PIG Makes Old School The New School On Relentless And Retro The Merciless Light

Not even parts of a whole anymore but fans of KMFDM’s beginnings have surely been getting a treat these last few years with that Industrial juggernaut still rolling along after 30+ years and Raymond Watts’ PIG back in full swing since 2016 and, more often than not, utilizing the talents of fellow former KMFDMer’s like En Esch and Steve White (As well as axe-master Gunter Schulz who does not feature on this particular record) as is the case with PIG’s latest outing The Merciless Light.

With The Merciless Light, Watts and cohorts create a sinister atmosphere that hearkens back to the Sinsation and Wrecked days while also employing tricks perfected along the way since the “PIG renaissance” began with 2016’s The Gospel (Or even back to the year before that, in 2015, and the collaboration with Cubanate’s Marc Heal) to give listeners a new PIG record that’s both familiar and futuristic to an extent.

“No Less More Yes” is a beefy shredder with all the vim and vigor of a young and hungry band looking to prove themselves with Watts’ voice crooning and creeping for this Rammstein meets Front Line Assembly-style stomp to start off our aural journey. “Veni Vidi Vici” is filled with Watt’s signature swagger, complete with callbacks to that aforementioned Industrial outfit’s biggest hit while “Feed The Wound” is a moving beastie filled with all the signature PIG filling that moves towards a HUGE chorus.

Further in, “Limbo” is, quite simply, PIG jazz?!?! Hear us out! It’s like Raymond Watts doing Richard Cheese doing Raymond Watts. And it all works! Really well! Watts is a showman through and through and you can easily just imagine the artist flamboyantly dressed at the mic with a piano, drum, and trumpet player in the background of some seedy, smoky Jazz club because that’s the kind of picture the music easily paints within your imagination. “Glitz Krieg”, on the flip side, is a throbbing Electro romp which is a little like Depeche Mode at their height mixing it up with a certain disgraced shock rawker discovered by Trent Reznor.

“Sugar My Pill” is pure PIG incarnate and a slow mover tinged with synth surges, a steady beat, and Watts’ snarl at the forefront with “The Dark Room” being the kind of old school PIG track that could easily fit in the framework of Sinsation or Wrecked with Watts’ bountiful baritone beautifully leading the silky shredding and suave synth sounds. The title track is more modern PIG with those Gospel-like elements present throughout and a kind hymnal if you will that devolves into a full-on sonic slaughter followed by “Tarantula” as remixed by Jim Davies (Pitchshifter, The Prodigy) which has all the bite of a burgeoning Industrial artist looking to prove themselves. Which PIG seems to strive for with each subsequent release and always over delivers.

“Obliteration Liberation” is a sweeping ditty that freely floats in the ether to conjure up the closest thing fans will ever get to hearing some heavenly PIG and then “The Judas Chair” crashes the party with some grand piano lines that are, at times, reminiscent of David Bowie’s Outside amidst this majestic finale for an album that’s sure to appease impatient fans perpetually waiting for that vaunted “return to form” as well as us fans who’ve never lost faith in the illustrious Lord of Lard.

The Merciless Light illuminates on September 23rd through Metropolis Records. Pre-orders are live now and can be perused and purchased when you head here or here. For the latest from Watts, follow the PIG socials by clicking here, here, or here.