Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs “Land of Sleeper” Album Review

Land of Sleeper

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

• Genre: Psychedelic
• Date: 17 Feb, 2023
• Content: Not-explicit
• Region: US
• Track(s): 8
• ℗ 2023 Rocket Recordings

The Newcastle-based band’s fourth album is titled “Land Of Sleeper.” This time around, there are darker undertones in their beautifully murky music. “Land of Sleeper” is a straightforward affair, with the holy trinity of guitar, bass, and drums playing in close unison, swinging between fast chugging riffs and half-speed, blissful breaks. Nevertheless, beneath this well-executed sea of distortion, there may be something more. The entire album appears to be depicted through a visceral wall of nostalgia, as if we are peeking into a rock and roll fever dream, with borrowed pieces that are familiar, odd, and abstract.

Album Cover Art

First, it’s hard to figure out, but when you pause; like, really pause, and take another investigative look at it, it’ll start to piece itself together. This is interestingly trippy because that is a volcanic mountain that had its mouth sealed as it poured out boiling magma. The crescent moon had fallen right on top of the mountain as it was just about to throw up liquid fire, congealing the molten magma and getting trapped therein till the end of time. Then, as though strategically positioned the space in-between both tips of the crescent moon becomes a passage for a nice, wavy line of sparkling stars. This trippy reality is obtainable only in the Land Of Sleeper. Now it makes sense.

Tracks and Features

The album’s thundering opener, “Ultimate Hammer,” sets the tone. The riffs are massive, urgent, and full of tempo shifts. Before a stunning solo from Adam Ian Sykes that shatters through the glass roof, Matthew Baty delivers dejected vocals with skill. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better album opener this year; it really is that excellent. If the album’s opening track doesn’t wake you up, there are seven more tracks to make sure your head does the right kind of wobble. “Terror’s Pillow” builds in a frightening manner as the drum and bass gradually intensify while feedback tendrils tangle in the background. Although Baty’s vocals are a little gruffer, his approach is incredibly controlled and effectively expresses a special mood.

For a group of this caliber, “Big Rig” is a fantastic moniker. Whether or not the song is about Pigs x 7’s backline, it builds up speed swiftly and adds more urgency and glimmers of hope. Doom lovers will enjoy the nature of these guitars before the tempo picks back up and expanses of psychedelia bat around another powerful solo.

It’s a darker, more menacing story with “The Weatherman.” It is jarring, dejected, and nasty. Once more, Baty commands attention with his heartbreaking vocals. In the ethereal melodic coda, it’s difficult to avoid drawing comparisons to Pink Floyd from the early 1970s. This song is notable not only for its very slow tempo but also for its delightfully extravagant pagan chant. Rousing cries of “Serpent accompany rolling waves of free-form drumming! Heathen! Malice! Violence!” The guitars ultimately enter with doom-laden foreboding and genuinely terrifying cries of despair.

“Mr. Medicine” refines their music to its strongest, most concise form. Just two and a half minutes of the identical drumbeat and lyrical statement of music’s therapeutic abilities “Pipe Down!” begins with lyrics thrown in your face before the song’s groove shimmies and sways throughout. Once again, the music defies gravity and soars to heights that demand your attention. “Atlas Stone” returns to psychedelic territory, with some cosmic flourishes thrown in for good measure. While you’re immersed in Land Of Slumber, it’s difficult not to smile from ear to ear. “Ball Lightening” brings the album to a close. It starts off quietly, with a basic piano melody straining around the fuzz bottom line. While they compete with Baty’s voice, the lead guitar notes feel atonal.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	Ultimate Hammer	4:50
2	Terror’s Pillow	4:37
3	Big Rig	6:31
4	The Weatherman	6:46
5	Mr Medicine	2:26
6	Pipe Down!	4:11
7	Atlas Stone	5:31
8	Ball Lightning	5:51

Album Theme

Overall, “Land of Sleeper” is the sound of Pigs x 7 coming to the end of their phase of growth and becoming something unique and well-refined.

Production Credits

This information has not been publicized.

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