Buckle up, dirtbags, because the saviours of sonic chaos are back, and they’ve brought the goddamn nitro-glycerine. Klept, Savannah’s finest export of unhinged alternative fury, has just dropped “Squealin’ Hog” on an unsuspecting world, and it’s fully realised, pissed off, and armed with a modular synth that sounds like the mothership of noise itself.
Let’s get the lay of the land. The core of this beautiful disaster is Ceron Thornton, who slings guitar, synth, and vomits up the vocals with a rage that feels more necessary than ever. Sterling Brown holds down the low end on bass and guitar, and even brings some horns into the mix, because why the hell not? Luke Rola is the absolute maniac on drums, octapad, and percussion, providing a tectonic-plate-shifting foundation. Carter Bridges tears it up on lead guitar and throws in some backing vocals for good measure. And the secret weapon? The new guy, Josh Martin, whose modular synthesizer is a game-changer, introducing textures of noise into the band’s already complex tapestry.
Recorded in a single, blistering week at Hidden Audio in Rincon, GA, with the engineer known only as Scary at the helm, “Squealin’ Hog” carries the torch of the great Steve Albini. From a band that’s been stewing for three years since their last outing, “Verbicide”, watching the world go to shit and taking every last bit of that despair and anger into these tracks.
Tracks like “Sitka” and “F1U883R_+AK3_ON3” are a daring plunge into the abyss. There isn’t a live instrument in sight on these, just layers of synthesized hellscape that would make Coil or Aphex Twin proud. It’s a brave, loud, and brilliant move that shows this band is not content to stay in one lane.
But what’s it all about? It’s about growing up in the South and seeing the ugly underbelly of racism, homophobia, and Islamophobia firsthand. It’s about looking at your own family and seeing them on the wrong side of history, and letting that fuel your fire. This album is a giant, screaming “FUCK YOU” to anyone who perpetuates that hate. They explicitly say it: if you’re a homophobe or a racist, their music is not for you. It stands against you. It’s a cry against the fascist crooks running the game, a soundtrack for the resistance.
“Black Angel Coded Doctrine” is a monstrous achievement, a track where searing guitars and alien synthesizers meet on a level playing field, both driving the song forward with equal ferocity. Imagine a church burning with its congregation inside, and the music matches that apocalyptic vision with a screaming, unhinged abandon. Then there’s “Big Green Tractor”, which is absolute satire. It takes aim at the abomination known as “Country Trap,” a corporate-manufactured genre that Klept rightly identifies as the death of humanity. They launch from an overtly satirical intro straight into a monstrous, underrated noise-rock riff for a generation sick of being fed corporate slop. It’s a track that also takes time to eviscerate a former landlord, painting him as a “proud boy” and hanging him high for all to see.
The recording process was as varied as the sounds. While most tracks were built from the ground up at Hidden Audio—drums first, overdubs last—a track like “F1U883R” was birthed entirely in the band’s home, and “Sitka” was a studio creation, using nine different guitar tracks processed through a tape machine to create a sonic world entirely its own.
As the band cryptically puts it, “Life was the cause, Squealin’ Hog was the result.” This is the sound of life in 2025—confusing, angry, and chaotic. Klept has made a record that’s fierce, and it’s essential for anyone who believes rock and roll should be dangerous again. Turn it up loud and let the hog squeal.