That second disc that appeared with the skull-shredding collaboration between Baltimore grindbeasts Full Of Hell and Japanese noise legend Merzbow has finally made its way to vinyl. That double disc album that originally came out on Profound Lore was one of the fiercest fusions of extreme electronic noise and metallic chaos to come out that year; the Sister Fawn recording that followed the album proper was an interesting shift in sound, transforming the frenzied grindcore into something much more abstract.
While the Sister Fawn disc was initially presented as something more of a companion piece, it actually holds up wuite nicely as an album all on its own. In fact, I gotta admit I thought this material is even cooler than the first half of their collaboration. Over the course of these five tracks, much of Full Of Hell's screeching grindmetal becomes absorbed into a cacophonous wall of industrial violence, their metallic aggression subsumed into Merzbow's swirling, screeching nebula. The tracks are longer, venturing into pummeling industrial junk-metal rhythms and howling feedback manipulation, blasts of crushing power electronics and more of that abject Swans-esque dirge that appeared on the first half. And squalls of apocalyptic jazz-infected noise erupt across tracks like "Crumbling Ore", delivering an acrid blast of sound that approaches Borbetomagus-like levels of intensity. The grindcore elements are still in here though, particularly on songs like the noise-damaged blast-assault of "Merzdrone" that welds a seemingly endless blastbeat to Merzbow's scorching electronics and shrill skulldrill distortion. The result is ferociously and psychedelic.
Issued in a one-time pressing of one thousand copies on black vinyl.