Review || All Pigs Must Die - "Hostage Animal"

I was really tempted to sum this up with a simple "Fucking. Perfect." to conceal that I was lost for words. Then, thankfully, my better judgement took over. Four years after the release of "Nothing Violates This Nature", All Pigs Must Die released their most pulverizing work yet. Thriving in anger, pain and misery, "Hostage Animal" is a gruesome but very accurate depiction of the modern world and the human condition. Raw, almost primitive, it's an album stripped off any excess. 

If the listener survives the neck-breaking opener, which also happens to be the tile track, they are most likely to survive the following 30-something minutes too. Every song is angry and dense while holding a unique character. The diversity of the band's influences provides a fertile ground for this new creative endeavor; from the grindy start of "Meditation Of Violence" to the crust melody of "Slave Morality" (also a personal favorite) to a sludgier passage on "End Without End", no composition is predictable. After all this purging ferocity, "Heathen Reign" closes the album leaving the listener with a sense of completion through a daunting catharsis. The chemistry between Adam Wentworth and Brian Izzy is the solid foundation that artfully brings Kevin Baker's dystopic and rancorous images to life. The terse but meaningful lyricism carries the essence of the album. Unbridled cynicism; the driving force, the catalyst. Of course, none of this would be possible without Ben Koller's skillful and pummeling drumwork and Matt Woods' throbbing basslines. Once more, the band returned to Kurt Ballou's GodCity Studio proving that you don't change a winning team. 

The Boston outfit has nothing to prove and they are very well aware of the fact. The massive body of this album is the attestation of APMD's linear progression. In all its trenchant glory, "Hostage Animal" is dirty while its core is genuinely pure.
Fucking. Perfect.
9/10



READ ALSO: INTERVIEW WITH ADAM WENTWORTH OF ALL PIGS MUST DIE

Share on Google Plus