Septem Porcos

A thrump as the guitarist places his fingers, followed by a churning riff and then everything goes superheavyfucking 3D as the rest of the band hammer on, hammer down, hammer home. Hands up if you like heavy stoner metal*.

Welcome to Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Land Of Sleeper; an album I bought on the day of release and then, umm, totally forgot about when I was doing my best of 2023 post – ah well, maybe its good to show my worshippers that I can actually be fallible occasionally.

I first came across Pigs x7** slightly arse-backwards as two of the band moonlight in Blown Out and I traced them back to their day job from there. I am just not built to resist their crushingly heavy stoner rock attack. Plus, call me superficial if you will but it has to be said that they look brilliant, there will always be room in my record collection and heart for an unselfconscious man rocking out in a singlet.

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‘Ultimate Hammer’ hits like a bull, there is a happy-go-heavy rollicking gait to the rhythm and it does a great slowed down section before it goes barrelling off to the finish line. Adam Sykes’ lead guitar playing is excellent creating some really interesting arty shapes and sounds where you least expect them at times.

I am less taken with the slower doomier ‘Terror’s Pillow’ but that’s fine as my fave cut ‘Big Rig’ is up next. On this the band hurtle onwards with a definite twist of Motörhead in the mix and a surprising twitch of positivity. Matthew Baty sings with a throat-shredding roar and there is a skyscraping guitar solo amidst all the blissful pummelling. I like that its about the importance of little signs of life and growth. This one always gets played at least twice.

There stands a tree as tall as me, but twice as old
At times, it withers, but come spring, it soldiers on
A kindly soul started its journey before me
I guess this shows the importance of legacy

Land Of Sleeper gets slower and more malevolent with ‘The Weatherman’ where Pigs x7 really get to groove on their own menace – ‘there’s a storm coming‘ indeed. It is also slightly silly and a lot of fun, which just makes everything even better.

Pigs x7 sound like they’re mainlining pure electricity on ‘Mr Medicine’ which drives home its point with its brief running time; ‘Through noise we release ourselves/ we can be fearless’. I am also very in thrall to the old school doom of ‘Atlas Stone’ and the closing epic ‘Ball Lightning’ which benefits with slightly eerie piano touches.

The production on Land Of Sleeper by their guitarist Sam Grant is brilliant. It’s a heavy LP but there are so many interesting little nooks and crannies in the sound, hidden little touches and details that make it great headphone music, keep it interesting and stop it being just a concussive experience. It is an LP that repays a lot of close listening, plus it absolutely rocks.

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I have managed to miss Pigs x7 every time they have played near me but I have agents in the field who tell me in glowing terms how brilliant they are and how hard they kick live. Yeah, whatever!

Land Of Sleeper is a big hairy interestingly bulgy beast of an LP, in a singlet. If that doesn’t make you want to buy it then you may want to ask a qualified medical practitioner to check your pulse.

1318 Down.

PS – just because:

*put your hand up, its compulsory if you want to be my friend.

**as they shall henceforth be known here. Just doing my best to conserve pixels.