All Pigs Must Die - Hostage Animal album review

It’s been four years since All Pigs Must Die released Nothing Violates This Nature, but that gap is excusable and justified, what with the otherwise packed schedules of drummer Ben Koller (Converge, Mutoid Man) and new six-stringer, Brian Izzi (Trap Them). At the same time, it’s not like Hostage Animal errs on the side of rocket science or applied mathematics. Instead it sounds like five dudes locking themselves in a room with their instruments and anger and refusing to emerge until they can feel like they can face the day without punching humanity in the breadbasket. Ben’s drumming is its usual frenetic best, vocalist Kevin Baker (The Hope Conspiracy) unleashes sandpaper over the sentiments of Meditation Of Violence and Blood Wet Teeth while the addition of Izzi brings a Swe-death thickness to already oppressive tones. Combining grindcore, crustpunk and thrashing death metal, Hostage Animal is impressive in its presentation as a wall of hateful calamity with underlying shades of melody shining through and guitar layers providing a triumphant sense of soaring. The diversity provided by the churning doom-punk of Slave Morality and Heathen Reign makes this an album that crushes on a number of levels, all of which your beaten senses should find both painful and delightful.