Pigs x7 embrace negative headspace with their new album, ‘Death Hilarious'
The members of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — or Pigs x7 for short — are England's leading purveyors of sludgy, perpetually stoned metal. The five-piece outfit march in lockstep, churning out sleazy riffs and rhythm-section rumble as frontman Matt Baty roars and rants like a modern-day Lemmy, continuing a tradition that began a half century ago by their countrymen in Black Sabbath.
But even after more than a decade as a band and a handful of albums under their belt, Baty struggled to put pen to paper and voice to tape when it was time to record what would become 'Death Hilarious,' which was released in April. While every album presents him the same challenge – write something meaningful and resonant to accompany nearly finished songs — the battle felt particularly acute this time around.
'There were a lot of things going on in my personal life that led me to question myself a lot more, or at least in a much more heavy, self-critical or doubtful way,' Baty says over Zoom. ''Have you got anything to say? You're not particularly good at this.''
Eventually, Baty leaned into the skid, embracing his negative headspace and sharing his internal turmoil. As soon as he began expressing his feelings, lyrics and melodies came easily.
'I felt like suddenly I was in control of the narrative rather than it presenting itself as a blockade to creativity,' he says. 'I'm holding it now and I can shape this in a much more positive way.'
'Death Hilarious' rips off the Band-aid with 'Blockage,' a song about boredom and 'blind stupidity' that ends with an incantation — 'May these words dissolve / All negative thought' — that doesn't exactly come true: The album is full of songs about jealousy, resentment, existential dread, vulnerability and self-deprecation. While it might not be pretty, the album serves as a corrective to the crass positivity in the larger pop music world, where songs full of 'insipid, positive messages' are coin of the realm.
'A lot of them are about thinking yourself happy. I disagree with that as an approach to mental health,' Baty says. 'People have to find a way to be kind to themselves in the darkest of situations… but I also disagree with this [idea that] you can think your way out of these really dark thoughts.'
Perhaps the gnarly negativity of 'Death Hilarious' will help some listeners take the next step on their mental health journeys, even if they're dealing with long wait times through the United Kingdom's National Health Service or navigating the Kafkaesque insurance system of the United States.
'Throughout all of our albums, I've tried to weave through some amount of positivity or a bit of hope or light to the darkness, whereas with this one, I was worried I was maybe straying too far into the dark and not offering enough kind of hope, but it's all valid,' Baty says. 'It's a true expression of where I was at that time, and other people feel these things.' June 20 at 7 p.m. at 9:30 Club. 930.com. $36.50.
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