Pigs of The Roman Empire is a four-piece from Melbourne that plays post-rock with influences from sludge rock. In fact, their name comes from an album by Melvins and dark ambient master Lustmord. Seasick is their debut EP, where the promises made in their first single, 8-minute long Hitchcock (2017), are now reality. Pigs of The Roman Empire had continued evolving with the singles Johnny The Boy released in March of 2018 and Every Bird in The Flock from September 2018, and finally in March 2020, they have published this 4-track EP that can be listened and bought here.
From Europe, we have an idealistic image of Australia, at least regarding rock. I guess that this image has been created by bands like The Saints, Radio Birdman, Beast of Bourbon, The Stems and the incredible Birthday Party, that have transmitted a sense of honesty and credibility in their music that even the existence of Savage Garden never managed to smear. And that’s one of the most significant aspects of the album: it sounds honest and credible, without the need of using easy hooks to catch your attention.
Seasick starts as dark as it’s possible with “Distressor”, a track that slowly gains more intensity and even a bit of light. We can feel the influence of sludge in the heavy and oppressed rhythm that dominates the song. In “Process” the martial rhythm of the drums together with the sounds of the guitars manage to hypnotize the listener luring him until the tremendous final climax. Also we would like to point out the quality of the lyrics with lines like “The lines on my hand Are a map of a broken heart”. “The Space Between All Things” is an instrumental that might remind us of nineties post-rock, again full of intensity. The album finishes with “Goat and Crab”, a track that starts as a passionate duet with Adele Yeoman and finishes, like the rest of the songs of the EP, with an electric storm.
