Pig Destroyer – Book Burner
Pig Destroyer shovel up the filth of humanity for all to see. Utterly uncompromising extreme music peels back the eyelids of all within range of PD’s grinding grasp, compelling its victims to dwell for a moment upon the sickness of the society that surrounds us. What makes Pig Destroyer art, however, is the lack of judgment the band applies to their disturbing subject matter. Lyrically, Pig Destroyer’s Book Burner transcends easy commentary in favor of exposing the machinations twisting within some (and the potential for evil within all) of us, without a moral meter to soften the blow. We are forced to find common ground In the minds of JR Hayes’ monsters while the music whirls, only to be left alone afterward to feel disgust or delight. Like Charles Bukowski before him, JR and co. mine the lives of those on society’s fringes – drug addicts, mental patients, the homeless, psychopaths, etc – but does so from a believably (disturbingly?) empathetic point-of-view. This miasma awaits all unafraid of the hammering in content and sound that arises from embracing Book Burner.
If one fixates on the music solely, however, never fear, there’s plenty of grind to give in here. New commando Adam Jarvis (of Misery Index) handles the vacant spot of longtime drummer Brian Harvey with apparent ease, frantically blasting and double-bassing like he has a gun to his head. And,of course, the guitars…the word ‘riffmeister’ gets tossed Scott Hull’s way often, and with good reason. Book Burner’s super-clean production serves up his bellicose guitar playing well, as evidenced by the clear but crushing, Lusitania-sized riff opening ‘Valley of the Geysers’, and the fast-doom fisting of ‘The Diplomat’. ‘Baltimore Strangler”s ultra-dissonance combined with its south of the Mason-Dixon, chunked-guitar mayhem prepares you for the dying of the light, but not before a geniusly-placed opening sample (taken from what sounds like an Evangelical sermon) prefaces the lyrical musings of the song’s serial killer, sending chills down your spine. ‘White Lady’ rules the day for me, however, with its sad/hilarious depiction of a Caucasian woman on the hunt for ‘powder’ in DC, and it’s positively punishing half-time riff that reminds me I’ll never be to cool to geek out when necessary; I still bang my head proudly when a song like this comes along..
Extreme Metal explorer, we both know that if you already like Pig Destroyer, you likely already own Book Burner. Though PD’s Prowler In The Yard may be untoppable for me, I do recommend that those seeking out the most important grind releases of this year save this auditory text of modern suffering from the flaming pile in his or her friendly neighborhood, place-of-worship-sponsored bonfire. -Jim
Relapse Records
Worm Gear 