Poisoning

This debut CD by Bay Area bruisers Blessing the Hogs presents an unrelenting half-hour-plus of rage-fueled heaviness, crossing slow-motion death metal and caustic, thick-necked hardcore. Forgoing any stabs at artiness — unlike many other contemporary bands exploring similar turf — Blessing the Hogs are a less-clean-cut answer to the hardcore/metal hybrids being churned out by Hydra Head-related bands such as Isis or Knut, or maybe more accurately, to the less-clean-cut (and lesser-known) Hydra Head act Cattle Press. This album was produced by respected studio ace and non-founding Blessing the Hogs bandmember Billy Anderson (Melvins, Sleep, Neurosis, Eyehategod, etc.), and his contributions assure that this album is at least sonically impressive and quite heavy. On the other hand, Blessing the Hogs aren't swimming in completely uncharted waters here, and unfortunately they don't quite yet display the level of smarts (or at least, charisma) of the above-mentioned bands needed to make them stand out in this increasingly crowded field. This is certainly not a bad album, and is worth checking out by those who can't get enough sludge metal in their diets, but it's not must-have material either.