US/Italian occult doom rockers SALTPIG premiere self-titled debut album in full; out tomorrow on Heavy Psych Sounds Records.
Transatlantic doom rock duo SALTPIG — formed by former Annihilator drummer Fabio Alessandrini and NYC multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mitch Davis — premiere their occult-driven and intoxicating self-titled debut album ahead of its official world release on Heavy Psych Sounds this Friday 31st May.
Stream Saltpig’s debut album at this location
+ watch the “Burn The Witch” / “Satan’s War” / “Burning Water” videos
“Saltpig has a verve that is simply unstoppable, with an underlying rush of adrenaline, grungy angst, and a dizzying mix of stoner, psych, and garage influences.” – Doomed & Stoned
“Rooted in low-fidelity, garage-brewed stoner rock and proto-metal, Saltpig’s debut self-titled album explores B-movie style occult horror through catchy hooks and crackling fuzz.” – Invisible Oranges
“Saltpig modernizes classic charge and swing in increasingly doomed fashion.” – The Obelisk
Formed by former Annihilator drummer Fabio Alessandrini and NYC multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mitch Davis (known for his work with L.A. Guns, Damon Albarn, U2, Mark Lanegan or Billy Squier), the American/Italian duo makes the evergreen satanic imagery of Mercyful Fate and Black Sabbath their own by conjuring up a delightfully gritty, devastatingly noisy and unfailingly satisfying 6-tracker that should win over fans of evil downtuned grooves à la Salem’s Pot and Church of Misery. “It’s melodic but embraces dissonance. Underproduced and real. Recorded onto analogue tape and pushing the levels with a “distortion is never bad” ethos“, says Davis.
SALTPIG – Debut album “Saltpig”
Out May 31st on Heavy Psych Sounds
SALTPIG is a bit of a mystery. The band just showed up seemingly out of nowhere, album in hand, with the music loudly speaking for itself. As it soon became known, Saltpig is a two-person band with Fabio Alessandrini (former Annihilator) on drums and Mitch Davis handling vocals, guitar and all of the other layers of noise that can be heard on the record. The music that came out of this pairing has elements of doom/stoner/psych/occult metal and others, but they didn’t go into it with anything that specific in mind. They just make the music they want to hear.
With SALTPIG’s debut album, Mitch Davis takes a dark journey into occult themes and horrific storylines dancing around melodic yet dissonant layers of noisy guitars, overdriven bass and floating drums. The album forgoes the expected fuzz sounds for a palette of tones that largely disregards genre for SALTPIG to build songs that are simply evil and completely human. It’s fully embracing a love of distortion and feedback in all forms while pushing tape to its breaking point. The band plays with different tempos and tunings as a way mostly to keep things interesting for themselves, creating what feels akin to a greatest hits album where the songs take on different personalities but feel completely like SALTPIG songs at the same time. They find influences from early Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate and Black Sabbath at a time when metal was still finding its way.
Rewind to an era before metal began its evolution towards greater precision, bigger drums and more robust production, then imagine that evolution taking a different turn. Producer, guitarist and frontman Mitch Davis tries to put himself in that place where metal might be today if things had gone in a different direction. It’s neither nostalgic for the way music used to be, nor is it trying to follow any trends of today. It’s more of a “make the music we want to hear” than a purposeful innovation. While familiar, it doesn’t quite fit neatly into an existing metal sub-genre. The idea was always “don’t try to be like other bands, but don’t be different just for the sake of being different”. The result is an album that means a lot of different things to different people. But to SALTPIG, they are just making music.
SALTPIG is
Mitch Davis – vocals, guitar, noises
Fabio Alessandrini – drums
SALTPIG links
Website⎜Facebook⎜Bandcamp⎜Instagram⎜Spotify
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS links
Website⎜Facebook⎜Bandcamp⎜Instagram⎜Youtube
