When they formed in 2012, Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs hardly imagined they’d make it all the way to album number five. For a while, it looked as though they wouldn’t make it out of the pub. Since that debut did come out, the psychedelic metal outfit have been on an extraordinary roll. 2017’s three-song monsterpiece Feed The Rats was followed promptly by the next year’s rollicking King Of Cowards. A smorgasbord of heavy styles, Viscerals maintained the momentum, in spite of its coinciding with the 2020 lockdown. Back on the road for 2023’s Land Of Sleeper, Pigs saw their audience grow and grow, with the territories they’re able to play expanding likewise.

Whereas Land Of Sleeper was conceived as an immersive headphones experience, this time around Pigs strove for something more directly hostile with 2025’s Death Hilarious. “We wanted it to be a slap in the face. There’s a lot of aggro in it. It’s very angular and direct.” That came, in part, from playing so many gigs over the last couple of years. The band felt well-oiled and ripe to give listeners at home the kind of pummelling their audiences receive.

Death Hilarious is a diversely punishing record which shapeshifts through Sabbathian doom, grotesquely minimalist noise rock and cyclical post-metal fortissimos. Pigs continue to push themselves, too. Incongruous synthesiser solos appear where guitar histrionics would usually fit. Piano tracks lurk in the mix, adding near-subliminal depth to the maelstrom. ‘Stitches’ is like Motörhead trying to perform glam rock with a tipsy keyboardist.

The record also contains the latest moment that’s caused the quintet to pinch themselves in disbelief: ‘Glib Tongued’ has guest bars by El-P from Run The Jewels. When they unwittingly wrote what they considered their equivalent of a hip-hop number, Pigs set their sights high and secured a blistering contribution from one of the world’s greatest rappers.

Death Hilarious: two singularly evocative words that don’t obviously belong together. This signifies the gravity of life as well as its inherent and undeniable absurdity. Pigs have always toyed with contradictions and juxtapositions in their art, so the title fits perfectly. They play dark, heavy and aggressive music, and they do it in an uplifting way, smiles beaming across their faces. They are seriously and sincerely committed, yet they remain forever and wisely grounded by the ridiculous band name they chose over a decade ago, possibly while more than a little half-cut, when they really should’ve been rehearsing.

“They embody the theatre, camp, and sheer fun of all the best heavy music” – Pitchfork

“Doom metal mavericks” – Uncut

“A taut, well-honed machine that doesn’t fuck around” – Loud & Quiet

Evoking the spirit and sound of space rock pioneers like Hawkwind , White Hills capture the expansive rock sound of the ’70s with their brand of trippy, synth-heavy rock & roll. Formed in New York City as the brainchild of singer and guitarist Dave W., the band also consisted of bassist Ego Sensation and drummer Lee Hinshaw; they got their first break when Julian Cope released their album They’ve Got Blood Like We’ve Got Blood on his own label in 2005. This kicked off a prolific string of releases, starting in 2007 with Abstractions & Mutations, released on Drug Space , and the self-released Glitter Glamour Atrocity (which was reissued by Thrill Jockey in 2014).

Keeping the albums coming, the band self-released Little Bliss Forever in 2009, as well as Dead and Heads on Fire, both released by Thrill Jockey . In 2010, the expansive trio hooked up with Manchester-based psychedelic drone collective Gnod for Gnod Drop Out with White Hills II. The collaborations continued with the self-titled White Hills, which featured fellow New Yorker and Oneida drummer Kid Million on drums. Keeping the Oneida connection strong, the band returned to its Ocropolis studio to work on their next album with Shahin Motia, resulting in 2011’s H-P1. Not wasting any time, the band went back into the studio later that year, bringing synth player (and Julian Cope drummer) Antronhy and touring drummer Nick Name into the studio with them to record the spacy and more refined Frying on This Rock, which was released in 2012.

A fair amount of touring and smaller releases filled 2012, with several live recordings and split releases leading up to 2013’s bludgeoning full-length So You Are…So You’ll Be. A startling change in direction marked 2015’s Walks for Motorists. Gone were the band’s guitar-heavy meltdowns, replaced by a far more groove-oriented set of songs, many lacking guitar altogether and focusing on burning, repetitive basslines or Krautrock-inspired synthesizer patterns. Following a few limited split releases and a short break in order to work on personal projects, White Hills returned in 2017 with the politically charged Stop Mute Defeat. This was followed in 2018 by Desire, a collaboration with Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand . ~ Gregory Heaney, Rovi