Customer Reviews

Phantom Limb

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Grindcore is a genre I have avoided like the plague for years now. Typically a grindcore band will play a thirty second song. Composed of 1 crappy riff and a drummer blasting the crap out of the snare drum. I found this genre to be crap in other words. I have known about pig destroyer for years now and never gave them a listen because the were known as a grindcore band. A friend suggested I should gave the band a shot and so I did. This cd just RAGES! I love it. The band blasts through a lot of parts, however they do it with amazing riffs. The vocals match the music perfectly. There is lots of change up in the delivery, and the lyrics are quite intelligent. The energy on this release is higher than anything I have heard before. Do yourself a favor and pick up this disc. I have now purchased their whole back catalog. Which is also fantastic.

If you haven't heard Pig Destroyer before: buy this CD. Now. This is some of the most punishingly heavy music you'll ever hear. Tons of bands play fast and furious just for the sake of being fast and heavy. Pig Destroyer seem to have another agenda on their minds... playing fast, complex, brutal music is just the means for achieving the creepy discomfort their music invokes. This isn't soothing, pretty music. It's no wonder their last album was titled "Terrifyer". Another thing that sets this band apart is the masterful songwriting, memorable riffs, and more riffs stacked on top of riffs. The amount of killer melodies and riffs on one Pig Destroyer cd would keep most sub-par bands in business for a decade. Very few bands can write music that is this aggressive yet is memorable and structured. Most bands end up just playing a bunch of unintelligible noise, Pig Destroyer is something entirely different and you need to hear this NOW.

What can be said about Pig Destroyer that isn't obvious? Yes, they are excellent musicians. Yes, they are THE tightest metal band that is around today. Yes, they are messed up and their lyrics would prove that. Yes, this is all a matter of opinion. Finally, yes, you will either LOVE this band or HATE this band. There really is no in between when it comes to Pig Destroyer.

As for "Phantom Limb," it is a bit different from their former releases. I personally have noticed the growth in this band since their debute on the scene and this CD is just one more chapter in the evolution of this band. The album has intensity, heart, violence, and everything that you have come to love about Pig Destroyer. But, the songs are more put together and it sounds as if there is more focus on this album than ever before.

"Phantom Limb" is a huge step forward for this intense group of guys! If you're a fan of them, pick this up, you'll be satisfied. Just be warned, although this IS Pig Destroyer in all its essence, it is a bit more ambitious of a release than what we are used to!

Just recently purchased Phantom Limb. I can't stop listening to it. It is off the charts amazing!! Every song is brutal and driving and gets straight to the point, then moves on to the next without pause. Samples are juxtaposed in between songs on occasion which add to the vibe of the album. Best I can describe it is hard hitting metal with a punk attitude. If you are looking to experience what it feels like to have your brains put in a blender on high speed this is the prescription for you!!

Pig Destroyer is faster on this album and a little more angrier. I like grindcore, although the songs are often short. anyway most of the songs are 1 minute on this disc. in the time it took me to write this sentence,4 songs have passed by. this stuff is seriously fast. it makes you wonder if these guys need anger management. this is definitely the shuttle ride I was talking about when I was reviewing "Terrifyer". Scott Hull also plays in Agoraphobic Nosebleed. I don't know who the guy is that dissed grindcore, but I would like to point out that if you like Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror, they are also grindcore. Napalm Death started out as a punk band though.

For their fourth full-length release, Virginia's iconic Pig Destroyer blend together Slayer-worthy thrash with classic grindcore, hardcore, death and even a little doom metal to create what just might be their most frenetic, vicious, bludgeoning, and breakneck release to date, this year's "Phantom Limb." Plus, this album is composed of fifteen tracks, making it a more compact and focused effort than 2004's "Terrifyer." "Phantom Limb" is short, sweet, to the point, and, ah yes, as brutal as all Hell. Indeed, this one is a monster, folks!

To say Brian Harvey is an awesome drummer would be a gross understatement. Pig Destroyer don't have a bassist, but they really don't need one when this man is behind the trapkit -- he provides all the bottom end that the songs need. He doesn't just play basic, machine-like drum patterns; he plays explosive, pummeling blast beats which are so friggin' fast, skilled, and technical that it seems like he has eight arms!

But what's even more amazing is guitarist Scott Hull (of Anal C and Agoraphobic Nosebleed fame), who is a riff god above almost all other riff gods. "Phantom Limb" is bursting at the seams with indescribably excellent, scalding riffs, and many of them are, hands down, the best you will hear all year long. As another review noted, it often sounds like Hull listened his favorite Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman riffs, and then learned to play them on fast forward.

And finally, who could forget about frontman J.R. Hayes? He may not be the sound's focal point, but he is still a very important part of it. In addition to his famously skin-crawling, larynx-shredding, gut-wrenching vocals, he also contributes plenty of sickening, yet often oddly humorous lyrics (i.e. "Got no use for psychiatry/I can talk to the voices in my head for free").

As is the problem with many grindcore releases, none of these songs really stay with you after they are done playing, but there are still several highlights on hand here. Opener "Rotten Yellow" is an all-out deluge of brutality that tears your head clean off your shoulders. Later on, tracks like "Deathripper" and "Cemetery Road" feature inhuman drumming and whiplash tempo changes; "Lesser Animal" and "Girl In The Slayer Jacket" are backed by fiery, chugging thrash riffs and thunderous drums; and "Thought Crime Spree" and "Alexandria" play like full-on thrash, and boast positively ripping and face-melting riffage. Elsewhere, the pounding, Pantera-esque breakdowns in the title cut could almost be described as catchy. Lastly of note is the album's midpoint, "Loathsome," which is a mid-tempo, restrained and even somewhat groovy cut that serves as a nice (albeit fairly brief) break in the otherwise relentless and devastating calamity.

All told, phrases like "skull crushing," "neck snapping," and "butt kicking" were made for an album like "Phantom Limb." If you are a grindcore/extreme metal fan who is looking for one of the top three heaviest releases in 2007, or if you just like killer guitar shredding, you'll want to make sure you pick it up.

And I'm not even a big fan of grindcore, or a lot of related thrash/black metal type music, for that matter.

Phantom Limb, like a lot of great music, takes more than a few listens to make sense. At first, you will likely hear only the speed. And there is a lot of it; this album is fast. Really fast. I know there are probably quicker things out there, but to the ears of someone (like myself), it's blistering speed.

But, by the third or fourth listen, you start to notice the riffs. They really stand out. And the album, initially seeming so asymmetrical in structure, slowly begins to come together.

I knew I liked it immediately after the first listen. I was exhausted, sure, but I couldn't wait to see what I'd discovered by the fourth.

It's certainly worth the effort. There's a lot going on in these tracks.

... and for this, i give it five stars. in this day and age of overhyped product and false advertising it is refreshing to see a band live up to their name. i would write more but i have a lot of bacon to cook.

While it doesn't come close to modern releases by Napalm Death, imho, this release by Pig Destroyer is yet very listenable and a worthy addition to any grind fan's collection.

This is an amazing album! I was kinda iffy about it cause I like every singe PxDx album there has been normally a band will release a record which isn't too good, but for PxDx case that wasn't it. This CD is brutal and beautiful I love it. JR's lyrics are one of the reason why PxDx is my fav band of all time. If you are a fan of Pig Destroyer then get this album as soon as you can. And real quick cause I know some people have asked this at best buy it is an edited cover but when you open it you will get the original booklet just they had to edit it to be in the store. This CD is just crazy I give it 5/5 once again this band as blown me away they keep getting better and better if your a fan of really heavy metal, grind, and in the mood for some crazy lyrics then check these guys out and buy this album!