A decade of societal regression means we seek out cultural points of nostalgic inference. Just take a look at what has become popular, be it in video games, art, or film, in the last ten years. A return to The Matrix and Jurassic Park, the 2D-platformer rebirth with Shovel Knight and Castlevania, and an art style for albums like Mental Madness, which notes those classic tales of good against evil. Knights fighting death, the depth created with minimal tools. Mental Madness, the latest Pig Pen album, tries to apply that to the hardcore scene. Frontman Matty Matheson lives in service to his influences, and we are lucky that those topics which form Mental Madness are of interest. Deep cuts which would see others swerve away from their potential. Pig Pen are not offering a perfect run of potential, nostalgia-kindling songs, but are presenting a break from the norm.
Not every hardcore album has to be explosive from the first note. Mental Madness gives a listener time to prepare, the sort of brace you would expect ahead of throwing yourself around in a mosh pit. You have to be in the right mood for Pig Pen. It’s no good listening to it as you idly wander from room to room, coffee in hand, looking for some new distraction. Twenty-five minutes to lose yourself, and much of it is reliant on the segue from song to song. Holding that note for a moment longer and using it as the start of the next song is nothing new, but for Rabid Beach into Heat Wave it makes all the difference. Those touches of studio detail are a difference-maker for those heading into Mental Madness. It may not be the most significant hardcore album, but it’ll inspire an interest from those who hear this as one of their first listens.
That overlap for the first two songs is exceptional, even if the lyrics and the volatile momentum are erratic at best. Part of the fun is that messy feeling. Mental Madness is just as reliant on the explosive energy as it is on the flickers of brilliance in the studio. Often, it’s one or the other, but there are those rare moments where the two pieces meet. Mental Madness, most of all, is an amalgamation of comfortable memories made to sound menacing. It works. Pig Pen are a competent hardcore band with plenty of rage in their system. How much of it is genuine, how much of it performative, that is up to the listener. Some will connect with these thrill-seeking moments of quality guitar work, others will be unconvinced by the punchy vocal work. Problem Mind is a solid litmus test for whether the Matheson-led band works for you.
Neat work all around, though it’s a struggle to pick out different moments in a sea of similar sounds. Album closer XJXIXDX at least stands out. A very different tone, a six-minute powerhouse which builds and builds, the heavy percussion as menacing as ever, but some deeper layers are found within. Guitar work which does not just land on excessive thrill-seeking but stylish growth. It’s a difference-maker, though it comes far too late to leave much of a mark on Mental Madness. It’ll have a stronger effect on the listener than the album, but at least it will have some impact. XJXIXDX is a unique moment on an otherwise solid but safe piece of hardcore work. Solid stuff, and short enough to warrant a listen even if it’s not your usual choice.
