Rating: 8.3

Country: Czech Republic

Release Date: 2005

Record Label: Bizarre Leprous Productions

Track list:
Pigsty
1. Sensitive People Love Music
2. The Universe Pig + Monkey = Essence Of Existence
3. End Of All Lies
4. Crush
5. Angels [MP3]
6. Pigs Are Back
7. Pig Football
Quadamage
8. Tabalabadach
9. Ferret
10. Gebr Ghare [MP3]
Subba
11. Good Flock [MP3]
12. False Preachers
13. Blind Lambs

Total playing time: 42:47

Band Website: Pigsty

Pigsty - Pigs Are Back

Ubina - Bass, Vocals
Otyn - Drums, Guitar
Topi - Vocals
Bormann - Guitar, Vocals

OOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, shit, that's their war cry! And as scary as it seems, it's true! The evil pigs are back! Back from the planet Ur-anus! So run from your wives! I mean run for your lives!

They've sure had a helluva journey - from being mere farm pigs to elite space lab guinea pigs and eventually having being sent into outer space where they somehow reach planet Ur-anus on which, after some unmentionable events having occurred, a good deal of their stretchy fats were transformed into brain cells. Now they've become incredibly intelligent and sophisticated and have come back for retribution - the extermination of the entire human race on this planet that hasn't really been very kind to them. And while they are seen floating around in astronaut suits in outer space, on earth they come dressed in black suits with black ties. Their code name is P.I.B (Pigs In Black) and their strategy is to attack in three stages: 'Pigsty', 'Quadamage' and 'Subba'.

Their first wave of attack, 'Pigsty', is an expected advancement from their last release 'Spiders' in almost every aspect. Here every move of theirs is not only well planned but it's superbly co-ordinated and flawlessly executed with renewed vigour. Their songs are more structured than ever and it makes their attack more elaborate and effective. They've taken care of their past shortcomings like replacing a slightly trebly production with an impeccable one. Fans of 'The Return' will be elated to know that they have brought back their cinematic feel which is like watching a movie wearing 3-D glasses with a DD (Double Dolby) Surround Sound where you will not only see but actually feel the army of pigs running straight into your crotch, gnawing wildly and tearing at it. “Angels” is a terrific example of that which easily happens to be the highlight of this album. That song with its alien feel is so eerie that it will make the hairs on your ears stand up and if they happen to be already standing up, then it will make them do a Mexican wave. Over that, the pig vocalist Topi squeals and squeals into the microphone in his astro-suit as if he happened to float into the earth's atmosphere and suddenly discovered gravity. Your crotch on the other hand won't need too much gravity to let go of its contents. I don't think you will get to hear any other band like this, forget a grind one. This is truly mind-blowing stuff, original and sublimely played with all excellence in all the departments. This part of the album or rather the first wave of attack alone is enough to inflict deserving damage on your wallet.

Their second wave of attack 'Quadamage' is most surprising. Here these sly yet fat pigs attempt to disguise themselves among the commercial nu-metal crowd of say Korn, Rage Against The Machine and the likes. I wouldn't say such a move was called for but they do it anyway. The music here is slower, groovier, and err, jumpier and is assisted by a thicker, down-tuned production. While I'm not a huge fan of this type of music, some parts are actually pretty cool like say in the song “Ferret” where the shouted gruff vocals transform into shocking squeals which sound like a piglet being wrung with both hands, the same way you would have to do when you soil your underwear (accidentally, or otherwise) and you're left with no option but to wash it. I guess the only difference is that wringing your underwear would kinda clean it whereas wringing a piglet would make it release the sorta stuff that would soil it. Hmm…anyway, 'Quadamage' is not all that bad as it gives you a change from their intense first wave of attack and well its just three songs.

Things start making sense after they unleash their third wave of attack, 'Subba'. It's now apparent that they've used their gay disguise to get back to their old village and regroup with their primitive breed. The music here is similar to their debut album 'The Return' although not quite the same. Here the squeals are rare and you've got mostly hoarse shouts in their place along with some other arbitrary vocals. Where the music is concerned, it's still very brutal and unbelievably fast but they don't seem to be under pressure to conform to the Pigsty sound – they have a few full-fledged death metal riffs, a distinct black metal riff in “False Preachers” which also has Gut like grind beats and the last song even has a short rapping part. The riffs are very catchy and gritty and some of them like in the songs “Blind Lambs” are so menacing that it sounds like the background music of some creature movie like say Jaws, only instead of a shark you have an army of pigs behind your prized ass. It will be very interesting to hear what this ‘band' is capable of in future.

I feel it would've been better if they had released the music apart from 'Pigsty' on a proper split cd instead of having it like a long unofficial 3-way split. If they had written a few more Pigsty songs in place of them then ‘Pigs Are Back' would've probably been a monumental epic album of some sort, but even then, this is without a doubt one of the best albums to be released in 2005.

October 13th, 2005