I got a tin of greedy words
I bought from the holy sea
The chemical burns inside my hope
Like the dog I feed
Industrial icon and alternative music maverick Raymond Watts, a.k.a. PIG, delivers his debaucherous Feast of Agony EP via Metropolis Records alongside the new video for the lead single, Fallout. This EP arrives on the trail of the remastered reissue of PIG’s landmark 1995 Sinsation and his latest studio album Red Room, released earlier this year via Metropolis Records.
Feast of Agony grinds grief through the gears of hope, a crushing clash of anger and redemption. Watts stokes the flames with his sordid swagger, turning rage into rhythm, urging you to follow the pulse of pain toward some fleeting relief. In these sinister sermons from the Lord of Lard, he gives voice to the voiceless and shines a harsh light on hollow truths, pulling you into his brutal and biting world.
The EP opens with the colossal Heroin for the Damned, roaring like a beast clawing its way out of a grave, trying to drown the pain of reality in a toxic cocktail of depravity. Co-written with Jim Davies (Pitchshifter), whose searing guitar riffs powered many of The Prodigy’s hits, the track is a relentless, scorching assault. The remaining songs are less of a remedy and more like a whispered invitation to the wastelands of despair, offering fleeting glimpses of truth from a mirage on the horizon. They pull you in, only to leave you stranded in the harsh light of disillusionment.
Fallout shifts gears into industrial glam, showcasing Watts’ porcine Bowie swagger, unleashing a bombastic and baroque genre-bending tune that drips with disillusionment and rebellion, a tale of recklessness wrapped in regret. The narrator, deadpan and defiant, finds twisted pleasure in playing the fool, blaming everyone else while clutching a gun in one hand and apathy in the other. Danger hangs in the air like smoke, hope flickers like a dying match, and inner demons dance to the beat of self-destruction. It’s a hard-boiled spiral of bad choices and bitter consequences, where falling apart feels like the only way to start again. The cycle is relentless—each new beginning bruised by the fallout of what came before.
Watch the video for “Fallout” below:
The EP continues its surreal journey with The Comedown, a subterranean dive into a fevered landscape of Tom Waits, Scott Walker, and an especially Bowie-like madness. It’s a dark, avant-garde dream where gritty vocals echo through shadowy corridors, evoking a sense of disorientation and eerie wonder. The track exudes a brooding atmosphere, swirling with an undercurrent of tension that draws the listener deeper into a surreal world of fragmented thoughts and twisted soundscapes. It features a shanty-like line, like that sung by sailors lost at sea, with the refrain “hey hey, away we go, the boys in the barracks know,” which lingers like a ghostly echo. This descent into sonic madness gives way to the industrial funk of Hand of Mercy (Make the Cut), where razor-sharp grooves and mechanized beats slither alongside a pounding, relentless rhythm.
The EP’s penultimate track, The Ratchet Effect, circles back to the avant-garde with a buoyant, industrial-glam twist. It’s a progressive mutation of art-rock, cabaret, and lounge, with its melodic complexity and serpentine style balanced slither around mid-90s industrial experimentation and subtle traces of trip-hop. The EP culminates with Baptise, Bless & Bleed (Red Line Remix by Jim Davies), a soulful, more refined version of the song from 2022.
Raymonds Watts. Photo by Pig Photo by E Gabriel Edvy
Raymond Watts has enjoyed a stellar career since starting out as a pioneering member of the mid-1980s industrial rock scene. In addition to releasing fourteen albums as PIG, he has toured with former bandmates KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, and Einstürzende Neubauten, written music for fashion and film (for Chloe, Marios Schwab, Halston, and The Row), created exhibition sound design for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and collaborated with the late fashion icon Alexander McQueen.
Watts will continue his oration against hopelessness, hypocrisy, and the ever-creeping tide of despair on PIG’s Heroin For The Damned Tour across North America, kicking off on September 28. Joined by Curse Mackey and Unitcode: Machine, this 40-date itinerary follows PIG’s headlining set at Cold Waves XII in Chicago.
The Feast of Agony EP is available on September 27th. Listen below and order here.
**The vinyl edition of Feast of Agony is only available on the tour.
On September 28th, PIG launches his Heroin For The Damned tourwith openers Curse Mackey, Stoneburner, and Unicode: Machine. The 40-date itinerary follows PIG’s headlining set at Cold Waves XII in Chicago.
You can purchase tickets here.
Tour Dates:
9/28/24: Chicago, IL, @ Metro
9/29/24: Minneapolis, MN @ Cabooze *
9/30/24: Des Moines, IA @ Lefty’s Live Music *
10/2/24: Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Arcade *
10/3/24: Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel *
10/4/24: Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck *
10/5/24: Denver, CO Kulture Music Hall *
10/6/24: SLC, UT @ Quarters *
10/7/24: Boise, ID @ Visual Arts Collective *
10/9/24: Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s *
10/10/24: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon ^^
10/13/24: Portland, OR @ Dante’s ^^
10/15/24: Sacramento, CA @ Starlit Room ^^
10/16/24: SF, CA @ DNA ^^
10/17/24: San Diego, CA @ Whistle Stop ^^
10/18/24: Las Vegas, NV @ Sinwave ^^
10/19/24: Los Angeles, CA @ Catch One ^^
10/20/24: Scottsdale, AZ @ Pub Rock ^^
10/21/24: Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad ^^
10/23/24: OK City @ Beer City ^^
10/24/24: Dallas, TX @ Three Links ^^
10/25/24 – Houston, TX @ Secret Group *
10/26/24: Austin, TX @ Elysium *
10/27/24: New Orleans, LA @ Santos *
10/29/24: Pensacola, FL @ Handlebar *
10/30/24: Orlando, FL @ Handlebar *
11/1/24: West Palm Beach, FL @ Respectable Street *
11/2/24: Jacksonville, FL @ Underbelly *
11/3/24: Greenville, SC @ Radio Room *
11/5/24: Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar *
11/6/24: Richmond, VA @ Fallout # *
11/7/24: Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery # *
11/8/24: New York, NY @ STIMULATE ME (Bowery Electric) #
11/9/24 – Wilmington, DE @ Bar 13 # *
11/10/24: Millersville, PA @ Phantom Power # *
11/12/24: Cambridge, MA @ Middle East # *
11/13/24: Quebec City, QC @ L’Anti Bar & Spectacles # *
11/14/24: Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Foufs # *
11/15/24: Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace # *
11/16/24: Detroit, MI @ Smalls # *
11/17/24: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern # *
* dates with Unitcode : Machine
^^ dates with Curse Mackey and Unitcode : Machine
# dates with Stoneburner
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