PIGFACE

Jester (courtesy of the Sonic Boom website)

After a longer than usual hiatus, the band which can be summed up as Martin Atkins and whoever he feels like is back, with a surprising 2 disc set. In an effort to make Pigface seem like the sum of its parts, the artists are not listed anywhere on the outside of the packaging. Rest assured, there are many new faces, along with some old ones. I will say that (unfortunately) Ogre and Matt Schultz are not on this record :(. Disc one (Low) is the more conventional Pigface stuff. It seems that they've moved into a more almost pop direction with the music. Female vocals are prevalent on most of the 12 tracks, and many feature somewhat pop-like musical arrangements. The first track, "Radio Bagpipe" is definitely not conventional, mostly made up of the sounds of bagpipes and multilayered voices. Really cool effect. "Kiss King" is made up mostly of processed sitar, female vocals, and Atkins' excellent drumming. The drumming (which really carries over through out both discs) continues on "Burundi", which is packed with low end drones, record scratches, and a rather catchy chorus (with male vocals). One of the more traditional "industrial" type tracks, considering the vocal distortion and dialog samples. "Nutopia" turned me off at first (spoken word female vocals), but when the actual singing begins, it's pretty catchy, half good and half bad... "Methylated" is another one of those poppy songs, with Atkins loud drumming mixed with samples, weird synths, and female vocals. "Aboriginal" is another standout, featuring now ex-Die Warzau vocals Jim Marcus, and the double drumming of Atkins and ex-Killing Joke drummer Paul Ferguson. This may make me sound like a total moron, but it actually reminds me of some 60's protest song (musically). Percussion wise, "Metal Tangerine" almost has a techno feel to it, with Mark Spybey (previously of Download) on vocals (along with Dirk Flanigan and Vikki Omega). Sounds like Pigface has taken a clue from seemingly everyone else on "First Taken Third Found"...sounds like Atkins is learning to play jungle (it does have a different sound, since they're live drums). Not the best disc I've heard all year, but not bad either. Now to disc 2, the "dub chill-out disc". Ignore these words. This disc is three tracks in 71 minutes. The middle track, "Train" is a weird piece of odd sounds, ambient techno synths and drums. Definitely not standard Pigface fare. The other two tracks, "The Howler: An English Breakfast Chapter 1" parts 1 and 2 are what kills the "chill-out" aspect of the disc. Not the music, which is Atkins doing live dub drums and Mick Harris providing bass sounds (which when put together rival some of Bill Laswell's best dub work), but it's the spoken word/story telling vocals of Genesis P-Orridge. Now, I've grown to enjoy Gen's vocals (unlike last year), but his whiny nasal voice is not able to chill me out (Personally, he should have given up music after Throbbing Gristle, but he's done some decent stuff since). Instead of mystical bullshitting a la Psychic TV, he delivers a graphic story on one of everyone's favorite subjects, sex! Yeah, Penthouse letters set to a dub background. I've only listened to Part one, and I haven't heard the whole story, but 'tis cool. So, all in all, not the best of all time, but better than Notes from thee Underground.

Overall - 4/5

Creaig Dunton (courtesy of the False Prophet Campaign website)