Album Review: Pig Destroyer - Book Burner

With their first album in five years, cerebral grind assassins Pig Destroyer don't disappoint. Book Burner offers 19 tracks of bass-free grinding fury that will tear your head off, twirl it around and then reconnect it to your neck with brute force. Don't be put off by the fact that Pig Destroyer are now the grind band that hipsters and indie kids call their own. No doubt these miscreants will continue to pretend they like this stuff, but for the rest of us Pig Destroyer remain the last word in grind. So what sets these Richmond, Virginia natives apart from the joyous blasting of the likes of Insect Warfare and Rotten Sound? It's the songs, stupid. Book Burner is chock full of riffs that stay with you for hours. The Diplomat, Baltimore Strangler, Dirty Knife and Eve all fall into this category while Valley Of Geysers shows that Pig Destroyer work just as well at half pace as they do at full throttle.

But for those of you who get off on traditional grindcore explosions, don't despair – Pig Destroyer haven't gone soft. The Underground Man, All Seeing Eye and Totaled are among the most brutal tracks the band have ever conjured up during their 15 years in the game. After the line-up changes and other intra-band dramas of the past five years, Pig Destroyer have no right to sound as focused as they do or to produce an album as crushing as Book Burner clearly is. Pig Destroyer have reclaimed their throne with consummate ease.