At the time that Pig Destroyer released it’s compilation record 38 Counts of Battery it was by far the most extreme music I had ever heard and it left a permanent big open wound on my fragile soul, hungering for more chaotic grindcore to increase the imminent infection. Nevertheless Pig Destroyer started to write songs with an average duration of above a minute and with the previous record, Terrifyer, the magic of those old recordings was somewhat lost for me. On Phantom Limb they push the boundaries even more…

 

First of all, the second half of the record features songs with an average duration of three minutes! But don’t be afraid, opening song ‘Rotten Yellow’ opens with a good characteristic grindcore blast. But what got my attention straight away was the fat, modern production of especially the bass drum, which fits perfectly with the metalcore riff that we hear at the half of ‘Rotten Yellow’. “WHAT?! Fucking metalcore?!” I can hear your horror from here and it was exactly my thought, it’s a totally unexpected move for Pig Destroyer but I must say that they incorporate it in a subliminal way and way more extreme than all those fancy modern metalcore acts manage to do.

 

The short metalcore riff that we heard in the opening song is a good representative of what to come and we can pretty much say that Pig Destroyer attained a more metal sound with this record. In the title track we get to hear a metalcore riff which would also fit perfect on a death metalcore band such as Ion Dissonance. For me at first instance it ruined all what I thought that Pig Destroyer was about, but to be honest it actually sounds pretty cool. Although they incorporated some more metal elements they manage to stay near to the original Pig Destroyer sound and feeling, which is also caused by the band still not having a bass player.

 

Pig Destroyer fans should prepare themselves for the alteration that the band has gone through, it will most certainly still please them, but just be prepared to hear some more metal(core) influences. People that are into modern death metalcore and aren’t afraid of a good dose of grind should certainly check this one out too.