PIG IRON, Blues + Power = Destiny (2010, Sounds of Caligula)

The skull:
“Dude, that’s a badass tat! Mind if I take a picture? I want to use it for the cover of my band’s next album.” “Cool, dude! Hey, just come down to the shop where I got it. My bro Jimmy there has a book full of sweet-ass skull tattoo ideas, and that’s where I saw this. You can probably get a better picture from the book.” “Awesome, man, that’d rule!” “So, what is your band like?” “I think it’s pretty hard to categorize us, but some people have said we’re like Skynrd meets Sabbath.” “That sounds awesome! Do you play concerts around here?” “Yeah, man, we’ll be at the VFW this weekend for the whole-hog roast!” “Killer! I’ll try to check it out!” “Yeah, man, I think you’ll really dig it!”

The music:
This is only metal in the loosest sense, and in fact I’d probably just call it southern rock, but I guess there’s a kind of stoner, Sabbathy thing going on here (think Sabbath at their hippiest, though) and I guess that’s good enough. Good enough to get into the Skullection, that is. Not good enough to entertain me. I will grant that Pig Iron sound like they are doing their chosen style well, but that style doesn;t do much for me. I will say one thing: I’d rather listen to this than any of the bellbottom doom acts lighting candles on top of Orange amplifiers. As retro shit goes, that is the absolute worst. This is just the second worst.
— Friar Johnsen