chinese finger trap, Slab are as focussed a unit as can be found on any stage, underground or otherwise. Between the three of them, not one note is out of place and they are the sound and size of many very big things – big, hard and heavy things made of even bigger hard and heavy things.
The Asylum, Birmingham – 10th October 2010 (Meltdown Fest – supporting Onslaught)
Slab beg the questions ‘how, and why, are you still unsigned?’ every time you see them. Having returned from a whistle stop tour of Ireland in the early hours they showed no obvious signs of fatigue as they tore through a ferocious set of the highest quality. Aside from Jake and Big Jim swapping sides on stage it was business as usual as their ever fluid and technical take on extreme metal was as clinical and enjoyable as it gets. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen them now but they never cease to amaze, and this performance was up there with the best they’ve produced. At the risk of sounding like a homoerotic fantasy, Slab (and a huge PA) would be my desert island luxury – genuinely they are a band you could never get tired of, always intricate and always as tight as a band as they come. With the imminent release of their second album surely it’s only a matter of time before they’re noticed nationally and get the acclaim they truly deserve? Set list; “Pockets”, “The Bite”, “Tetradon”, “Pigshifter”, “Devilwalk”, “Animal Faced God”, “Yi Zi Er Shi”, “Thylacine”.
The Green Rooms, Pontypridd – 2nd July 2010 (supporting Preacher).
The 2nd July saw a Metaltastic evening, comprising three super-talented local bands and one incredibly awesome band from Birmingham.
Slab were up as main support and can only be described as awesomeness from Birmingham! They are a heavy, noisy, three piece who are fast intricate, tight and effortless on stage. They look like they really enjoy playing live and look like they have been playing together forever. They are very different to anything else with angry gutteral screams, I struggled to put these into a genre and I can only describe them as the heavier side of Pantera with much heavier vocals. These guys have an album under their belts and have recently released en even heavier EP, its really good.
