The Slow Death is a musical endeavor unlike no other. Probably one of the heaviest funeral doom projects in existence, ''Ark"" and ''II"" are releases without peer as you would come to expect from a band with such a musical background, Haunting sorrowful and supremely heavy . A new track "''Famine'' was released on the Transcending Obscurity compilation, however the follow up Seige is still eagerly awaited. Stuart Prickett (Guitars/Keys) is one of Australia's finest creators of the genre, from the beginning with Elysium in the 1990s through to his work with Illimitable Dolor, another Doom project that also shares members of The Slow Death.
First things out of the way. Where is the new album Siege?
''Siege has been with the label transcending Obscurity for over a year now, so hopefully not too much longer until they do something with it.
Have you found it frustrating and have you used the time to write more material and focus on other projects?
''It is a little frustrating but it is what it is, the album recordings were finished about 3 years ago so it’s been a long time coming. The Slow Death has always just been a recording project though so all our focus has been on our other bands
Will it be as heavy and as haunting as your previous work?
''It is definitely as heavy as our previous albums and probably our mot epic work being 4 songs in about 60 minutes. Personally I think it’s a mix of elements of our first three albums, it is not a great departure from our core sound.
Are you surprised by the interest in the band ?
''Not really to be honest, all of us have a pretty well-known musical background so that might have created some interest and I think we have written some cool music. I’d be surprised if we were a hugely popular band but we are just an underground doom band and have been doing it for quite a while now.
Is epic the best way to describe your work?
''It’s as good as any description I guess haha. Heavy, atmospheric, doomy may be other words to describe it.
''I actually like being tagged doom and funeral doom. We don’t really try to be anything else, we’ve never really tried to branch out of that style, we never had plans to do anything other than doom, we will leave that to other bands who want to expand their sound. The Slow Death was always meant to be miserable, slow bleak death doom with Mandy’s vocals thrown in.
What makes it still exciting for you after all this time From Elysium till now?
''I absolutely love writing and playing doom and death metal, it’s in my blood and I still have no plans to stop after doing for the past 27 years or so. I love putting albums together and working with other musicians. Seeing people passionate about the music is also a big pleasure.
You have been a stalwart or the Sydney and metal scene for so long. How has it changed for you ?
''It’s changed quite a bit since I started gigging in 93, it has its ups and downs and venue problems/closures etc. The scene was very strong when I first started but it did die away a bit in the late 90’s/early 2000’s but has become stronger again I think, despite the problems that Covid-19 has brought us all. There was most definitely more local bands I was into in the 90’s but there are still quite a few Sydney bands now that I think are great. I guess the main thing that has changed for me is that now it is a lot easier to get gigs. When I first started no one gave a shit about doom, Elysium and Stone Wings was constantly pushing shit uphill, years later Stone Wings became a kind of cult thing many people said they loved but when we existed it was not that way haha. I think doom has become much more accepted in general and in the Sydney scene.
How do you balance both the slow death and illimitabe door? Who gets what riff and idea?
''There has been no crossover yet, I have not written any songs for The Slow Death since 2015 so all the doom stuff I have written has gone to Illimitable Dolor, which is my focus presently (along with my death metal band Horrisonous). It may be an issue to deal with in future but nothing I’ve had to worry about yet.
Any favourite genre new bands that have attracted your attention?
''There’s quite a few newer doom bands that I really like, bands like Occlith, Light Field Reverie, Convocation, Burden Man, Rezn among others. I listen to a whole lot of stuff, I’m always excited to find new bands,
Is Siege the end of The Slow Death or will it continue?
''It’s currently in hiatus but may not be the end, since we’ve always been solely a recording project there’s nothing to stop us from doing something new besides finding the time to do it.
Future plans?
''Besides finally getting Siege released we don’t really have too many plans for The Slow Death. Dan, Yonn and myself are also doing Illimitable Dolor and Horrisonous together, so we are more concentrating on those and some other projects for now, both in the live and studio setting.
Top 6 albums of all time. ..
Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Judas Priest – Painkiller
Crimson Glory – Transcendence
Evoken – Atra Mors
Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time
Whitesnake - 1987
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