Standing at the nexus of doomy stoner metal, fuzz-blasted psych-rock, and bracing post-rock, Newcastle's
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
confront existential dread with creativity on the elemental
Land of Sleeper
. Despite the discordant vibe and greasy garage patina, the group's fourth long-player harbors some weirdly unifying songs. "I keep spinning out/what a time to be alive," declares vocalist
Matt Baty
on the blazing "Ultimate Hammer," one of a handful of cuts that evoke the early stoner metal emissions of
Sabbath
-loving Austinites
the Sword
. Oddly enough,
picks up momentum as it slows down. "Big Rig" takes an almost jazz-like approach, pairing abrupt tempo changes with textural shifts that straddle multiple hard rock subgenres. The unnerving "Weatherman" commences with a heady combo of feedback, pulsating synths, and a spectral choir consisting of
Bonnacons of Doom
's
Kate Smith
,
Richard Dawson
, and
Sally Pilkington
before exploding into a massive doom spiral. At least sonically speaking, things come back to earth on the hard-hitting "Mr Medicine," a seismic space rocker with nods to both
Mastodon
and
Hawkwind
. The slow-burning closer "Ball Lightning" hews closer to the dystopian post-rock of
Daughters
, with
Baty
's throaty wail echoing
Lemmy
Jesus Lizard
David Yow
. Darker and more assured than its predecessors,
parses the outrage and catastrophizing of the social media age with gravitas, yet it does so with a watchful and curious eye. As the title suggests,
Pigx7
wants to wake the world up with more than just decibels. ~ James Christopher Monger