ALBUM REVIEW: The Bleak Unrest – Pist
Emerging from the shadows of deepest darkest Manchester, and bringing with them an arsenal of crushing riffs, intoxicating grooves and gritty lyrics are PIST. Their sludgy brand of stoner metal is imbued with a savage barbarity that lives vicariously through the band’s pummelling drum beats and crushing riffs. Following on from their beastly sophomore album Hailz, The Bleak Unrest ups the ante and incorporates significantly more doom-infused grooves that have the strength to throw you around like a rag doll. PIST channel years of visceral anger, aggression and power to create an album packed to the brim with ferocious, gritty and grim riffs that fall on your skull like the industrial hammers in the former Victorian industries of the world’s first industrial city.
Ultimately The Bleak Unrest feels like a channelling of all the misery, toxicity and pain that has befallen humanity over the last few years. You can feel the immense frustration and intense anger within the lyrics; the sheer disgust at the internal and external torment we’ve all experienced is tangible with every word. It is completely understandable and something we can all relate to when everywhere you turn there seems to be something dark, catastrophic or generally despair-inducing from the second you wake up in the morning to the moment you go to sleep at night. PIST approach this with a no-holds-barred, raw aggression that you can vicariously vent through. It’s provocative, emotive and appeals to that inner primal urge to smash things. Backed up by grimy, grungy, groove-filled riffs, the album envelops you with its intense, raw and provocative emotion and it bludgeons you from start to finish.
One thing that stands out is that it sounds like PIST have been more inspired by the resurgent and brilliant UK hardcore and metallic hardcore scene alongside some blackened speed metal and POWER TRIP style thrash. With this in mind, the band sound fresh and reinvigorated; The Bleak Unrest does carry their usual hallmarks but the album sounds so much more excited, passionate and energetic compared to its predecessor Hailz. With notable features from Scotland’s blackened speed metal flagbearer HELLRIPPER’s James McBain on Their Voice Is Not Mine and REDEYE REVIVAL’s Joe Clements on Sharpen The Knife, it feels like the band have hit a sweet spot right at the crossroads between these genres.
With its unrelenting pace and power, PIST take you on a one way ride down to the blackest depths of bleakness and back. As a result The Bleak Unrest is rather aptly, quite a restless album. With dynamics that chop and change, you’re kept on you toes throughout while Dave Rowlands (vocals) and Mike Collins (bass, vocals) bark and snarl their lyrics, dispatching their message of bleakness and disillusionment with life with pure aggression.
The album opens up with Bleak and wastes no time in getting straight to the heart of the action. With a hardcore sounding riff and pummelling drums, The Bleak Unrest kicks off like a volcanic eruption. Life’s A Life sees PIST utilise their doom influences and bring in some more melodic aspects. By slowing the pace but still sounding heavy, there is plenty of space for the vocal melodies in the chorus to get stuck in your head. Death To All ramps up the energy again with a groove-laden riff accompanied by speed metal-esque leads which descend into chaotic thrashing which you will want to headbang to. Chorus Of Nothing at first sounds surprisingly atmospheric after the chaos of the previous track. Starting off eerily psychedelic and gradually building into some anthemic riffs, it’s one of those songs that you want to hear on your end of the world playlist as it feels like a spiritual experience as you fight for survival.
Sharpen The Knife brings back the frantic energy that you’ve heard previously throughout the album, yet sounds seemingly more unhinged. This could be Clements‘ thrash influence, but it leads in perfectly to Their Voice Is Not Mine which is all out caveman riffs (in the beginning), melodic leads and blackened speed metal madness. McBain and Rowlands’ performance together is the highlight of the album. Embrace The Grey wouldn’t sound out of place on an atmospheric black metal album; bleak and haunting, it definitely has a Scandinavian vibe to it. The album concludes with Until This World Has Fallen Apart which is a more sombre affair. It still contains plenty of riffs, but the band unleash their atmospheric side with gentle melodies that eventually burst into massive metal riffs.
PIST feel more alive than ever on The Bleak Unrest. It also feels like they have really begun to nail down their sound, which makes this album their strongest to date. This record is sure to satiate your metal appetites in one way or another.
Rating: 8/10
The Bleak Unrest is set for release on February 24th via self-release.
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