Purple born
The fifth album from Newcastle’s riff wizards Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs is defined by calculated aggression and self-lacerating lyrics. Its startling bonuses include playful synth work and the appearance of a giant from hip-hop. With its title juxtaposing absurdity and seriousness, this is Death Hilarious.
Whereas 2023’s Land Of Sleeper was conceived as an immersive headphones experience, this time Pigs strove for something more directly hostile. “We wanted it to be a slap in the face,” grins producer and guitarist Sam Grant. That objective came, in part, from playing so many gigs over the last couple of years. The band felt well-oiled and ripe to give listeners at home the kind of pummelling their audiences receive.
Death Hilarious does bring in some big surprises, particularly the track ‘Glib Tongued’, which has guest bars by El-P from Run The Jewels. When bassist John-Michael Hedley unwittingly wrote what his bandmates considered their equivalent of a hip-hop number, Pigs set their sights high and secured a blistering contribution from one of the world’s greatest rappers. That’s not to say Pigs have pivoted to nu-metal. Death Hilarious is a diversely punishing record which shapeshifts through Sabbathian doom, grotesquely minimalist noise rock and cyclical post-metal fortissimos. Pigs continue to push themselves, too. Incongruous synthesiser solos appear where guitar histrionics would usually fit. Piano tracks lurk in the mix, adding near-subliminal depth to the maelstrom. ‘Stitches’ is like Motörhead trying to perform glam rock with a tipsy keyboardist. Then there’s the 100mph pace of cosmic-thrash opener ‘Blockage’. Distorted licks flying from the amplifiers of Grant and lead guitarist, Adam Ian Sykes, while the rhythm section sizzle behind. With all that power running through its veins, Death Hilarious is easily going to be one of the best rock albums of 2025...and that is no joke!
Availiable on indies-only green vinyl, with A3 print BUY
Which Direction Goes The Beam by Index For Working Musik drifts in like a fogged-out dream—hazy, hypnotic post-punk that feels just out of reach. Black Country, New Road continue their reinvention on Forever Howlong, stripping back the crescendos for something more intimate, a cinematic, chamber pop-laced evolution. Babe Rainbow’s Slipper Imp and Shakaerator is a sun-drenched swirl of wobbly psych-pop, part jam session, part surrealist experiment. Mekons return with Horror, another gloriously ragged mix of folk-punk sermons, art-school detours, and drunken pirate shanties. The Nightingales’ The Awful Truth finds Robert Lloyd’s deadpan snarl sharper than ever, slicing through wiry, propulsive grooves with brutal wit. In Concert At The BBC 1973 captures Can stretching their motorik grooves into infinity, rewriting the rules in real time, while Gondel Kino Bremen 1971 - featuring Michael Rother, and Klaus Dinger, alongside Florian Schneider - offers a glimpse of Kraftwerk before the robots took over, a freeform, synth-driven experiment from some forgotten future. Walt McClements’ On A Painted Ocean turns accordion tones into vast, droning soundscapes that feel like floating through time. DOGGOD by L.A. Witch is a fuzzed-out, desert rock fever dream, dripping in noir-ish swagger, like a lost Tarantino soundtrack left to bake in the sun. And Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain is Southern gothic on a grand scale—ghostly, sprawling, and deeply haunted, like a sermon delivered from the depths of a dream.
