“Inhuman. Merciless. Uncompromising.” adorns the album’s sticker and is entirely on target. Billy pulls double duty on this record (triple, really) -- he produced it in addition to playing guitar and doing vocals. His vision is thus unfettered and once unleashed upon an unsuspecting populace, the results are quite dangerous. The album is equal parts Sludge and Hardcore with a bit of a Thrash vibe. The music is tremendously heavy, the vocals harsh and hoarsely barked, and the production dense and viscous.

The primary drawback to this album is its length. With 11 original tunes and a pair of covers featuring Coalesce’s Sean Ingram on vocals, this record seems to be a bit long in the tooth. As such, it loses a bit -- just a li’l bit -- of strength and power, though not intensity. “The Twelve Gauge Solution” is, in a word, anguished. Like if Neurosis never found that mellow aspect of their music or if Today is the Day slowed down for an hour.

In summary, this whole damned thing is huge and dirty by design. Mallcore kids will run to their mothers in droves if in the path of this sonic destruction. “Thank fuckin’ God” to quote Philip H. Anselmo. Speakin’ of that man, if you like Superjoint Ritual, you will most likely enjoy this. If you think SJR is altogether too mainstream, you have issues but will definitely like this. In fact, Eyehategod and Soilent Green could tour through eternity with Blessing the Hogs. No one would be left alive but would it matter?

written by Tony Belcher

Playing time: 56.30