It’s October, a month whose suitability for seasonal comments is eclipsed only, perhaps, by December. Pumpkins and their spiced lattes, sweaters, lawn decorations, and costumes provide a nearly bottomless well of small talk from sea to shining sea. Searching for a timely promo to review as a chill worms its way into the air and the leaves blaze in the weeks before death, I stumbled across Los Angeles-based trio Pegzilla and their debut LP, Disobedience. This follows an EP in 2022 and a slew of singles in the intervening years. If the promise of witchy stoner rock and riot grrrl energy didn’t sell me, reading their Spotify bio did.1 Will Disobedience be the album of this year’s all-too-short spooky season?
After nostalgic intro, “Pay the Toll,” Pegzilla pop the clutch and burn rubber on first proper track “Troll on Speed.” With a lip-snarling opening riff, hopes are set quite high. If Joan Jett joined Queens of the Stone Age, you’d get something very like Pegzilla. Vocalist/guitarist Olivia Saperstein rips riffs fit for both endless road trips (“Troll on Speed,” “Bootlicker”) and western shootouts (“Virginia Werewolf”) while her crooning vocals tempt and coax you past the underlying danger that suffuses all of Disobedience. Far from a simple bass walker, Juan Barsse drives the crime noir atmosphere of “Pistola” and the aquatic psychedelics of penultimate track “Hell Ya Brother.” Together, Saperstein and Barsse brew a delightful, soulful groove, best heard on “Troll on Speed” and “Pistola.” Of course, were it not for drummer Ryan Swain muscular fills and impressive pacing, much of Pegzilla’s weight and intensity would evaporate like an early fall morning fog.
Each member of Pegzilla plays well, and each section of each song lands anywhere from fine to very good in a vacuum, but on the track level and as a whole, Disobedience struggles for cohesion. The album often feels like a puzzle with nice pieces that’s put together in the most flabbergasting way possible. With the exception of “Chelsea,” every track on Disobedience abruptly shifts from fast to slow and back again with little to no warning. It’s a lot like riding shotgun with someone who hasn’t driven a manual in a decade. That riffs or passages struggle to relate to each other tonally or in pacing further hampers Disobedience’s ability to build momentum and inertia, making this 29-minute album feel much longer. This is exacerbated by a couple of tracks that overstay their welcome (“Pistola,” “Virginia Werewolf”) and a baffling outro track (“Troll Reprise”). Instrumental “Hell Ya Brother” isn’t the strongest album closer, but “Troll Reprise” feels like a directionless add-on that’s only made me think, “hey, remember 27 minutes ago when you had high hopes for this album?”
For all this criticism though, I still think Pegzilla shows a lot of promise. While the chorus on “Chelsea” is pretty clunky, the song keeps on the gas all the way through, and the bridge after has a great Nirvanan flair to it. Saperstein’s solo work on “Troll on Speed,” “Pistola,” and “Virginia Werewolf” are all great, and “Bootlicker” is probably the album high point with its punky riot grrrl bent that wouldn’t be out of place in Joan Jett’s more aggressive work. We don’t hear Swain really let loose until it’s almost too late, but his kit work on “Hell Ya Brother” is nothing short of stellar. And while the faster instrumental section of “Pistola” loses its novelty when it’s repeated a minute later, it’s got some kick and launches well out of the track’s noir-tinged beginnings.
The score below may be a little misleading. As a whole, so many of Pegzilla’s decisions, from a compositional or flow-minded perspective, leave me scratching my head. The majority of the tracks on Disobedience lack a cohesive identity, leaving them to feel haphazardly or hastily glued together. But all throughout Disobedience, I see the flashes of a very good record. Pegzilla’s got the ingredients to a winning formula, and even though they didn’t come together right on Disobedience, I’ll be keeping an eye out for the sophomore effort.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: PCM
Label: Ripple Music
Websites: Official | Bandcamp | Instagram
Releases Worldwide: October 2nd, 2026
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