PIG

For a guy associated with German industrialists KMFDM and Einstürzende Neubauten, PIG's Raymond Watts cranks out deliciously listenable tunes. The Berlin Wall has fallen, and brighter days have arrived -- sort of. Gone is the old "We put the noise in annoys" Throbbing Gristle school of sound. Like Neubauten's Blixa...

By Rick Skidmore

December 1, 2005

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For a guy associated with German industrialists KMFDM and Einstürzende Neubauten, PIG's Raymond Watts cranks out deliciously listenable tunes. The Berlin Wall has fallen, and brighter days have arrived -- sort of. Gone is the old "We put the noise in annoys" Throbbing Gristle school of sound. Like Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld, with age Watts has discovered the satisfaction of wrapping abrasive noises around a proper song. Traipsing through a sweet Sisters of Mercy stench, he enlists a choir of heavenly hosts to back his unholy mission. Angle-grinder guitars throw sparks over cavernous vocals to a seductive Wolfgang Press cabaret groove. There's even a devilish dance number worthy of Shriekback. Suggestive romancers and aggressive thrillers alike carry a predatory threat made credible by Watts's creepy but more human Laibach growling. If this is how the apocalypse looks, it's not nearly as bleak as expected; only a light coat of toxic residue covers the desolation. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a reverb runs through it.

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