Merzbow - Yoshinotsune

FLuViRuS, Nov 19, 2007

Merzbows fascination with birds of all species continue on this triumphant release packed with surprises. Track 1 wracks up a storm of steady 4/4 drumbeats like you never heard from Merzbow before, only to sound gradually more like tribal beats, a return to chest-thumping wild ancestry. The environment gradually turns acrid as electronics (which occasionally mimick over-processed whines or calls of animals) turn harsher with each elapsing minute. The 25-minute epic will have you palpitating to its intoxicating mixture of rhythm and noise, right to the very end.

Track 3 is the other stand-out. Again, processed birdcalls are given a run, but this time, as a backdrop. What then sounds like innocent radio station surfing - with its intermittent white/filtered noise zooming in and out of focus against the backdrop of birdcalls - suddenly gets tuned (and locked) into a netherworld of chaos and annihilation: the careless is swamped with a cacophony of noise and unearthly moans; intermittent bleeping evoke the deathly pulse of a life-supporting machine; and oddly-rhythmic thuds underscore the scene like a horror film unfolding.

Brace your ears, and let your imagination work in tandem with Merzbows method to madness.

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