Scott Hull probably ranks as the single best grindcore songsmith active right now. Pig Destroyer's trademark heavy and overblown sound feels seamless and coherent. Despite being culled from disparate sources, the production remains largely uniform. Even with all that, 38 Counts of Battery still comes in at a hair under 40 minutes ( a tad long maybe), which keeps everything listenably concise.
When you tack on an extra 20 songs corralled from the band's various splits and demos it still feels seamless and coherent. That's largely because the first 18 of the eponymous 38 tracks come from Pig Destroyer's debut album Explosion in Ward 6. Pig Destroyer achieved the nigh-unthinkable on early career compilation 38 Counts of Battery: it's a discography record that easily stands on its own as a contained album experience.