And so in the blink of an eye, 2020 speedily crests the brow of December Hill and gambles it’s way, down into the inky green of the sea, to finally lay itself to rest in its own premediated, watery grave. I’d like to bid it a fond farewell and wish it well, but I won’t because 2020 has been a shitshow of gargantuan proportions for everyone. Not only has it seen Covid 19 racing around the world like a thrice stabbed, recently widowed tiger on a personal crusade to avenge the killing of said wife and children by fat, middle class ‘hunters’ but, less importantly, one of Covid’s stinky accoutrements has been the total absence of live music in any shape way or form. (not including any of the risible and frankly dangerous attempts at impromptu herd immunisation of the feckless and stupid at maskless events that hoisted those stupid enough to attend on their own petards). In fact as I type these words, it marks the one year anniversary of my last gig which was attending an Indie 80’s love in in the company of The Wonderstuff at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire…..yes I know, there goes all of my metal credibility flying out of the window.

Still, live music is live music, and having been starved of that particular elixir, I found solace in what has been a bountiful year for new album releases. Obeying the gargled, violence promising threats from the keeper of the Ave Noctum dungeon’s and coming up with a top 20 of releases for 2020, proved a difficult task indeed, given the sheer depth of quality albums and Eps unleashed upon the world this year. So, not withstanding another long and rambling introduction masquerading as a review, this brings us to the latest effort from Boston, Massachusetts’s technical death metal exponents Pillory.

I will admit, that whilst I had heard the name, I wasn’t that familiar with Pillory as a band, and as such, took myself off into their world, to endure (negative klaxon alert!) a deep dive into their confusing (there’s that klaxon again) world. I’ll preface a lot of what is to come, by saying that the playing on here is exemplary, tight and technically proficient on this their new album but also true of their last two albums that bookended a lengthy period of non-activity. Peddling an amalgam of death and technical metal with a spine of metalcore riveted together with hues of black metal in the operatic, keyboard driven, double bass segments, it’s as though Cynic have fucked The Dillinger Escape Plan, whilst given twin hand jobs to Animals As Leaders and Psyopus. And here lies the problem. I am no prude when it comes to the mixing of styles, many of my favourite bands often purloin and/or abstract from the great and good of various bands/genres, to create themselves a Frankenstein’s monster that often results in a genre defining work or, on the other side of the equation, a right old dog’s dinner.

Time, unfortunately, to roll out the bowl Fido, because despite moments of greatness here (the vocals themselves are hewn from Satan’s own brand of anal tickling trickery, oozing a potent blend of death and grind that really deserves to be placed alongside music that befits such evil), Pillory seem so intent on showing off their pearls, and by that I mean bearing their technical teeth and haphazard musical arrangements. In their eagerness to impress, they forget to create a semblance of song structures and so much on display here, will leave your head spinning (not in a ‘Wow that’s one of the best things I have ever seen/heard’ way but ‘Blimey I really shouldn’t have had that ninth pint on an empty stomach and I am now going to decorate my carpet with a Fosters flavoured bile soup’ kind of way).

Pillory, think they are being clever but what Pillory have done here, is simply annoy me. Now as mentioned, I am not a luddite, stuck in way, antiquated old duffer that favours four chords and the truth kind of guy, I like my music complex, dense and inaccessible until a tenth listen, but I can tell , that upon my third and fourth listen to this, that this isn’t for me. It may be for you. You may like chaotic, musical wank offs and masturbatory guitars, served on a bed of overly complex time signatures that often have no place being in the same postcode, but I do not. Shame then, that my last wittering’s of 2020 are to describe my feelings on an album that leaves me cold, uninterested, and annoyed. Not sure that was the general mood that Pillory were aiming for during the writing and recording of this album but, as with anything, opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one. Happy New Year…

(4/10 Nick Griffiths)

https://www.facebook.com/PilloryGrind

https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/scourge-upon-humanity