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Slaughter Thou.
 2005 already looks like being a good year for local death metal battalion Slaughter Thou. With work on their latest release, 'The Anzac Hammer', near completion, and a three-show tour of NSW (their first interstate gigs) planned for next month, the group will also again be the local supports for Austrian death metallers Pungent Stench (who they played with back in 2003). On a less happy note, they recently parted ways with their main vocalist, Gregor, who was compelled to leave the band due to work commitments. According to the group's drummer, Ben, there are no plans to replace Gregor; instead, fellow vocalist Tony will take over his duties as frontman. So, I assume, this will give Tony a chance to step out of the shadows, so to speak.
"Yeah, that's right," says Ben. "Greg was a very in-your-face frontman, and probably the main focus of that department, so his departure gives Tony an opportunity to actually be the lead singer of Slaughter Thou. [Bass player] Justin already does back-up vocals anyway, so he's going to do a bit more of that, and [lead guitarist] Don will have a few bits here and there, just to keep that multi-vocal facet there. We don't really want to go over the top with it."
As was the case with the band's last release, 2003's full-length album 'Lest We Forget', war is the dominant lyrical theme on 'The Anzac Hammer'. "It's really about the role of the Anzacs and what they did for Australia to actually help form the nation's character," explains Ben. He says that the group came up with the phrase "the Anzac hammer" themselves; as he puts it, "It's a way of putting across the idea that they were a force. They were fairly well respected as well. In World War One they were probably seen as more the larrikins; they were there for a good time, not a long time, and just there to do their bit, but they gained a lot of respect from the way they carried themselves, and we'd like to show that as well."
Slaughter Thou's sound has evolved a fair bit since the band began in 1999, and this evolution has continued with the latest release. "If you listen to our first demo, 'Indiscriminhate' you'll probably find that the material on it is rawer and more blast-oriented than our newer stuff; it was pretty much a case of just putting it to the floor and blasting it; there wasn't much variation. We've done three recordings now - one lost and two released - and have developed as musicians and a band during the course of those, and I think people will be able to hear that development. Don's also been writing a lot more interesting riffs, while we've all been putting more thought into the final product."
The other band on the Pungent Stench bill will be a group from Queensland called Godnose, who I'm interested in learning more about. "They're a three-piece band," Ben informs me, "with a chick on bass and vocals; a guy on guitar and vocals; and a drummer. Their stuff sounds a little bit like a combination of old school metal and hardcore. They toured Europe fairly recently, and believe they played some shows with Pungent over there, so there was obviously a connection."
Moving onto the subject of Pungent Stench, I ask how the band were able to reprise their role as local supports for that other group. "I don't think it was for any other reason than the fact that the guy who's bringing them out knows that we're reliable; we promote it, and we promote ourselves," Ben shrugs. "We're not going to let him down, and he enjoyed us, so why wouldn't he want to have us on the bill again?"
"I think just about every one of us grew up on them," Don says of the band, "so we love them, and love playing with them."
"And it helps that they're really nice people as well," Ben goes on. "They weren't arrogant. Some overseas bands aren't really interested in knowing anything about you or what goes on where you live, but they had time to talk to us; they were interested to know about us, and what it was like around here. By the same token, we were interested to know about them, and they were happy to tell us - I can't wait for them to come back."
James Brazel
 | Slaughter Thou play with Godnose and Pungent Stench at the Enigma Bar on Fri 25 Feb; they also play with Sarsekim, Bloodmason and Of Grator at the Land of Promise Hotel on Sat 12 Mar. |
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