ALBUM REVIEW: Pig’s Blood – Destroying The Spirit

Wisconsin bestial death metal savages Pig’s Blood return with their third album. Out via Dark Descent Records on the 24th of April.

Scathing guitars and ferocious drums joined by malicious vocals propel straight into an onslaught of violent and hostile extremity. The primal rage and visceral atmosphere conjures a blood-stained tapestry of pure evil carnage. This is simple, furious and heavy to the bone with no frills. Grinding guitar tons and rumbling bass twist together atop punchy and hard drum work with the vocals in the foreground; reminiscent of Black Witchery or Profanatica but with more emphasis on the death metal side of things. Walls of venomous barbarism crumble and give way to more melodic passages while keeping the frenzied pace and intensity of the record holding strong. A lot of people might quickly lump this band into the “war metal” pigeonhole but it just doesn’t sound that way to me. Sure it has the bestial lust but the more mid-paced sections and melodic moments definitely don’t fit that description and the overall atmosphere is firmly that of a death metal record. Arbitrary genre debates aside, the malignant approach to the mix feels raw, nasty and stripped back which perfectly suits the disdainful approach to the music itself. A ravenous and putrid start to this blasphemous tome of destruction.

Some sections on this record go into this doomy territory that reminds me of Finnish bands like Demigod or Funebre which push the dynamics into some cool directions. Never going too far into the atmospheric side of things, the relentless tempests of brutality always come back to punish with no remorse. From each track we hear an eruption of profane metallic aggression which certainly feels consistent in energy and approach while varying things just enough to keep them interesting throughout. For me the band really hit their peak in the slower tremolo-picking and more doomy drawn out moments, where it feels everything is hit that bit harder and gives a more palpable sense of dread to things. The somewhat chugging riffs, on the other hand, feel a bit misplaced to me. These somewhat more hardcore influences that creep in here and there are the parts that I struggle with. That said the death metal attack is definitely dominant over the feebler parts and as such they do not spoil the record. Songs like “Commitment to Death” are thoroughly killer and showcase the band at their best. From start to end “Destroying the Spirit” is a heavy, bludgeoning listen. While I am not totally blown away, I have found it to be reliably enjoyable throughout.

A barrage of menacing death metal in the primordial vein. This is a straightforward and violent opus of malign desecrations. If you seek 33 minutes of pulsating evil mixed with morbid hooks and a rough-the-the-touch delivery; the new Pig’s Blood is the sadistic soundtrack of your nightmares.