Band:	Pig Destroyer
Album:	Explosions In Ward 6
Style:	Grindcore
Release date:	September 1998
Guest review by:	Tiago Rocha

01. Deflower
02. Tentacle
03. Yellow Line Transfer
04. Under The Fingernails
05. Elfin
06. Unwitting Valentine
07. Oven [The Melvins cover]
08. Three Second Apocalypse
09. Treblinka
10. Fingers In The Throat
11. My Fellow Vermin
12. Endgame
13. One Funeral Too Many
14. Higher Forms Of Pornography
15. Honeymoon
16. Alcatraz Metaphors
17. Flesh Upon Gear
18. Pixie

In 1998, three swine haters came from nowhere to present us with this loudly oinking grindcore opus Explosions In Ward 6, an essay in fast music often forgotten when compared with their later albums.

There's only one word to describe this record: Mayhem. I have no idea where this album title came from, but this is a sick collection of speedy, fierce, vile songs. Drummer Brian Harvey and singer JR Hayes came from hell itself to regurgitate their beliefs in this album. Hayes screams like he's possessed, a statement in wrath kept throughout the entire record . Hell, I even think he screams louder here than in Terryfier or Prowler In The Yard. It could be better though, there's no range in the vocals, his singing would be more versatile later, in Phantom Limb for example.

But you are wrong if you think the music is pure disorganized noise. Guitarist Scott Hull leads the party from shredding, cutting riffs to deconstructed noise in a blink of an eye, so fast that no one can follow him but that guy behind the drum kit, who plays like he's being stalked by an emo kid in bare street. Harvey not only manages to follow Hull's riffage but goes one step beyond, changing structures so fast that he even exceeds Hull, hence leading the assault in some songs. And when you think Harvey got caught by that emo guy, he instantly kicks us in the face with more fierce drumming. The average/garage production doesn't clear that out, giving the listener the idea that he's listening to pure noise garbage. That's the main issue here, the bad production, recorded in Brian's basement by the way, misleading us to believe we're always listening to the same song. But raising the volume up, we realize that this is good technical grind all along, not amazing stuff, but still good.

The essence of the band, the way of making music, the structures, are already here. Pig Destroyer covers The Melvins's Oven, keeping mainly the same structure, just switching it to Hayes's growls but not wrecking the song, making it one of the special ones. All tracks share that raw vein except Pixie, the final song, featuring a ''sludgy'' Pig Destroyer, swapping fast brutal paced rhythms for a dragged structure, a different finale making it fun to end the album. The writing is closer to later albums, there's no concept in the lyrics though, but that doesn't ruin the fun. Just an objective, straight-to-the-point raw grindcore album, clocking at 19:07 minutes.

Don't let the rough production make you to think this music is not interesting, and shove you away from an album that despite its flaws, features good technical ability. It's vicious like any grindcore record should be, and already typifies Pig Destroyer's trademark. Certainly bliss for old school grindcore fans, it's Pig Deatroyer at their most primal nature.