Pig Destroyer

Pig Destroyer

Pig Destroyer is a grindcore group from Alexandria, United States, active since 1997. The line-up includes J.R. Hayes, Scott Hull, Brian Harvey, Blake Harrison, Adam Jarvis, John Jarvis and Travis Stone, with Alex Cha also listed among the group’s members. The band is known for its stripped-down studio sound and does not use bass guitar on its studio albums.

Formation and line-up changes

The group forms in 1997 with vocalist J.R. Hayes, who previously sings in Enemy Soil, guitarist Scott Hull, whose other projects include Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Anal Cunt and Japanese Torture Comedy Hour, and drummer John Evans. Evans is replaced by Brian Harvey in 1998. Blake Harrison joins in late 2006, adding noise and samples, and Harvey is later replaced by Adam Jarvis in 2011. John Jarvis, Adam Jarvis’s cousin, joins in late 2013 as the band’s bassist.

Name, image and early identity

In its earlier, more politically focused period, the band first considers names that directly reference police and authority, before settling on Pig Destroyer, with “pig” used as slang for police. The group’s logo is assembled from the emblem of the magazine Answer Me!, rearranged into a new design.

Releases and catalogue

Pig Destroyer signs to Relapse and releases a split single with Isis as part of the label’s Singles Series. On that release, the band covers the Carcass songs “Genital Grinder” and “Regurgitation of Giblets”. Its early catalogue includes the 1997 demo, the Orchid split, Explosions In Ward 6 in 1998, the Gnob split in 1999, the Isis split and 38 Counts of Battery in 2000, and Prowler In The Yard in 2001. Later releases include the Benümb split in 2002, Terrifyer in 2004, Painter of Dead Girls in 2004, the Coldworker and Antigama split in 2007, the Natasha EP in 2008, Book Burner in 2012 and Head Cage in 2018.

Notable albums

38 Counts of Battery is a compilation that gathers the band’s material up to that point, including remastered tracks from Explosions In Ward 6, the demo and the tracks from the Isis split. Terrifyer, the band’s third full-length release, includes a 30-minute DVD track titled “Natasha”. Phantom Limb, released in 2007, receives strong critical praise.