Prowler in the Yard consolidated
Grind isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of grandiose, emotive music. It is a genre known for taking punk and metal to the ultimate extremes of perversion and aggression. Pig Destroyer started with the intention of “bringing back true grind”, and Pig Destroyer achieved this respectably in their first releases. Their demo being an amateur, yet pointed flurry of heavy riffs, blast beats, and abominable vocals. Then their first full release, Explosions in Ward 6, rounded the edges a bit. Cleaning up the production and being more dynamic and varied instrumentally. This was still barbaric music, but it had an element of brevity and consistency to it. But with Prowler in the Yard, they brought these elements into the stratosphere. Every aspect of the album is elaborate and deliberate. They still maintain the foundational extremity of the genre and rudimentary production, but the musical and thematic elements explored on this album reach a depth never seen before in music. |
| 1 |  | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
JENNIFER
Every kid circa 2000 had access to the microsoft voice on their school computers. We would all type in silly phrases to hear the monotone computer recite back profanities. Pig Destroyer uses microsoft voice to read out a gratuitous story about a girl attacking another girl to begin their penultimate album. Not only is this brazen, it’s stupid. Coupled with the album cover and title, this is the level of outrageousness and depravity that propels the album. All cheap tactics to solidify the themes of hurt and isolation. |
| 2 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
CHEERLEADER CORPSES
The first musical track on an album tends to be one of taste. One that is accessible and will pull the listener in. Pig Destroyer puts their most revolting foot forward. Starting with a playful back and forth riff, the song explodes into the predictable cacophony of blast beats and speedy riffing with J.R. Hayes providing distant vocals low in the mix, a shell of what will be performed later. “Semen tastes like gun metal” marks the start of a lyrical theme that will predominate the rest of the record: an antagonistic obsession with a love interest, disparaging and criticizing her, all while glorifying her and putting her on a pedestal. |
| 3 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
SCATOLOGY HOMEWORK
J.R. Hayes enters the next track with a yell that puts the previous track’s shrieks to shame. His vocals on this album are truly extraordinary. It is an all out performance that leaves little question as to why he didn’t continue his career with this technique; it is presumably too damaging to the vocal chords. Hayes puts his soul into these vocals. Where they are all screamed aggressively, there is an unmistakable hint of humanity behind them. His voice is heard cracking throughout the performance and the texture and fullness of his delivery catapults his awe inspiring lyrics to the forefront. |
| 4 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
SCATOLOGY HOMEWORK CONTINUED
I know you are listening to grindcore, and the album cover conveys the type of peurilistic emotions that were felt as a teenager, but subvert your expectations for bullheaded and sophomoric lyrical content. J.R. presents his themes with intricacy and literary depth. This song for example abandons the theme of love interest and explores subjugation and alienation. He describes being heckled in school and wanting to disappear as a chameleon, but says it’s all okay because “boys in dresses are okay on the last day of school”. Only to introduce the most maniacal scream of all time, pointing out the absurdity of it all. “There was a rainbow like a halo over the world”. |
| 5 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
TROJAN WHORE
Trojan Whore leads us back into the main theme of deriding the female counterpart with as much malice and discontent as possible. The track has a far more accessible nature than the previous tracks, starting off with a catchy riff that leads into a chunky, Melvins groove (Honey Bucket to be exact). The mixing is cleaner and the pacing is much more uniform. It is the first indication that Pig Destroyer is not a one-trick-pony of aural assault and is more than capable of writing coherent and appealing music. |
| 6 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
GHOST OF A BULLET
Now we get treated with a style of song that is uniquely and entirely true to grind. A 20 second track of pure intensity. The lyrics are notable for all being an analogy for “I felt something press against my kidneys” which is an analogy itself. |
| 7 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
HEART AND CROSSBONES
While many guitarists are satisfied with the typical dispersion of dynamics within an octave or two, Scott Hull is not satisfied until he has reached a pinch harmonic on the opposite side of his drop A tuned guitar. This song is the most prominent introduction to his uncharacteristic approach to the instrument. Splicing in the sharpest of notes, while galivanting around the lowest and heaviest strings possible. |
| 8 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
STRANGLED WITH A HALO
So now we have explored the lyrical themes of perversion and isolation, all somewhat of your standard fare for what would be expected from a record of this caliber. This superficial depth could be expected to continue throughout the rest of the album. No. Not even close. This record touches on some of the most tragic and sensitive topics possible. |
| 9 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
STRANGLED WITH A HALO CONTINUED
Strangled With a Halo begins with a more menacing profile. The instrumentation makes you feel like you are in a bad dream where you have no control over it. From the opening contorted riff, to the unbelievable flurry of the following section, to the removal of drums and J.R. screaming over the most unseemly of staccato riffs, it is an affair in turbulence and unsettlement. This all paralleling the lyrical content of being raped as a child. The closing line summing up the emotional trajectory. “Mother I’ve been raped in the shadow of a watchtower”. How could something as terrible as rape happen to someone as innocent as a child while God is watching? There is “a hole in the sky”, indeed. |
| 10 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
INTIMATE SLAVERY
And now we are back to deriding the female counterpart. It’s like we are on a ride of the despotic mind, spiraling and bouncing between internalization and externalization of anger and grief. The music jumps back into the more fun side of grind with jubilant riffing and pacing only to slow at the end into a straightforward breakdown with possibly the simplest yet most impactful riff on the album. |
| 11 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
INTIMATE SLAVERY CONTINUED
Here, J.R. shouts one of the more despicable lines on the album. “I give you exhibit A, a country girl bludgeoned by an elephant tusk”. Now, I don't want to overanalyze and spread false judgements, and I can only presume the meaning behind this, but it appears that J.R. is calling her a whore for having sex with a black guy. An “elephant” denoting from Africa, “tusk” denoting the common stereotype regarding size, and “country girl” emphasizing why this could be looked at as a bad thing due to the unfortunate ideologies of southern American culture. As ignorant as this is, it is the lashing out that comes from hurt and resentment. It is the honest derision of an unhealthy mind. And that’s why it’s important. |
| 12 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
MAPPLETHORPE GREY
It is hard to process the mid-song start here on first listen. It is almost like the fragment of a magnificent riff that Scott Hull only gives us a taste of. This is the track where Hull reaches the pinnacle of his unconventional approach to guitar. After a couple of drum stick taps, he unleashes a bulldozer of a downtuned riff with splices of ice shattering pinch harmonics while JR laments about the anhedonia of modern society. |
| 13 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
EVACUATING HEAVEN
If you’re having trouble hitting your goals at the gym, loop this 16 second track. Either you’ll have a brain aneurysm or hit your all time record. |
| 14 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
TICKETS TO THE CAR CRASH
Every grind album needs some filler |
| 15 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
NAKED TREES
This is your typical guitarist flex song. Scott Hull carries the track with a more-speedy-than-you riff while J.R. provides more than adequate aural and lyrical contextual material. |
| 16 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
SHEET METAL GIRL
Starts with some of the first low vocals of the record. JR Hayes, like Scott Hull, is not satisfied with working within one range. Both parties utilize the extremes of their instrument to deliberate on the most extreme elements of the human experience. Where most artists are more than satisfied with a vocalist that provides a consistent and intense-enough performance, Pig Destroyer stretches every aspect of their arsenal to maintain the precedent of outdoing 5 person set-pieces with their 3 person set-piece. |
| 17 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
PREACHER CRAWLING
And now we tip toe into the tepid and appreciable land of abortion. The song skyrockets to monumental pace within naught point naught naught zero zero seconds. Only to reveal that the intro was only build up for the actual main theme of the song and the most disgusting, down tuned monstrosity of a riff of all time.
“I dream sometimes
Of a brother in red
The first unborn
Perhaps the son of god aborted
And tossed in a garbage bag”
“Life is black comedy,
Slapstick and vulgarity” |
| 18 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
PORNOGRAPHIC MEMORY
This could be considered the operatic work of the album. The opening, sci-fi-esque peeler propels the track into a euphoric double-bass-driven, downtuned wall of sound with the frenzy of a gazelle being hunted by a cheetah. The tempo practically turns on a dime for the chorus where the vocals and guitar resemble shattering plates and silverware on the floor. The track then flows into an entirely accessible groove just to jump back into the chorus and close out the track with the pounding verse. If you were paying attention, that makes the song structure entirely symmetrical; a feat I’m not aware of happening anywhere else and I would guess was entirely incidental. The lyrics flow from verse to verse about anguish and completely circumvent the chorus of pure hatred. And all of this in a 52 second grind track. |
| 19 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
PORNOGRAPHIC MEMORY CONTINUED
Pornographic Memory is a perfect example that the pinnacle of songwriting isn’t accomplished through heady, fleshed out theory and technicality, but pure, organic expression through instrument. |
| 20 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
MURDER BLOSSOM
Every grind album needs some filler [2] |
| 21 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
BODY SCOUT
[3] |
| 22 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
SNUFF FILM AT ELEVEN
A track about the hypocrisy of consumerism and inspired this poem.
The same people who condemn drugs
Sell cigarettes and alcohol
The same people who condemn gambling
Encourage lotteries and sports betting
The same people who condemn violence
Start pointless wars |
| 23 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
HYPERVIOLET
Hyperviolet doesn’t seem like a song written by humans. The song completely flips musical conventions yet simultaneously executes them to perfection. The guitar can be summed up as two repeated, anti-scalar riffs that provide both the uneasy atmosphere and the rhythm. And yes, you heard correctly that the guitar is providing rhythm. This leaves Brian Harvey to provide lead on drums. His sporadic, yet groovy, and incredibly technical approach has lent itself to provide an unparalleled rhythm section to the rest of the album, but here his techniques are brought front and center. He pounds on the double bass the entire track, only stopping to emphasize the next round of double bass as he trickles in as many mini drum fills per minute as humanly possible, utilizing his wide array of cymbals to mimic melody. This song is really the embodiment of his approach at the kit. |
| 24 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
HYPERVIOLET CONTINUED
Harvey always takes the most challenging route to achieve a groove and never repeats a single stanza. The closing drum solo is the best of all time. Expressing every contradictory and conflicting feeling that never quite made it to the surface. |
| 25 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
STARBELLY
Starbelly adds a further layer to the album. While there have been teases of sludge influence throughout the record, here Pig Destroyer dives head first into a five minute trudge through heavy riffing and drawn out crescendos. Incredible display of versatile songwriting amidst the carnage of the surrounding tracks. |
| 26 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
JUNKYARD GOD
*pah boo ba ba baduh pa ba pa ba pa ba pah*
If you thought I was done talking about Brian Harvey, you were wrong. The man left the band after Phantom Limb due to a supposed alcohol problem (that's the best I could find, don't @ me). Right, so the drummer who delivered the most unequivocally technical and unique drum patterns of all time had a drug problem. Real mystery there |
| 27 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
PISS ANGEL
So “big” is a word that people use to describe music from time to time. “Huge” every once in a while. This track is massive. Every adjective you could imagine. From the gargantuan and soul-abiding intro, to the introspective, sludge-laden midsection, to the final coda of shrieking “I just need to shower in your amber, And bathe in your earth”, Piss Angel is the perfect summation to the work of a three piece in a basement creating a sound unparalleled in time. |
| 28 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
CONCLUSION
Enough has been said about the musicality of this album. I want to talk about the message. A lot of things can be said about the human condition. But when it comes down to it, it is about human biology and our intrinsic need to reproduce. Did you know that when an alpha male of many species conquer a harem, they engage in infanticide? Life is not about proliferation of the species, but proliferation of genetics. This explains the earth shattering experience of heartbreak. It feels like dying because in a sense, it is: the death of your genetic lineage. |
| 29 | | Pig Destroyer
Prowler in the Yard
CONCLUSION CONTINUED
This surely explains the gargantuan nature of Prowler in the Yard. An album clearly written in the aftermath of the abandonment of the protagonist in a relationship. While the female counterpart is only described through means of lust and derision, the rest of the album deeply explores concepts of abortion, religion, rape, alienation, self harm, and consumerism. This indicates that the album, and relationship conflict and abandonment issues in general, are really a consequence of internal struggle. The relationship component is only an outlet for what we consider missing in our own self actualization. We are now far away from the monkeys in the trees who see the world purely through genetic disposition. We see the world through cosmic clarity and self awareness. The struggles of the world are really the struggles within ourselves. And the loss of a loved one or any cataclysmic hardship is a reminder of that. |
|
