PIG DESTROYER

Phantom Limb

Relapse

8.5 / 10

Track listing:

01. Rotten Yellow
02. Jupiter's Eye
03. Deathtripper
04. Thought Crime Spree
05. Cemetery Road
06. Lesser Animal
07. Phantom Limb
08. Loathsome
09. Heathen Temple
10. 4th Degree Burns
11. Alexandria
12. Girl in the Slayer Jacket
13. Waist Deep in Ash
14. The Machete Twins

Is there another act that plays as ferocious brand of grindcore — with only guitar, drums, and vocals for that matter – as the mighty PIG DESTROYER? You've heard it on "Prowler in the Yard", "38 Counts of Battery", and 2004's all-encompassing "Terrifyer". Now get ready for what just may be the act's most vicious and varied work to date, "Phantom Limb". This one is a beast!

That PIG DESTROYER's Scott Hull (guitar) continues to come up with riff after ball-busting riff is most amazing. I mean across the 14 tracks (and one hidden track),the guy keeps churning out the sickest guitar fusillades in extreme music, the kind that makes one utter "holy shit!" in damn near every song. Bass guitar? Who needs ones when drummer Brian Harvey is so explosively percussive? And we're not talking about basic blast beats; the guy plays like he's got eight arms and provides all the bottom end and coloration needed. Just as Hull impresses with those riffs, so does Harvey make the jaw drop time after time. Along with the scalding, throaty barks and screams of madman J.R. Hayes, the unit is one that annihilates every single time; the sonic intensity is simply overwhelming.

Best of all is that PIG DESTOYER has become quite adept at incorporating slower, groovier parts into an album of mostly high-speed assaults, and it works to perfection. Sometimes it is for brief moments to provide a break in the ruthless calamity, such as on "Deathtripper", "Girl in the Slayer Jacket", and longer songs like the excellent "Loathsome". Just listen to the monster breakdown (of sorts) in the title track. And sometimes, the groove is maintained the entire way, such as on "Alexandria". The song dynamics at every turn are impressive as hell, and one's interest is never lost along the way.

I cannot imagine any fan of extreme music, and grindcore in particular, not falling deeply in love with the reckless abandon of "Phantom Limb". But that statement will not surprise anyone that has spent any time with these destroyers of pigs. Count "Phantom Limb" among the year's best metal releases, no matter the genre.

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