Matty Matheson is a fairly recognisable figure. You might know him as an actor on the cast of The Bear, or maybe as a YouTuber, or even as the guy who makes your favourite sauce. However, his links to hardcore are rather more tenuous in mainstream knowledge, so the news that he’s now fronting a hardcore band called Pig Pen who’ve released a record on the mighty Flatspot might come as something of a surprise – it might even feel like a practical joke, a bit of a gimmick. That feeling could last for as long as you want – provided you never put on the record.
Pressing play tells you one thing almost instantly: this ain’t no joke. Mental Madness is, in fact, anything but. The entire LP obeys conventional hardcore rules – that being, songs shouldn’t ever really be anything much more than two minutes long (with one notable exception), and the whole set of ten songs comes in at a solid 24 minutes. It also sits firmly within the realms of the influences they claim – 80s hardcore soul runs deep within this album, and the cover pays testament to that fact in how ‘of that time’ it feels. The guitar tones are thick and powerful, with a nasty edge to them, whilst the drums are powerful whilst not overpowering the rest of the band. Matheson’s voice is probably the most surprising part of all though, as he genuinely has an excellent voice for this brand of hardcore, conveying anger and energy and fiery power with relative ease.
“Anyway, leaving the illustrious members list there, the album is full of hardcore bangers. All three singles are, very predictably, excellent.”
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One of the best places to find this seemingly newfound abrasive aggression is on the very track named after the band, ‘Pig Pen’. At a minute and a half long, it wastes absolutely no time and has plenty of riffs, some two stepping time, a gnarly little breakdown, and bags of yelled vocals. Up until now, Pig Pen might have seemed to be a bit of a one-trick pony – they’ve got a famous actor, and he’s actually good at hardcore vocals. That’s not all though. These deliciously delightful riffs aren’t accidents. Joining Matty is Wade McNeil on guitar, of both Alexisonfire and Gallows fame – so there’s some pretty hefty pedigree behind the project all of a sudden, and it doesn’t stop there! Daniel Romano also steps in on guitar, as does Ian Romano on drums, and Tommy Major on bass – all from Daniel Romano’s Outfit, in case any more hype was necessary.
Anyway, leaving the illustrious members list there, the album is full of hardcore bangers. All three singles are, very predictably, excellent. Album opener ‘Rabid Beach’ is a ripper to get energy high from minute one, the album’s proto-title-track ‘Mental Mentality’ tears the place down, and ‘Venom Moon Rising’ brings in a slightly slower, more menacing feel that is as ominous as it is incredibly enjoyable. There’s one more track that’s most worth mentioning, and that would be the finale ‘XJXIXDX’. As was mentioned earlier, there was one notable exception to the two-minute rule, and it’s this. At over six minutes, it’s a veritable behemoth that’s comparable in length to the average track by Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath in their pomp. Admittedly, it’s not quite as operatic or doomy, and features a few less harmonised guitar solos, but it does have a ferocious vocalist screaming down your headphones, and bizarrely an instrument that sounds suspiciously like a wind chime? In terms of ways to finish up a hardcore album, it’s definitely unorthodox, but that seems about par for the course with a group like this, and is frankly still a great inclusion on the track list.
With that, Mental Madness finishes up. Whilst it’s definitely not modern, neither is it generic nor boring. There’s plenty of interesting musicality and ideas, plenty that is worth replaying, and plenty of fascinating titbits of information around the band and album too. It’s not quite a true, finely tuned masterpiece of 80s hardcore worship, but it is a great piece of music that doesn’t attempt to do things it can’t, and will leave a very pleasant taste in the mouth after spending any time with it. Pig Pen may not be a band that ends up touring much – if at all – but for what it’s worth, they’ve written an album that’s great fun to listen to, and is sure to bring a smile to your face.