Slung – In Ways
Release Date: 2nd May 2025
Label: Fat Dracula
Bandcamp
Genre: Alternative, Heavy Rock, Indie Rock, Shoegaze.
FFO: Deftones, Baroness, Wednesday, Iress, Queens of the Stone Age, Fleetwood Mac.
Review By: Mark Waight
Brighton, UK based band Slung are just about to release their highly anticipated debut album “In Ways.” The album is very much a cumulation of many different ideas from all the members of the band, which they have anecdotally self-labelled as a ‘collaborative combustion.’ This is certainly a very apt description, as they have very much exploded onto the music scene with their own unique brand of rock music.
Slung already have a huge following in their hometown, but they now intend to fully spread their wings and to conquer the rest of the country by embarking upon their UK wide album launch tour. This is all set to happen as I write this review, so I certainly wouldn’t bet against them achieving it!
Slung is Katie Oldham (vocals), Ali Johnson (guitar), Vlad Matveikov (bass) and Ravi Martin (drums)
Rolling in like a high-speed train, opening track “Laughter” reminded me very much of the fantastic early 80s sound of post punk band Bow Wow Wow which is certainly a great place to start the album for me. Choc full of innuendo, “Class A Cherry” introduces us to a much harder sound with raspy rock vocals and a super groovy vibe. Most definitely a cherry on the top moment!
The more contemporary theme of “Come Apart” floats along gently with an almost country twang before hitting the road hard and rolling with it towards the end. The REM-esque “Collider” is wickedly melancholy with a much more accomplished edge to it worthy of a band who have been around for much longer.
It’s no bull to say that “Matador” is a real pumped-up rebel rouser of a song with a great foot stomping beat. Poles apart from that, “Limassol” is a doomy, gloomy affair with a bit of a 90s Britpop aura about it and I must say nothing wrong with that either!
“Heavy Duty” is about as heavy as they come, it’s more than comparable to a huge pair of size 12 lead platform boots, albeit with the contrast of some bright psychedelic linings via the superb vocals to enhance and lighten the mood a touch. Picking up the pace a little, “Thinking About It” adds a bit of 70s style, nostalgia and spice before short instrumental title track “In Ways” offers us a very brief interlude.
Tearjerker “Nothing Left” slows things right down with a highly emotional and moving composition that can do nothing other than pull so firmly on your heart strings it hurts. What a great song! Final track “Falling Down” is a fluffy cloud of a curtain closer with a dreamy, chilled-out lullaby feel to it that is guaranteed to leave you thoroughly relaxed and ready to take on the world again. Well, maybe sometime tomorrow anyway!
“In Ways” is a cracking debut album, with Slung bringing in ideas from right across the board in several ways never tried or heard before. By seamlessly knitting all these threads together, Slung have created an album where you never get the chance to be bored because each track is as equally stimulating as the previous one but in a slightly different way that always piques your interest.
Every single music lover is going to find something “In Ways” that appeals to them as we are treated to an amalgamation of different genres, decades and styles by Slung that will very much please the taste of the modern rock audience, as well as a few of us old timers, too!
(4 / 5)
