| Pigs of The Roman Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Split album by Melvins Lustmord | ||
| Released | August 23 2004 | |
| Recorded | 2004 at Hook Studios in California | |
| Genre | Sludge Metal, Dark Ambient, Experimental | |
| Length | 60:00 | |
| Label | Ipecac | |
| Producer | Melvins, Lustmord | |
| Melvins chronology | ||
| Neither Here Nor There (2004) |
Pigs of The Roman Empire (2004) |
Never Breathe What You Can't See (2004) |
| Lustmord chronology | ||
| Carbon/Core (2004) |
Pigs of The Roman Empire (2004) |
Lustmord Rising (2006) |
Pigs of The Roman Empire (Also abbreviated as POTRE) is a collaborative album by the American alternative metal group Melvins and the Welsh electronic musician Lustmord. Recorded in 2004, it would be released that same year through Ipecac Recordings. Along with this collaborative quartet, Adam Jones (Tool) and David Scott Stone (LCD Soundsystem) also contribute to the record as guests. It would notably be one of the last albums to feature longtime bassist Kevin Rutmanis. The band notably recorded this album at the same time as their collaboration with Jello Biafra (2004's Never Breathe What You Can't See, mostly in the early hours before Biafra would arrive.
The CD edition only lists the first eight tracks, the hidden ninth track includes two songs separated by a bit of silence.[1] A double LP edition was released by Alternative Tentacles which lists the ninth track as "??" and also includes the original mix of "Safety Third" as an unlisted bonus.[2]
Pigs of The Roman Empire would attain positive reception from several publications, both at the time[3][4] and in retrospect.[5][6]
While each performer within this project is credited with their respective instruments, it's kept ambiguous as to who exactly played what in each track. Buzz Osborne stated as such in an interview with Kerrang!, stating that some portions of the album are just Lustmord and some portions are just Melvins. In this same interview with Kerrang! in 2008, along with a 2019 interview with Louder Sound, Osborne would cite Pigs as one of his favorite works:
| “ | "I'd always liked what Lustmord did and I thought that doing a record with him would be a really good thing to do. A far as it being a collaboration, there are things on that record that are strictly 'us' and strictly 'him' but we never said which was which because we didn't want people to have any preconceived ideas. For example, [with the title track] we gave him 11 minutes of music and he came back with 22, which was exactly what we wanted him to do. But some parts are just me and Dale nearing the end of our tether with Kevin [Rutmanis, Melvins bassist who left the band soon after] and there are things that critics blamed Lustmord for when he's not even on the track! If I had to say 'buy these 5 records', then this would be one of them." | ” |
— Buzz Osborne, Kerrang! [7]
|
| “ | "Next I’d have to say Pigs of the Roman Empire, which is the record we did with Lustmord. I like that one a great deal. We’d never done anything like that before and it’s a true collaboration, meaning that we never jammed with him. He would give us stuff and we would give him stuff, and some stuff on that record is just us and some stuff is just him. We’d also mess with some of his stuff and he’d mess with some of ours, but we were never actually in the same room together and we never made music directly together, so it’s a real collaborative effort in that sense. He’d never worked with guitars before either, which was cool, and I think he did a great job. I’d love to do a live show with him at some point; maybe one day that will happen. I will say that the record wasn’t met with a lot of enthusiasm when it came out, which was kind of a head scratcher for me, but to this day I can listen to it and I still think it’s a really great record." | ” |
— Buzz Osborne, Louder Sound [8]
|
Tracklist[]
All songs written by Buzz Osborne and Brian Lustmord.
CD Version[]
- 1. III (3:00)
- 2. The Bloated Pope (3:45)
- 3. Toadi Acceleratio (3:25)
- 4. Pigs Of The Roman Empire (22:29)
- 5. Pink Bat (6:32)
- 6. Zzzz Best (1:59)
- 7. Safety Third (6:11)
- 8. Idolatrous Apostate (6:46)
- 9. Untitled (5:47)
Vinyl Version[]
- A1. III (3:00)
- A2. The Bloated Pope (3:45)
- A3. Toadi Acceleratio (3:25)
- B1. Pigs Of The Roman Empire (22:29)
- C1. Pink Bat (6:32)
- C2. Zzzz Best (1:59)
- C3. Safety Third (6:11)
- D1. Idolatrous Apostate (6:46)
- D2. ?? (2:15)
- D3. Untitled (1:10)
- D4. Safety Third (3:25)
Personnel[]
Melvins[]
- Buzz Osborne - Guitar, Bass, Electronics, Vocals
- Dale Crover - Drums, Percussion
- Kevin Rutmanis - Bass, Slide Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Electronics
- B. Lustmord - Sound Designer, Programming, Producer
- Adam Jones - Guitar
- David Scott Stone - Additional Electronics, Keyboards
Technical Personnel[]
- Toshi Kasai - Engineer
- John Golden - Mastering
- Mackie Osborne - Art Direction, Design
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Discogs
- ↑ Discogs
- ↑ AllMusic
- ↑ Ox Fanzine
- ↑ No Opinions Here
- ↑ Swordfish Blog
- ↑ [Kerrang! Magazine, issue #1214, June 14, 2008.]Treasure Chest. An Intimate Portrait of a Life in Rock. King Buzzo. P.60, accessed 18 November 2021
- ↑ Louder SoundWe got Melvins’ Buzz Osbourne to pick the 9 greatest Melvins albums, accessed 18 November 2021