Review Summary: I'll take one headache, please, in the form of some thrashtastic Boston hardcore.
I've never been one to dig six feet into the world of hardcore, punk, crust, and whatever else comes with the territory, but a four-piece outfit hailing from the very state I live in offer a convincing argument to take a listen. All Pigs Must Die, a Massachusetts-borne hardcore outfit, invoke some serious anger and passion with their latest full-length, “
Nothing Violates This Nature”. Between the flawless execution of their instrumentation and the vicious power from the throat of Kevin Baker (no, not Bacon), All Pigs Must Die have crafted a well-calculated onslaught on your ears, and this one is not to be missed.
Adam Wentworth - formerly a part of The Red Chord - helms the guitar for this outfit, either grinding your face in with ludicrous speeds or slowing things down to a slamming standstill. When the BPM skyrockets on tracks like "Holy Plague", the guitar-work Wentworth puts out sounds uncannily like everyone's favourite thrash metal band, cutting back and forth relentlessly until the job is done. The occasional melodic solo makes an appearance on the album, adding some nice variety to the otherwise simple doomy slow riffs and vicious thrash chords. While his work is nothing special by itself, it compliments the chaotic sound that the Boston boys are going for, and not only does it get the job done - it does it
well.
All Pigs Must Die's tired, angry voice is none other than Kevin Baker, who has done work with Converge and The Hope Conspiracy. His voice feels just as violent as the guitar-work and the drum-work, and the way Baker dominates the wall of noise on “
Nothing Violates This Nature” tells you that he feels right at home with this band. While the majority of his vocals are standard fare for metal/hardcore fusions, his performance on tracks like "Bloodlines" show off a bit of variety, and the short length of many of the tracks (and the album as a whole) doesn't leave you feeling like you listened to a whole lot of the same for the record's thirty-three minute running time. When it comes to vicious, vile, and virulent vocals, Baker's mid-pitched hardcore scream performs admirably.
With Matt Woods of Bloodhorse and Ben Koller of Acid Tiger picking up the bass and the drumstick respectively, All Pigs Must Die shows off its well-rounded hardcore outfit. The bass-work, when it's audible in the charmingly-messy mixing of “
Nothing Violates This Nature”, is one deep, crunchy tone after another, giving a solid framework for the rest of the instrumentation and sounding stellar while doing so. Meanwhile, Koller's drum fills are busy carving a path through your brain matter, his rampaging snare slams and hat hits going through a surprising variety of motions. The bass kicks are just another aspect of this force to be reckoned with, adding an amazing
oomph to each snare hit and propelling the mix even further up in overall volume. Woods' and Koller's performances are top-notch, giving All Pigs Must Die exactly what they need to shred their listeners to pieces - and boy, does it sound good.
Every aspect of “
Nothing Violates This Nature” is every bit as violent and meaty and destructive as music from this genre ought to be, and All Pigs Must Die surely celebrate the rage and passion that stereotypically is ignored by their contemporaries. Perhaps it's the short length of the record, or the vulgarity of the vocals, or the high-octane speeds of the drum fills and the guitar riffs, but this Massachusetts hardcore outfit has won me over. I can only hope for a bit more of variety when it comes to their next release, but they've caught my ear with this one, and they refuse to let go. I should leave you guys with a warning: you might have a headache after giving this one a listen, but it'll be well worth the pain.
