All Pigs Must Die caught my ear with their self-titled EP last year. Their first full-length God Is War caught my ear and kicked my ass as well. Here crusty kids All Pigs Must Die are as abrasive and chaotic as ever, with all the raging disdain that the genre is known for liberally sprinkling throughout its music. "Pulverization" hits like a truck, "Third World Genocide" slices with intense arpeggios, and the phenomenal "Sacrosanct" will have even the most ignorant neo-conservative Baptist joining in on the pit calls.
Did I already mention that "Sacrosanct" is phenomenal? I can't stress that enough. The track is everything crust punk should be. To summarize it's a fun, d-beat track with a great bass solo and some killer tremolo riffs slightly akin to those found in black metal. This gives "Sacrosanct" a unique feel that most crust tends to lack. All the praise I'm heaping on that one track doesn't make the rest of God Is War any worse. As I mentioned a few of the other tracks share the same themes and aggression. The opener "Death Dealer" builds into a hardcore monster and "The Blessed Void" descends into a crossover thrash riff that had me headbanging the first time I listened to it. Surprisingly the weakest track on the album is the title track, which is slower and a bit more repetitive. The closer "Sadistic Vindicator" shares some of those elements but is a bit more interesting musically, riff-wise and in exposition.
The anti-religious themes are something I find interesting. Not because they're unique themes, but they're slightly more unique when brought into this kind of music. They link these themes lyrically with the traditional crusty whining about corporatism, which is pretty cool. Another thing that I can attribute my like for this album to is the dense, highly abrasive production. The guitars are heavy, the kicks have some bass to them, and the bass itself is overdriven and apparent on nearly every track. It's a nice touch that covers the entirety of God Is War. If I had given this a listen last year I would've included it in my top 25 of 2011. It's that damn good.
8.5 out of 10
Tracklisting:
1. Death Dealer
2. Pulverization
3. Sacrosanct
4. God Is War
5. The Blessed Void
6. Third World Genocide
7. Total Extinction
8. Sadistic Vindicator
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