Album Review from Ben Forrester
On the last Saturday of May 2016, I headed down to Manchester institution The Star and Garter to see a line-up of super noisy rock bands. Out of the four band bill, there was one I hadn’t heard of before – five chaps from Newcastle who go by the name of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.
I’ve since discovered that this lot have been making sizable waves on the underground for a little now and with a set like the one I saw, I completely understand why. To be honest they blew my balls off, man. They played an unrelenting set of psyched out stoner-rock with such intensity and conviction that hypnotized everyone in the room to full on head-banging mode.
So it gives me great pleasure to have their debut album ‘Feed The Rats‘ finally in my grubby little mitts. Let me tell you, you’re in for one tasty treat. Consisting of three tracks, this record is just over half an hour of pure, blood curdling power. Opening with a re-working of an earlier single, ‘Psychopomp‘ is a 15 minute head-fuck of righteous riffage that weaves in and out of fist pumping stoner-rock, psych-infused chaos and skull crushing, fuzzed up doom. Vocalist Matt Baty is an unstoppable force here, with a fierce bark that soars over top of the crushing instrumentation, propelling the track to new cosmic heights. These guys clearly aren’t fucking around here and as you’d expect, this record does not back down.
‘Sweet Relief‘ is up next and although it may be the shortest track here at four minutes, it still packs the same almighty punch of the longer, winding tracks that sit either side of it. This is a glorious, glam inspired stomp that barges in with an unforgettable swagger, topped off by another fearless vocal performance. I like that every now and again we get this proper big old delay on the vocal, which again just adds this other worldly dimension! Although Pigs x7 are all about stretching it out and building a bludgeoning wall of scuzz, I like that this track shows what this band is about in their simplest form; big fuck off riffs!
The opening riff of the final track ‘Icon‘ saunters in quietly yet seductively, offering a very brief moment of calm before crashing into one massive Sabbathian riff, as a lead guitar line squeals above it. This is probably the most unrelenting of the tracks as it hits you with riff after riff, speeding up and slowing down to mind-bending effect. For the finish of what has been a pretty full on listening experience, they close on an earth shaking breakdown referencing an 80’s metal kind of vibe that is designed to rattle your rib cages. It’s a fitting end to this apocalyptic piece of work.
Unapologetic, relentless and properly face melting, Feed The Rats is one of the gnarliest debuts your’ll hear this year. Feed your riff addiction and shovel this down yer lug holes!
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