Pig's Blood - "A Flock Slaughtered" (Godz ov War Productions, 2019)

Band: Pig's Blood
Title: A Flock Slaughtered
Genre: Bestial Black/Death Metal
Time: 32.27 min
Release date: 27th February 2019
Vote: 86/100













Pig's Blood are finally back on these pages... and they are back with the worst intentions! After their promising 2017 debut album (and also after that their drummer Drug Pervert Death Hammer debuted with Prezir in 2018), they thought well to terrorize us with a new dose of war and violence through "A Flock Slaughtered", that was released, as the previous one, by the fantastic Polish label Godz ov War Productions. With this new album, there were some changes into the line-up of Pig's Blood since Horrible Person is now only their singer while the bassplayer duties have been taken by their new entry Hideous Destruktor/Goat Tyrant, also guitarplayer. And I think that these changes created a really good effect on the sound of the band, as you'll see soon.

In fact, Pig's Blood, throughout the 10 tracks of "A Flock Slaughtered", plays substantially the same style presented in the debut album but with something more that allow to them to offer new dynamics into their sound. In a specific way, the guitars have now a stronger '90s death metal-oriented approach also as for the guitar solos. And just these last ones have finally become important for the band since man songs have their own solo(s), be them chaotic in the most classic war metal tradition or more atmospheric in a death metal manner, while the debut album was almost totally lack of them.

For the rest, Pig's Blood plays always with extreme severity and violence, and now I think that, also thanks to the addition of the guitar solos, they can be considered without any problems as a part of the bestial black/death metal movement (also because they wears the mega-classic war metal glasses hehe!). But, at the same time, they aren't so orthodox like their friends in Profane Order, and this for their notable death metal side, either because they are able to alternate very well the blast-beat massacre with the slower tempos, which can be even doomish.

My favorite tracks of the album? They are 3 and are named "Anti-kosmic Discord (Meaningless Self-Sacrifice)", "A Flock Slaughtered (Unfettered Maniacs)" and the closing "Enforced Agony (The Noose Tightened)". The first one is really various rhythmically since it shows even many slow tempos, and ends by drowning the listeners in a doomish, nightmarish way with the addition of a great solo useful to create an atmosphere of horror. Instead, the titletrack is directly connected with "Bloodshed Hell (Interlude)" (a short, acoustic number) and is decisevely more violent than "Anti-kosmic Discord", also thanks to a brutal restart made more ferocious with a noisy and demented guitar solo. "Enforced Agony" is characterized by a sanguinary violence, too, but it contains some very martial parts and its final moments are obsessive and more blackish than the usual.

At the end, I think that "A Flock Slaughtered" gifts its best things to the listeners in its second side. Plus, I strongly think that "A Flock Slaughtered" represents without any doubts a major step forward in comparison with the debut album, so it is surely an important piece among the best war metal albums released in 2019. Now, I don't know if Pig's Blood are working on new stuff but I know for sure that they are quite active on the live front. And speaking about the live front, there is need to say that, for the live gigs, the band is a full-fledged quintet with the addition of the bassplayer S.M. Warstarter, who is also present on the same booklet's album even though he didn't take part in the recordings of "A Flock Slaughtered".

Tracklist:

1 - Gates Ripped Open (Scum Choking Out the Meek)
2 - An Unnamable Death (Unspeakable Ones Honored)
3 - Violent Spirit of Decadence (Humiliating the False Triumphant)
4 - Anti-kosmic Discord (Meaningless Self-Sacrifice)
5 - Maniacal Triumph's Embrace (Narcotic Lust)
6 - Bloodshed Hell (Interlude)
7 - A Flock Slaughtered (Unfettered Maniacs)
8 - Possessed by Nightfall (Violently Freeing Oneself from the Bonds of Life)
9 - Aberration (Submit or Perish)
10 - Enforced Agony (The Noose Tightened)

Line-up:

Horrible Person - vocals
B.G. Blood Lunatic - guitars
Hideous Destruktor/Goat Tyrant - lead guitars/bass
Drug Pervert Death Hammer - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/commandmoreblood/
Godz ov War Productions: http://godzovwar.com/