Review:
The heroes of doom metal seem to hold little regard for anything besides distortion and the devil. After all, subtlety can be difficult to convey with a Gibson SG, cartilage-cleaving vocals, and a cityscape of amplifier cabinets. But perhaps the legion of albums sired in the fumes of Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, and Sleep may have overlooked the true spirit of these legendary groups, drawing from their more superficial traits and landing on repetition without the intensity, volume without the vigour. On Land of Sleeper, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs do many things but they also embody the theatre, camp, and sheer fun of all the best heavy music. Of course, Land of Sleeper is still loud and punishing. They lead with these qualities in “Ultimate Hammer,” where guitars, bass, and drums carom and ricochet in unison before thundering into a mammoth galloping chug. It’s the first time on the record that you hear the full force of the band’s power, and it is glorious. But also raises an involuntary chuckle: It’s almost too heavy. This time around, the arrangements seem particularly hypertrophied, and the churning riffs seem genetically modified for maximum effect. Pigs’ songwriting has been on a journey of ever-increasing concentration ever since 2017’s Feed the Rats debuted with just three tracks (15, 4, and 17 minutes long, respectively). Continuing the trend of 2018’s King of Cowards and 2020’s Viscerals, Land of Sleeper feels a shade crisper than what came before. Whereas they once prioritised the churn and burn, now their songs are leaner and tighter. Across the album, the tempo shifts jump further and the rhythm switch-ups are starker, so songs like “Pipe Down!” and “Big Rig” mutate with frenetic speeding passages, low-slung breakdowns, and melodies that spill out of the traditional four or eight bar repository. Pigs clearly revel in the extreme heaviness of those brays of distortion in “Terror’s Pillow” or the glacial speed of the middle section in “Pipe Down!” These tactics can occasionally make the album disjointed, which is perhaps why the relatively straightforward “Mr Medicine” feels like a strutting, urgent highlight. On Land of Sleeper, Pigs also have a smidgen more belief in the power of dynamics. Between all the mayhem, you will also hear subtle pianos, synths, choirs, and sanguine, wide-eyed lyrics about “routine watering and the magic of the sun.” These details play off the finely drawn production that divorces Pigs from the need to faithfully recreate the sound of their raucous live show. The fuzzed-out guitars are well-marbled and thick, like quality guanciale—would it be a stretch to say they recall some of the gnarlier bass tones on Sly Stone records? Matt Baty’s roars and howls are often applied with an oscillating echo that evokes his voice ringing “deep in the abyss” down the “godforsaken English towns,” before the “storm coming” as described in the lyrics. “When you’re making intentionally heavy music, a degree of levity is important,” guitarist Adam Ian Sykes told Vice in 2020. Throughout Land of Sleeper, Pigs embrace the camp of doom and stoner metal, but they also sound invested in the genre’s history, its roots in acid rock and psych. They often embed their songs with the kind of efficiency you hear in the best pop music: Gaps between vocal lines are filled with mini-riffs, melodic hooks overlap to save space, and the immaculate production submerges nothing. This is an H. R. Giger painting of an album: all muscular, misshapen forms that look all the more strange—and perhaps even a little beautiful—the closer you look. — pitchfork

Track List:
01 - Ultimate Hammer
02 - Terror's Pillow
03 - Big Rig
04 - The Weatherman
05 - Mr Medicine
06 - Pipe Down!
07 - Atlas Stone
08 - Ball Lightning


Media Report:
Genre: psychedelic rock
Country: Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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