Pig - The Gospel (2016)

Raymond Watts, who performs under the name Pig, was one of the founding members of the performance art ensemble originally known as Kein Mehrheit für die Mitleid, which would only later develop a more musical focus and become known as KMFDM. He left that band in its early stages and, as Pig, released a number of albums, the first few on the Wax Trax! label, including the 1988 single "Never for Fun" and his debut LP, A Poke in the Eye...with a Sharp Stick, which also came out in 1988. The early albums represented the influences that he was under while living in Germany and doing work for bands like Einstürzende Neubauten. He would soon form a relationship with an A&R man at Alfa Entertainment, which released his albums The Swining and Red Raw & Sore. When Watts' A&R contact moved to Victor, Watts followed and issued several albums through them, including the 1995 full-length Sinsation. The music featured on Watts' albums has evolved over the years to become increasingly complex, incorporating German, British, and Japanese pop music elements and a variety of electronic idioms. His albums often incorporate three or four styles within the context of each song, alternating with works that are much more straightforward and listenable. In 1999, Cleopatra Records re-released the two Alfa albums, The Swining and Red Raw & Sore, as a single volume, resurrecting one of the strongest periods in his career. No One Gets Out of Her Alive followed in 2000. He also returned to KMFDM to play a supporting role on their Beat by Beat tour and help them record their seventh album, Nihil. ~ Stacia Proefrock.