Slug Comparison – A Battle to the End Fought on the Edge of a Knife
Slug Comparison – A Battle to the End Fought on the Edge of a Knife
Self Released
Release Date: 09/05/2025
Review by Beth Morait
9.5/10
A while back I happened across Canadian Prog Rockers, Fen, by chance, when their latest album “Dear Mouse” Dropped into our review queue. I was an instant fan, so when frontman Doug Harrison contacted me to ask if I’d like to review his new 3rd solo release, I jumped at the chance!
Still very much in the Prog Rock territory, “A Battle to the End Fought on the Edge of a Knife features Doug’s crystal-clear vocals, which impressed me a lot on the Fen release, but it has a slightly heavier feel to the instrumentation, despite it still being very 90s Indie Rock style. A great example of this is the intro to track 3 ‘Game of Repression’, which starts off with a Classic Heavy Metal-style intro…
But then it drops in a delicious Prog number for the verse, with a folky edge, in 6/8 time (as far as I can tell), with a couple of cross random bars in other time signatures (because let’s face it, it wouldn’t be Prog without that would it) which give it a lovely lilting sense. There’s also a passage right towards the end of the song where Doug’s vocals really remind me of Muse frontman Matt Bellamy.
The following track, ‘Undead Plots’, is a mournful, melancholy number that takes another turn more into the quieter sections of “In Cauda Venenum” era Opeth territory, which pleases me immensely, because Mikael Åkerfeldt is one of my heroes, and in my humble opinion “In Cauda Venenum” is one of the finest albums ever made. Everything about this song is perfect! Right down to the floating guitar outro.
And then ‘Outta The Jam’ treks off into Shinedown meets Foo Fighters meets Ozzy-style vocals. Because why not, eh?! Great guitar solo in the middle of this track, too, by the way! This one’s a really headbanger of a track, and heavier than the rest of the album so far.
‘Too Much Love’ offers a slowed down, Sludgy Doom sound, that’s hypnotic, and borderline psychedelic, with a ton of echo on the guitars, and a laboured drum beat and Bassline that feel like wading through treacle, but in a kind of fun way that suggests it was your choice to be wading through the treacle in the first place, because you just love treacle.
But if that’s not your bag, don’t worry, as the album goes full on Metal in the aptly named ‘Metal Roots Came Twisting’ combining mini Thrash sections, dirty riffs, and a bit of Emo/ Grunge just for shits n giggles. But it’s still very Proggy at the same time, obviously.
The album comes to a close with ‘Hamsters In A Tub’ which is like if Punk was polite and went Prog.
This is an album that brushes so many styles, and artist, while still remaining individual, and interesting. Doug is clearly a man who makes music he likes, purely because he can. Music for pleasure. The way it should be. Another album that’s absolutely going on my playlist now. If you like Prog, this album should be on your list too.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Wish to Adapt
02. March through the Forest
03. Game of Repression
04. Undead Plots
05. Outta the Jam
06. A Battle to the End Fought on the Edge of the Knife
07. Too Much Love
08. Metal Roots Came Twisting
09. Played for a Centipede
10. Of Being Apart
11. Hamsters in a Tub
LINKS:
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