The Octagonal Stairway - EP

The follow-up to Pig Destroyer’s 2018 album Head Cage is an EP comprising three songs not previously available on streaming platforms and three noise-inspired tracks. On The Octagonal Stairway, the Virginia-based grinders compile limited-release skull-smashers from the Decibel magazine flexi series (“The Cavalry”) and the Adult Swim singles series (“Cameraman”, the title track) with noise-based compositions like “Sound Walker”, which is an 11-minute cut-up/remix assembled by former Sepultura drummer Iggor Cavalera. For Pig Destroyer frontman J.R. Hayes, it’s all about the physical release. “I was lobbying for octagonal-shaped vinyl, but nobody listens to me,” he tells Apple Music. “But I’m just happy that these songs have a home now and people can enjoy them all in one place.” Below, Hayes gives us a look down The Octagonal Stairway. The Octagonal Stairway “The title is from one of the oldest buildings in D.C., called the Octagon House. The building isn't actually an octagon or anything, but that's the name of it. During the War of 1812, the British burned everything in D.C.—including the White House—but not the Octagon because that’s where the French ambassador was staying. So it’s really old and there’s a bunch of weird ghost stories attached to it. One of the people who lived there allegedly shoved a couple of his daughters down the stairway and killed them, under real mysterious and creepy circumstances.” The Cavalry “Decibel magazine was trying to get us to do a flexi for a while, and Scott [Hull, guitarist/producer] had the idea of us doing an old-school Napalm Death/Terrorizer type of classic grind song. I tried to spice it up and do my version of Barney Greenway political lyrics. I actually had the lyrics back when we did the Head Cage album, but I didn’t have a song that they fit at the time. And then I think Scott even edited in an old scream from one of the Prowler [in the Yard] songs as an Easter egg at the beginning.” Cameraman “This is another one