Labels: Brown Records – Profiteer
Review by: Alex Hannan
After a demo tape that ended up pressed to vinyl, here’s the first dedicated record from Finns PIGEON HUNT. The monochromatic, moody, modern-hardcore sleeve of that previous 10″ clearly contained music with weirder tendencies, frantic and hyperactive, but due to an insistence on mystery – no credits, lyrics or even song titles – it felt as though we were only getting half the story of what they were about. This time round the artwork has a technicolour vom aesthetic (reminiscent of MEN’S RECOVERY PROJECT and in fact part-designed by Sam McPheeters) which accents the surrealism in PIGEON HUNT’s crazed switchback blurts. The patches of conventional hardcore DNA in their tunes have atrophied, with a greater emphasis instead on foot-tangling time signature collisions. They combine lots of tiny clumps of obstinate repetition into a framework of incessant change.
And this time we have lyrics, too – possibly written with a set of sexy Satanist fridge magnets. “Through the plagued skulls / Pink nails scratching lubricated asses / homophobic priests sucking dicks like drinking holy wine” runs one screed, “faces burning by watching rats eyes penetrating / TV orgasm and sex in leather. / Horny eunuch with a sloppy dick” another. Matching these up to the six Roman-numeral’d songs on the sleeve has been tricky.
The musicianship is tight, every twist well-executed. My favourite moments are those when they take their feet off the gas a little and play with texture, like at the end of ‘XI’ or the last section of ‘XIV’ – showing that they can execute eerie breakdowns as well as punishing the listener with calculated disorientation. ‘XIII’ shows that they haven’t forgotten how to write a straightforward 4/4 punchy number, and I do enjoy the hints of mid-90s hardcore, like a rabid HAIL MARY, that flash past elsewhere. PIGEON HUNT manage to make this short, complex blast an engaging listen, the raw energy keeping it from tipping over too much into zaniness for its own sake. I’d personally prefer to hear them pursue the mid-paced areas they touch on here, but I’m sure fans of techy hardcore or screamo will be into this on its own terms.