It’s been five years since DC’s Pig Destroyer has released an album. During that time the band lost their practice space, nearly broke up, parted ways with their longtime drummer and acquired a new drummer, Adam Jarvis. The time between the release of their last album (Phantom Limb (2007)) and now has given them time to bring about their new album Book Burner, coming out Oct 22. This new album is truly some of guitarist and mastermind Scott Hull’s finest work. Book Burner is said to be “meticulously tailor-made for destruction, with a blood thirst for riffs,” and it doesn’t disappoint. After several listens, it’s a fucking penetrating album, and an outline of what American grindcore should be.
The tracks are abrupt and ferocious, displaying a complex interplay between Hull’s scorching riffs and vocalist J.R. Hayes’ mordant screams and growls. Several guest vocalists stepped in and assisted Pig Destroyer in effectively tearing up our senses. Richard “Grindfather” Johnson joined in on the track, “Underground Man,” Kat Katz from Agoraphobic Nosebleed shredded us on “Eve” and “The Bug,” and Misery Index’s Jason Netherton abetted in the barrage on “The Diplomat.”
At 32 minutes, this album is relentlessly solid. From start to finish, it demonstrates the aggressive nature and viciousness that lovers of death metal and grindcore yearn for. There is no beauty here. The album forces a premonition of suffocation and dystopia created by otherworldly drumming, incendiary guitar riffs, and vocal menace. It can not be dissected track by track. It is 32 minutes of brutality.
The standout element on this album is a drum kit onslaught by Pig Destroyer’s new drummer Adam Jarvis, bringing with him an inhuman attack of rapid-fire beats. The combination of Jarvis’ machinelike velocity and Hull’s precise riffs led for diverse mixtures of varying rhythms with guitar/drum interplay as the vocals glide through it (“The Baltimore Strangler”), reinforcing hatred and anger, force and power. The vocals aren’t the focus, whereas they feel like an accompaniment to the guitar/drum blast, which made for one brilliant piece of grindcore.
Alice Roques, Managing Editor/Co-Founder – RockRevolt™Magazine
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