Pig Destroyer has been serving up their Virginia style grindcore to heavy music fans since 1997. Current members J. R. Hayes, Scott Hull, Blake Harrison, Adam Jarvis, and John Jarvis are set to release what will be their sixth studio release in the summer of 2018 on Relapse Records, their first album since 2012.
Vocalist J.R.Hayes and guitarist Scott Hull stand as the bands only original members but have they been able to maintain consistently solid lineups over the years that continue to produce some of the best albums in heavy music. The next longest tenured member is Blake Harris who has been providing electronics since 2006. Drummer Adam Jarvis formerly of the band Misery Index joined in 2012.
Since their 2001 release Prowler in the Yard, the band has explored through different genres’ with each release and their new record will be no different as they tackle sounds completely foreign to them. It will be their first album with recorded bass bringing an entire new element to their already explorative sound. The band believes the lower tones of the bass will open up new doors for the band sonically giving them a more diversified approach to the genre than they have had in the past.
The band followed Prowler in the Yard with 2004s Terrifyer which was their noisiest effort. It echoed similarities to bands such as Unsane and Melvins. In 2007 they released Phantom Limb which was an ode to good old fashioned thrash. The album offered high-speed guitars that delivered an impenetrable wall of sound that was hard to deny. Book Burner was released in 2012 and was considered by many to be the “most metal” album of the year. It took a much more honest approach to the guitar-work than their previous efforts which resulted in the sound successfully moving from grindcore to thrash and back.
The band has been inspired by thrash metal bands such as Slayer and sludge rock such as the Melvin’s, all while being compared to their grindcore counterparts Brutal Truth making them no strangers to the classic 30 second grindcore bangers. While Pig Destroyer has been able to successfully tackle genres such as death metal, thrash, and noise rock; their new release expects to be a concoction of all of those ingredients that will result in a diversified grindcore explosion.
The band is hoping the addition of recording the bass sounds and tones of John Jarvis will lead to increased touring opportunities in the states and internationally that will include festivals such as 2017s Decibel Metal and Beerfest.
They have been known to go extended periods of time between albums but the band has not disappointed their clamoring fans as of yet. The six year wait will only force the anticipation for the grindcore mastery of Pig Destroyer more than ever.