Land Of Sleeper

Standing at the nexus of doomy stoner metal, fuzz-blasted psych-rock, and bracing post-rock, Newcastles Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs confront existential dread with creativity on the elemental Land of Sleeper. Despite the discordant vibe and greasy garage patina, the groups fourth long-player harbors some weirdly unifying songs. "I keep spinning out/what a time to be alive," declares vocalist Matt Baty on the blazing "Ultimate Hammer," one of a handful of cuts that evoke the early stoner metal emissions of Sabbath-loving Austinites the Sword. Oddly enough, Land of Sleeper picks up momentum as it slows down. "Big Rig" takes an almost jazz-like approach, pairing abrupt tempo changes with textural shifts that straddle multiple hard rock subgenres. The unnerving "Weatherman" commences with a heady combo of feedback, pulsating synths, and a spectral choir consisting of Bonnacons of Dooms Kate Smith, Richard Dawson, and Sally Pilkington before exploding into a massive doom spiral. At least sonically speaking, things come back to earth on the hard-hitting "Mr Medicine," a seismic space rocker with nods to both Mastodon and Hawkwind. The slow-burning closer "Ball Lightning" hews closer to the dystopian post-rock of Daughters, with Batys throaty wail echoing Lemmy and Jesus Lizards David Yow. Darker and more assured than its predecessors, Land of Sleeper parses the outrage and catastrophizing of the social media age with gravitas, yet it does so with a watchful and curious eye. As the title suggests, Pigx7 wants to wake the world up with more than just decibels. ~ James Christopher Monger