When the great musical historians of the future turn their jaundiced eyes toward the third millennium in search of those artists who forged ideas and built dynasties of musical progression, certain names will stand above the rest.
But among them won’t be Pig Destroyer. Not that there is anything to dislike about this group, unless you are a knee-jerk despiser of modern grind. In fact, for whatever reason, Pig Destroyer gets more props from the average metalhead than just about any other blast-o-grind type band around these days. Or so it seems. They are the exception to many peoples’ grindhate rules. And HogWhacker does deliver the goods, even without a bass player.
But the music they make is pretty much the definition of grind; thrilling when you hear it, forgotten when it’s over. To quote Reznor, “This isn’t meant to last, this is for right now”. And as this CD is a reissue of split and single material, it almost seems ludacris to tell someone to go pick it up. It’s more of a collector’s item than a relevant metal CD in that respect.
But once you put it on and the music starts, you forget about all that. With this many different recordings the texture and quality of the sound is all over the place. Sometimes you don’t miss the lack of bass, sometimes you do, and sometimes there is a bass. But it all lends a certain amount of interest to the CD.
The songs are more or less primitive Sow Wrecker. The blasts are adrenaline rushes and the neckrippers are as neck ripping as you would imagine, though perhaps not to the degree you have come to expect. And the performances run the gamut as well, if the gamut is squarely at the extreme end of the pool.
Bottom Line: This is a collection record for record collectors who dig grind. It’s not really for someone who wants to discover Pork Disintegrator – for that look to Prowler in the Yard. Nor is it for those who want top test the waters of modern grind – you might want to look into Nasum. This is for hardcore PD fans who don’t own these already, or have them on vinyl and want a CD of it all. I won’t say don’t buy it, but be sure you know what you are getting into first.
