Tag: Pigs Land of Sleeper

Top 25 albums of 2023: #’s 5 – 1

Here we go with my favorite albums of 2023.

#5: Sound Cipher – All That Syncs Must Diverge

This is a cool synthwave album of cinematic sounds that often catches you off-guard. It’s the soundtrack to a movie you’ve never seen, but want to find just from hearing it. It might exist in another dimension, or on a dark web torrent stream. Either way, it’s one of the neatest records I heard all last year.

#4: Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen a Way

Speaking of cool synthwave, Mandy, Indiana‘s debut album was a stunner on multiple fronts, as it covers not only synthwave, but also cold wave, dance punk, goth, and general chaos. They’re quickly becoming one of those “bands everyone’s talking about,” so don’t miss this record.

#3: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – PostDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

Only King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard could get away with naming an album something like that. It was their return to thrash metal, this time built around one of their favorite subjects – protecting our fragile planet. It was one of the best metal records of the year.

#2: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land of Sleeper

This album held my top spot for a long while, as it’s a powerful stoner / psych / cosmic rock record that hits hard with shredding guitar, pleading vocals, and roaring drums. It’s all about dreams, death, and what-the-hell-are-you-doing-with-this-life-you-have-that’s-gone-like-a-flash-of-lightning-you-git introspections.

#1: Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View

Simply put, this is the most beautiful record I heard all year, and it’s a prime example of why you should always read old e-mails. This sat in my e-mail box for about four months before I finally got to it. I’m glad I didn’t delete that e-mail in a big purge, because Halsall’s album of ambient jazz, field sounds, and slight trip-hop touches is one of those albums that changes the attitude of the room wherever it’s played.

Thanks for reading and for sticking with me another year. Onto 2024!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land of Sleeper

What lies in the Land of Sleeper, the new album by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs? One, heavy riffs. Two, the battle against existential dread and anger, judging by the lyrics. Lead singer Matt Baty has made no secret of how, on the band’s new album, he decided to give in to his urge to sing / scream about deep, dark subjects such as death, sloth, wrath, and how time can easily feel like it’s slipping away with each breath.

The opening guitar riff on “Ultimate Hammer” alone will knock you to the floor and shake you out of any doldrums. They seem intent on awakening us from slumber, both self-induced and imposed upon us by unseen forces. “Life passes by in the blink of an eye,” Baty sings while his bandmates charge at you with guitars and drums that sound like hundreds of band saws. The title of “Terror’s Pillow” alone gives you an idea of the dread Baty feels as he drifts off into sleep, and drummer Ewan Mackenzie‘s cymbal crashes roll over you like an avalanche.

“Big Rig” is the aftershock of that avalanche with John-Michael Hedley‘s bass leading the charge. In it, Baty sings of the grit and grime (both literal and metaphorical) that covers their hometown of Newcastle Upon Tyne, but how an old tree inspires him to keep on keepin’ on (“At times it withers, but come spring, it soldiers on.”). “The Weatherman” is downright spooky with its chant-like opening vocals and creepy guitar work by Adam Ian Sykes. “There’s a storm coming!” Baty yells. If this is the sound of an impending storm, then that storm is going to wipe towns off the map once it arrives.

“Mr. Medicine” is a song of love and hope amid the pressures of the modern world, believe it or not (“That song you sang to me made me feel strong and completely fearless.”), and “Pipe Down!” is a great example of how Sykes and producer / fellow guitarist Sam Grant often trade shredding duties back and forth in the same song.

“Atlas Stone” is a song about carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, and the band amplifies this message with crushing, heavy riffs. The closer, “Ball Lightning,” takes them, and us, into psychedelic doom landscapes as dark wizards plot alliances with unholy things that live in deep trenches and a band of five warriors from Newcastle Upon Tyne decide to take up their axes, swords, crossbows, shields, and mystical scrolls to, again, do battle for the sake of all of us.

I urge you to follow them into, through, and out of the Land of Sleeper. You’ll come out of the journey with a newfound power.

Keep your mind open.

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