The world is burning. War crimes are reported like weather forecasts. Savagery has become routine. And PIG’S BLOOD from Milwaukee, Wisconsin return with their third album as if they had been waiting for exactly this moment to release.
‘Destroying The Spirit’ isn’t an album looking for delicate balance. It’s an album that knows what it wants and chases it with relentless momentum — a hybrid engine of Bestial Black/Death Metal and pure Death Metal groove that endures where so many others collapse: in the theater of the riff.
A bit of history: Pig’s Blood were born in the mid-2010s from three musicians with varied backgrounds — hardcore punk/neocrust connected to Halo of Flies, extremist black metal and thrashing grindcore. The demo ‘Command More Blood’ (2015) laid the foundations: dual rot-clogged vocals, blackened death frenzy, punk throttle. The debut LP (2017) brought a more structured sound, and from there every album has added more structure and less chaos — without ever losing its character.
The second LP, ‘A Flock Slaughtered’ (2019), was the moment many realized these guys play on another level. “A brutally heavy tank of an album” that had a targeted impact instead of crude chaos. If you haven’t heard it, do it now.
Seven years after their beginnings, Pig’s Blood are pulled from their solid mud and return with an album that compares comfortably to ‘A Flock Slaughtered’ — it maybe even goes a little further. There’s still that groaty, thrashing “order within chaos” aura (see the title track), but the band seems even more devoted to the frenzy of American Black/Death origins. The opener “Standing In Depravity” immediately sets the tone and the band keeps it undiminished until the end.
The highlights? “Tartarean Infection” breaks out with blasting momentum. “Aftermath” — a personal favorite — derails into death-thrashing grinding frenzy that is one of the liveliest moments on the record. “Rabid Dogs” is the point of no return — where the band’s tunnel vision begins to break down the listener’s resistance. And “Satanic Hammer Of Justice” brings a welcome surprise: a black metal melodic riff at the opening that breaks the routine and shows the band still has aces hidden — I’d want more of those in the future.
The record’s ~33 minutes don’t drag — they simply refuse to stop or turn elsewhere. This is a conscious choice, not a weakness. The closing with “Strikeforce Of Isolate Will” is harsh and definitive, although the album’s more inspired things are in the first half. The middle section is where the band truly shines.
‘Destroying The Spirit’ isn’t a revelation album. It’s something better: it’s proof that a band knows exactly what it is, what it does, and does it better than ever. For the already initiated, it’s inspired reaffirmation of principles. For newcomers, it’s the ideal starting point to discover their entire discography.
Highly recommended.
