Pig Destroyer - Head Cage review
| Band: | Pig Destroyer |
| Album: | Head Cage |
| Style: | Grindcore |
| Release date: | September 2018 |
01. Tunnel Under The Tracks
02. Dark Train
03. Army Of Cops [feat. Richard "Grindfather" Johnson]
04. Circle River
05. The Torture Fields
06. Terminal Itch [feat. Kat Katz]
07. Concrete Beast [feat. Kat Katz]
08. The Adventures Of Jason And JR [feat. Jason Hodges]
09. Mt. Skull
10. Trap Door Man
11. The Last Song [feat. Dylan Walker]
12. House Of Snakes
Pig Destroyer is one of the most polarizing bands in grindcore, mostly because sometimes they aren't very grindcore. While Prowler In The Yard and Terrifyer are certified genre classics, their following albums have kinda split their fan base between the ones who want a return to grind roots and the ones who don't. Head Cage probably really pissed off the former.
Grindcore is a pretty big genre with not a lot of fans. A lot of its offshoots, like goregrind and noisecore, don't really find much of an audience outside of people who escaped from an asylum to hide in their mom's basement. Even grindcore proper doesn't really have many household names other than Napalm Death, despite how it's a genre that should have appeal for both metal fans and punk fans. One of those household names, probably the second most famous one, is Pig Destroyer. But Pig Destroyer has dabbled in groove metal and noise and thrash metal and most of all sludge (even coming out with sludge EPs). So now comes Head Cage.
Right off the bat, Head Cage is much more groovy than it is chaotic, with a track list and sound reminiscent of Phantom Limb, but with even longer and fewer songs and with even more bassy groove, making it pretty much the most accessible Pig Destroyer record of all. The first one to feature a bassist, even - John Jarvis, brother of drummer Adam Jarvis and also bassist of Agoraphobic Nosebleed - so there's more and more common members between the two, not counting the many guests on this album. Head Cage sounds much closer to a metalcore album than a grindcore one, especially on tracks like "Army Of Cops" or "Concrete Beast", with grindcore being pushed to one flavor in the undertone of the music. Along with the noise and the thrash sprinkles, this is still a more interesting and chaotic album than the usual metalcore or hardcore album, but more subdued and catchy than what we'd expect to hear from the band.
Head Cage feels bold and heavy despite its subdued nature. Maybe it's the lyrics and maybe it's the bass, but despite the lack of experimentation, the music is extremely engaging. The emphasis on meaty riffs and the relative amount of chaos that still remains is a bit more than just moshable music, but it's definitely moshable music. At least personally, I found it quite difficult to sit in my chair, not moving, to avoid funny looks from my roommate. All of the album's elements come together perfectly in the seven-minute closer, "House Of Snakes", the best written song on the album, which does indeed feel like it's on a slightly higher level than the rest of the album.
Head Cage might be a bit more predictable and accessible, it may feel like it could be more expansive, but it's well-written, powerful, and meaty.
 | Written on 08.10.2018 by Doesn't matter that much to me if you agree with me, as long as you checked the album out. |
Comments
Comments: 25
Visited by: 122 users
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania  |
Written by Guest on 08.10.2018 at 23:37 It's mostly just that it isn't grind or experimental enough, I can see why somebody would dislike it. I can also see why somebody would love it, I know I did.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania |
Written by Guest on 08.10.2018 at 23:44 Suprised Agoraphobic Nosebleed weren't there. Written by Guest on 08.10.2018 at 23:44 I'm more of a fan of mathcore or powerviolence or sludge. I love some grind, but most of the time I just associate it with brutal death or goregrind or slam which are all shit.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania |
Written by Guest on 09.10.2018 at 00:15 It's metalcore. It has a grind edge.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania |
Written by Guest on 09.10.2018 at 00:22 same
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Cynic Metalhead Paisa Vich Nasha Posts: 6805 From: India  |
Quote: Not a lot of fans? Really? You need to reanalyze it again.
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania |
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 09.10.2018 at 08:40 I haven't seen a lot of grind fans either. I mean people who actually listen to grind, not just pretend to.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| iappreci8 Posts: 7 From: USA  |
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VIG
Account deleted Written by iappreci8 on 10.10.2018 at 02:17 Yes. Thank you for your revealing and enlightening comment that really was relative to Radu's wonderful review of an album you will probably never even have any interest in 
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| Cynic Metalhead Paisa Vich Nasha Posts: 6805 From: India |
Written by RaduP on 09.10.2018 at 20:33 Maybe it's you, but you missing a huge chunk of fans of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Insect Warfare, Wormrot, Full Of Hell, Nasum, Magrudergrind, Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Cephalic Carnage and more. These are right top of my head.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 60956 From: Sweden  |
Grind core, well I agree, about what you said, to me its like if you're teenager and wanna be something different, dont want have long hair and letter jackets( writing from 90's perspective) but you like agresivity, you might like this genre and later you're 25 and are part of footy hooly gang. Otherwise I dunno why people like this genre. I tried listen in eraly 20's and I didnt get it and wont listen it now. This band I tried half song , hated it and I wont listen it again, I better listen neo folk, post or some pop.
---- Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!! Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''  apos;'[image] I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| iappreci8 Posts: 7 From: USA |
Reply to VIG: Actually, I am a fan of Grindcore but would not listen to a band that endorses killing cops any more than i would a white supremacist hate band.
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| BiffMalibu Posts: 5  |
People are hating on this? Why? I let go all that genre absolutism and elitism, I can listen to Full of Hell and Nails or Ghost and Haken and love it. These days I think that's an attitude more metalheads should have....
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| Mercurial Posts: 1175  |
Written by BiffMalibu on 28.10.2018 at 01:25 I listen to pop, hip hop and post-punk, as well as noise, black metal and grind. I still found this record to be somewhat mediocre. Nothing to do with elitism or absolutism. I wouldn't call a 7.5 average indicative of hate either.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden  |
Written by Mercurial on 28.10.2018 at 12:16 Didn't you get the memo? Everything below 8 is bad. BAD I tell ya!
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Mercurial Posts: 1175 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 28.10.2018 at 13:29 You got to love a 7 - 10 rating system.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden |
Written by Mercurial on 28.10.2018 at 14:05 Haha indeed. I'm kind of at fault on that though but it's mostly because I decided to only rate what I own. And if I don't like it at least a little bit... It's not in my collection anymore haha.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Mercurial Posts: 1175 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 28.10.2018 at 14:08 Well that's sensible really. Don't want a bunch of terrible 6/10 records cluttering your shiny collection 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands  |
Written by Mercurial on 28.10.2018 at 14:11 I got loads of 1-5/10 albums cluttering my collection. Just gotta love recieving all those promos to review.   
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Mercurial Posts: 1175 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.10.2018 at 14:16 You just need to make some friends with really bad taste so you can offload them all
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands |
Written by Mercurial on 28.10.2018 at 14:37 I can't even seem to offload those albums to those friends
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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