Since KMFDM doesn’t seem to collaborate anymore, Raymond Watts was all “Hold my beer…” (Second time we’ve typed that phrase recently and we are SORRY) and what fans get is a massive guest-filled opus that doesn’t at all take away from your regularly scheduled PIG listening experience. With Red Room, the Lord of Lard is at his mightiest on a record that might be PIG’s best yet since the 2016 resurrection.
And let’s be real here, like many a great KMFDM record back in the day the guest spots here, while many, are so subtle at times that you’ll have to listen over and over and over some more just to pick them out (And with the greatness that comes from Red Room, you’d want to listen over and over some more anyhow). That said, this is a PIG record through and through so be rejoice instead of running away when you see names like Alexis Mincolla (3Teeth), Christopher Hall (Stabbing Westward), and the PIG Choir that consists of the legendary Chris Connelly, Night Club’s Emily Kavanaugh, I Ya Toyah, Marc Heal, Burton C. Bell, En Esch, and more.
If that wasn’t enough to entice, Watts has also recruited The Prodigy/Pitchshifter axeman Jim Davies to help out a bunch as well! Like on opener “Crumbs, Chaos, & Lies” featuring the aforementioned Mincolla on this modern Industrial stomp with Watts’ signature snarl on full display throughout this hypnotic banger of an opening salvo. The title track is sinister as it slithers and swirls around your headspace in the same way that Sinsation burrowed its’ way in back in the day with “Dum Dum Bullet” offering peak modern Lord of Lard and some multi-faceted, layered Gospel-like dark vibes and the perfect alternative for those of you not wishing to support a certain Antichrist Superstar any longer.
“Does It Hurt Yet” gets its’ Electro on for a tantalizing tale, “Trash Temple” is a menacing lullaby, and “Slave to Pleasure” is kind of a current take on some of the anthems that Sinsation or Wrecked held with Watts getting all Bowie-esque with his croon. “The Sick Man’s Prayer” is a languishing laborious lament but in a good way while “PIG is at the Window” sounds more like a warning than a statement as muted trumpets accent the loungey Jazz feel that still manages to be terrifying. Further in, “Body Count” is a chilling piano-laden edge of your seat kind of serial killer thriller with “False Flag” eerily ending Red Room.
Red Room opens on May 17th through Metropolis Records who is handling digital and CD versions while Armalyte Records takes care of the vinyl. You can find the Metropolis portion here and stay tuned here for the Armalyte announcement. For more from PIG, follow the trail of socials across the information superhighway when you click here, here, or here.