You've got to hand it to a band like PIG DESTROYER, pushing the needle of extreme grindcore just a hair further into the red than hundreds of predecessors. At a time when the average fan of the genre's attention span hovers around the four-second mark, Scott Hull and crew continue to fly the flag for raging blastbeats and chugging riffs without sacrificing one moment of pulse-raising, head bruising excitement.

It's been a long time since those early thrash and grind records shocked and stunned us. After years of enjoying the likes of CARCASS, NAPALM DEATH, and CONVERGE, we're more like hardened morticians at the battlefront -- it takes a lot to get us excited. 2004's "Terrifyer" did just that, delectable crunching riffs zigzagging between the blastbeats like an angry mamba. But could the thundering trio continue to sustain such power and speed through another record?

Consider it sustained. The only complaint a red-blooded metalgrind fan could possibly have regarding this album is its brevity. The blink-of-an-eye changes and fiendish chugs flash by so quickly, "Phantom Limb" is over before you know it. It seems with each song that Hull is attempting to take SLAYER's "Angel of Death" and shorten it down to a one-minute masterpiece without dropping the intensity. "Lesser Animal" roars out of the blocks at a gazillion bpm before settling into a rattling thrash groove and finishing at the 1:14 mark with a disturbing sample. NEXT! The title track takes off with gatlin-gun cadence before slowing to a marching old-school thrash pulse for a spell, only to explode again at ridiculous speed and hit the finish line at a "proggy" 1:40. While it's difficult to tell if "Phantom Limb" tops or merely matches its predecessor, the final product boasts enough quality grindcore to render the question unimportant. Suffice to say it's a wise purchase for any fan of the abrasive and extreme.

-Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/therealpigdestroyer

RELATED ITEMS: No related articles at this time.