For the past few years people have been asking I review some Pig Destroyer material, so 5 years after 38 Counts Of Battery was released on Relapse I’ve finally decided to appease the yearning masses and will paint the clearest picture of my impression of this album as I possibly can.

38 Counts Of Battery is a compilation of the majority of Pig Destroyer’s material prior to their Relapse full length debut Prowler In The Yard. The album contains 38 tracks, hence the name, and consists of the full 18 tracks from the group’s debut effort Explosions In Ward 6 originally released on Clean Plate Records in 1998, plus three Carcass cover tracks from the group’s split with Isis, plus tracks from their split with Orchid and their second demo. In other words, this is basically a compilation of 2 years in the life of Pig Destroyer.

On Explosions In Ward 6 Pig Destroyer display an energetic form of chaotic grindcore with a heavy emphasis on the core side of things. The majority of the tunes on this release meld grindcore with hardcore with angry shrieked vocals, fast angry rhythms with crushing breakdowns with some slow heavy doom passages. The material doesn’t flow from song to song, it’s basically just 18 tracks thrown together, some are fuelled by pure rageahol like "Deflower", while others are thought out a little more methodically in a mid-90s Napalm Death manner like "Yellow Line Transfer" and "Under The Fingernails" whereas "Pixie", the longest track on the entire compilation, is more of a slow brooding doom chugganaught. Included is an energetic cover of Melvins‘ "Oven", which, while strong, still lacks the power of the original, but is still a respectable tribute.

The tracks from the split with Isis contain two tracks from Deathvomit’s tribute to Carcass in the form of "Genital Grinder" and "Regurgitation Of Giblets" plus an additional cover of "Exhume To Consume". Though Pig Destroyer’s style is vastly different from any incarnation of Carcass they’re able to emulate the style effectively while adding their own distinct sound to the material making for some moshtastic good times.

Also included is a cover of Dark Angel’s "Burning Of Sodom", which is an equally fast, fun and ferocious tribute.

The material from the split with Orchid is a short, violent, fast, chaotic shriek fest with plenty of blasts, breakdowns and just pure raw rage that’ll leave you shrieking at your stereo in unison leaving your neighbours to wonder what the fuck kind of crazy shit you’re up to.

This is followed by material from the band’s demo which continues the trend of the previous tracks and is another pure raw slab of chaotic grinding insanity with lots of shrieking and an overall really rough sound.

38 Counts Of Battery contains a lot of really solid grindcore, the only problem being the production is pretty raw for the majority of the material and a lot of the high pitched guitar wails get annoying after a while. While not every song on this effort is a classic, there is enough good material within the 38 tracks to make this a worthy purchase of any fan of chaotic grindcore. It’s rough, but that’s why I like it. Good stuff!

Review byTeufel