PIG DESTROYER - Terrifyer

By David Caporicci-Urovitch - No Sleep Til Bedtime - 10/12/2004

One of the most destructive albums of the year, Pig Destroyer have crafted an insidious piece of art which can easily disturb even the most seasoned veteran of the grindcore genre. Much like their previous acclaimed effort, Prowler in the Yard, Terrifyer blazes through track after track of tortured yelling vocals, accompanied by a wall of sound created by only drums and guitar. Their trademark sound of intense grooves interrupted by scathing guitar attacks remains intact, although this time the tracks seem to be all the more memorable, even though the majority of tracks do not exceed the two minute mark. Songs like “thumbsucker” and “sourheart” provide grinding riffs with no parallel in the genre, while “towering flesh” (the only track longer than three minutes) creates a psycho-erotic scene which stands out among an already exceptional album.

The booklet contains some thought provoking prose, which, like the album, is dark and foreboding. But the real treasure contained in this package is the bonus audio DVD which is an album in and of itself. The DVD contains a single 37 minute concept track entitled “NATASHA” which recants a story of ill-fated love in the form of a horrific doom infused song. This is a bit of a departure for Pig Destroyer, but they pull it off admirably, enacting a spine-chilling narrative, which at times may border on cliche, but musically establish them as true genre benders. This package is the real deal, and not for those unaccustomed with this dark world. However, still proves to be one of best metal releases of 2004.