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When I closely listened to Pig Destroyer's Painter Of Dead Girls, a collection of the band's rare material that came out earlier in 2004, I knew that I could get into Pig Destroyer. But it wasn't cohesive and showcased a band in starkly contrasting phases. Chalk it up to more accessible tempos, dangerously catchy riffs or better production, but Terrifyer is simply Pig Destroyer's finest work to date. It's fiery, brutal and unique. And it seriously is a bit terrifying.
With a couple of full-lengths under its collective belt, Pig Destroyer is a widely recognized and respected band. While the band's moniker itself will probably lead outsiders to believe the group plays cheesy, exaggerated death metal, Terrifyer, like the band's prior releases, is a carefully crafted and intelligent 32 minutes of grinding, unforgiving metal. This time around, though, Pig Destroyer opted to expand on both crusty, punk rock and thrash metal tendencies, resulting in a more balanced album that still retains the relentless nature of older recordings.
The obvious standouts on Terrifyer are the adventurous, lengthy cuts. "Gravedancer" is undoubtedly Pig Destroyer at their catchiest. The verses drive at a medium pace, with a simple, palm-muted guitar riff and, oddly, a loosely sung/spoken vocal part. "Towering Flesh" opens with a furious blastbeat but, after about a minute and a half of blazing metal, explores clean, dissonant guitar picking and a crushing, doom-like rhythm. The guitar solo that follows is concise, energetic and, unlike most solos, a necessary addition, and the song concludes with monstrous guitar chugs.
Then it's back to the absolute beating. Most of the songs on Terrifyer clock in between one and two minutes but, somehow, each one of them has some part -- a guitar riff, a drum rhythm, vocals or a combination of those elements -- that keeps even the quickest blasts memorable. That's why this record is so damn good. Too many songs of this nature are utterly forgettable, even if they are good. Not Pig Destroyer's.
To add to an already satisfying record, Terrifyer is packaged with a bonus disc, which features the song, "Natasha." It's a DVD audio track that clocks in almost 38 minutes, features lengthy piano breaks and sampled sounds, and explores Pig Destroyer's doom metal tendencies.
This album will not only please the band's previous fans, but also attract an entirely new group of listeners. While Pig Destroyer creates creepy, discomforting sounds, it doesn't come across as cheesy or exceedingly grotesque. Terrifyer is a healthily balanced album that I can't help but imagine would be an appropriate soundtrack to most criminal offenses.
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