December 21 - 31 (#356 - 366)

#356) Gum Takes Tooth - Silent Cenotaph (2011) weird noise metal 


#357) Wildildlife - Six (2007) psychedelic noise metal

#358) True Widow - As High As the Highest Heaven and From the Center to the Circumference of Earth (2011) "stonegaze" 

#359) Comity - The Journey Is Over Now (2011) experimental hardcore

#360) Pig Destroyer - Book Burner/Blind, Deaf and Bleeding (2012)Blind, Deaf and Bleeding is a bonus EP of punk covers (Black Flag, Minor Threat and the Misfits to name a couple) that comes with the deluxe cd and lp versions of Book Burner.

#361) Crystal Castles - (III) (2012) 

#362) How to Destroy Angels - An Omen (2012)

#363) Igorrr - Hallelujuah (2012) "baroque-core"

#364) Whourkr - 4247 Snare Drums (2012)Whourkr is metal Igorrr

#365) Black Feelings (2009) noisy, kinda psychedelic rock

#366) Verdun - The Cosmic Escape of Admiral Masuka (2011) doom/sludge 

03/20/12: Pig Destroyer - Natasha (2008) [Crossover Review 4]

03/20/12: Pig Destroyer - Natasha (2008) [Crossover Review 4]

1. Natasha

     Oksentaminen's chose "Natasha" by Pig Destroyer for this crossover review. You can check out his original post here. I have not heard most of the bands that Scott Hull is/was a member of so I did a little bit of reading on Pig Destroyer before I listened to this album. I'm not the biggest grindcore fan but oksentaminen's review made it very clear that I wasn't about to listen to a grindcore record. That ended up being completely true. Having not heard ANYTHING else by Pig Destroyer I can safely say that this album is a departure from their other material. If I had to guess they were a grindcore band, I would have never been able to do that based on listening to Natasha.
     The album is one 37-minute track and has a wide range of styles present. It starts with dark ambient and droning mixed with audio samples which eventually breaks into a sludgy metal song. There are heavy doom filled moments, followed by beautiful echoey guitar riffs which fades away to water dripping and a low foreboding drone. This album was all over the place yet completely unified as one cohesive composition. I am super impressed with this album. It was truly an interesting ride. Ambient music and certain types of rock can bore me if I'm not in the right mood. This album moves seamlessly from metal to ambient to just sounds, and back again all the time and at just the right moments. The conclusion of the track can only be described as an ocean of static and even at the albums simplest moments, I was paying attention to everything. Oksentaminen, you know me pretty well, my friend... good show! (080)
 

Pig Destroyer - Natasha

I Stared Into The Forest Pretending Not To See The Hangmen She Was Hiding In Her Eyes

#50) Pig Destroyer - Natasha (2008)

1. Natasha



Pig Destroyer is one of my favorite bands. i love every album in their discography but for some reason i still hadn't listened to Natasha. this isn't a "proper" album per se. it originally came as a bonus 5.1 audio dvd with the Terrifyer (2004) album and was later issued as a standalone cd.

 this album finds them at their most experimental. throughout the album's 37 minute run there's not even a single "grind" moment. the album starts off with 5 minutes of noisy soundscape work before becoming a Godflesh/Swans like noise sludge dirge. at around 13 minutes the track shifts back into noisy drone mode for a few minutes before becoming some vaguely post-rock twinkly guitar semi-wailed vocals thing for a while and then going into a weird dark ambient with whispered vocals passage. all these stylistic shifts have happened by about the halfway point of the album. between the ways the various styles of this album come together to JR Hayes' voice and bizarre lyrics this album is excellent. JR might be one of the best lyricists in the music industry, i love the way this dude writes. and of course, Scott Hull is the fucking man.