PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS HURL THEMSELVES INTO THE DARKNESS WITH FIFTH LP, ‘DEATH HILARIOUS’
ALBUM REVIEW | PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS – DEATH HILARIOUS by Morris Shamah
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs’s fifth full length record, Death Hilarious, is an unrelenting rollercoaster, full of tight riffs and dark themes. It’s oil-thick with sludge and grime, a twisted, demented thrill ride which will rattle you, perhaps to freedom, perhaps to the asylum. Across the nine tracks you’ve got hints of speed-metal, psychedelica, doom-metal, noise-rock, and even a guest MC appearance – what you don’t get is a break from the barrage.
Opening track Blockage starts things off with a speed riff that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Motörhead song. Vocalist Matt Baty pummels you with “I’m staring straight ahead / infinitely bored / In my blind stupidity / I’ve returned to dust” while Ewan Mackenzie’s drums barrel through at breakneck speed. It’s a mammoth statement of purpose that ends with a peaking guitar solo and no denouement. Welcome to Death Hilarious, an album that starts at 11 and goes up – or maybe down – from there.
The first half of the record contains all three lead singles. Detroit is a feedback-laden doom-riff monolith. It’s also about self-doubt that may come from hearing your neighbours fucking through the walls, or, as Matt puts it, a reflection “on the worst manifestations of male jealousy and resentment, and the ways in which a lack of accountability can lead to deflecting responsibility in exchange for blaming external forces like fate or God for perceived injustice.” It lumbers onward, getting more Sabbathian as it goes, coming to an almost reserved bridge that brings the tempo just back to make it even heavier, begging for an explosion. “The sleepless nights I had / I feel insane.” Yeah. If you think that’s heavy, wait for Collider, which goes even further in on the doom and gloom riffage. “I could work hard at being / kinder to myself / but it’s way more thrilling / with existential dread.”
The first side closes with a double punch of Stitches, a return to speed riffs; and Glib Tongued, a tight, dynamic, groove which features El-P of Run The Jewels on a guest verse. Stitches stands out for its bright lead guitar work, but Glib Tongued takes you back into hell with a noise guitar-soundscape layered over a pulsing rhythm from bassist John-Michael Joseph Hedley. Matt has never sounded more evil, which fits, as it’s also a meditation on party-line socio-political dogmatism – “The silhouette of a flag / The murmuring of some national anthem / Parades of monochrome hair / There’s a nostalgic sense in the air.” It’s apocalyptic headbanging while the ashes of civilization float through the air. El-P preaches about the hypocrisy of modern democracy, Sam Grant (guitar) pummels you with his descending doom riff, Adam Ian Sykes (lead guitar) fills the space with the noises as if to actively keep you from finding your footing, and Matt hits you with “what a shame / it all stagnates / clings to the past / necromance” before a righteous scream and then just like that, the first side is done, and you can take a second to collect yourself while you flip the record over.
The second half is even more relentless. It starts with The Wyrm, a seven minute odyssey that’s an immediate jolt of adrenaline and a journey of epic proportions. It builds and builds for two whole minutes until it erupts in one of the most demonic speed riffs on the record, where it stays before devolving down to basics and into another long, intentional buildup. It’s a song written by the masters of crowd control – you can see exactly when and where the circle pits will open. Riff at your own risk.
Carousel and Coyote Call are arena-level heavy, hinting at a future for where Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs isn’t your favourite noise-stoner-gloom metal band, but everyone’s, whereas finale Toecurner hearkens back to the blues-rock styles more prominent on 2023’s Land of Sleeper and 2020’s Viscerals. At eight and a half minutes, it’s their longest composition since the latter’s Halloween Bolson. Marrying the length and blues riffage of their earlier work with this album’s double-down on heaviness and sludge, Toecurler is a head-warping wormhole into the deepest, darkest parts of your psyche. It plunges ever further downward in a death spiral of noise and primal screams, pulling back up into the intro riff for the last few minutes as Adam’s guitar sears through above the band, ending with one final plea from Matt who howls “My deprecation sends me sideways” to end the album.
In our interview with Matt Baty, he explains – “with this [album] the songs were a little bit more immediate, maybe a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more pushy, so Sam lent into that in the production- just kind of pushed things… to give it a bit more of a kind of a gnarlier sound.” Death Hilarious is certainly gnarly. It hooks into you like a bear trap, refusing to let go. The sounds and riffs batter through your brain and leave it a mess – better off, but a mess nonetheless. You’ll be reeling from it, un-composed and discombobulated, and just when you think you’ve had a chance to collect yourself enough to absorb it into your consciousness, the honesty and vulnerability of the lyrics will set in and leave you on your ass, again. It’s a masterpiece in aggression, a testament to the never-ending power of loud and brash music, and a monumental record that defies your ability to live without it.
DEATH HILARIOUS is out 4th April on Rocket Recordings. You pre-order your copy HERE.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are touring the UK this Spring. Get your tickets HERE.
APRIL
2nd Portsmouth, GB The Wedgewood Rooms
3rd Brighton, GB CHALK
4th London, GB Koko
5th Bristol, GB SW
7th Nottingham, GB The Rescue Rooms
8th Birmingham, GB The Castle & Falcon
9th Birkenhead, GB Future Yard
11th Manchester, GB New Century Hall
12th Leeds, GB Brudenell Social Club
13th Leeds, GB Brudenell Social Club
15th Edinburgh, GB La Belle Angele
16th Glasgow, GB Saint Luke’s
25th Newcastle Upon Tyne, GB Star and Shadow Cinema
26th Newcastle Upon Tyne, GB Star and Shadow Cinema
27th Newcastle Upon Tyne, GB Star and Shadow Cinema
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