Creature Drowning You's release year of 1996 doesn't make it the first-ever HNW release, but that doesn't change the fact that Sam McKinlay is one of the genre's pioneers. Being the first-ever Rita release, it's a bit different from later material. 1) It's themed after horror (but not Giallo or sharks), just look at the title and J-card (there's a creature trying to drown someone); also, the project is named after the boat from Creature from the Black Lagoon. ... read more

Well, it looks like we have another band from the shironuri scene. Just like the previous journal entry, GURUGURU Eigakan is inspired by Angura theater and eroguro—it's obvious when you look at a band photo due to their white face paint and Showa era uniforms. Their debut album, "Doko no aosa ni kimi, maketa.", isn't a prog/psych Seazer affair, but it does sound like a troupe making a rock album, as the theatrics and weirdness are all there. Each track sounds ... read more

The original Sheer Hellish Miasma was just like its name suggests, but the kind of hell it presented was a bit cold; it was a good album with some great textures, but for me, it was just slightly lacking something. The sequel, on the other hand, doesn't give me that feeling. Sheer Hellish Miasma II decides to take things in a different direction: there are only 2 tracks instead of 4; the runtime grew from 53 minutes to over an hour and a half; and the tracks are like shifting walls as ... read more

Thanks to @svse for recommending this. The soundscapes made using guitar and effects by Li Jianhong on this album are a mix of beauty, sadness, and apocalypse. Both the long-held notes and more "musical" moments on here all turn into an entrancing drone—the noisiness not only makes it more ear-scratching but also makes the stream of sound even more enveloping.

Crack is a bit more than your usual compilation. It was compiled with the intent of showing what juke/footwork sounded like during 2006-2010, but what makes it special is the origin of these tracks. They aren't classics or properly released; they are cuts ripped from MySpace and other deep corners of the internet. It doesn't matter if the track is by DJ Rashad or an artist who doesn't even have a credit; it probably wasn't heard by many people. Some tracks are clearly much ... read more

The title of this compilation isn't great, but it perfectly describes it! It's all Japanese hardcore bangers.

Everyone on here gets two tracks. Death Exclamations and Fire by G.I.S.M. would've fit on their album Detestation due to the fucked-up raw guitar tone they have. Sakevi's vocals are all fucked up and crazy as always—he's screaming, laughing, growling, and even breathing/hissing. Randy Uchida's guitar playing reminds me more of metal. The Execute may ... read more

I decided to give this one a spin to take a slight break from the Merzbox. I later remembered it's also on Lowest Music & Arts 1980-1983, which I intend to go through in the future. Oh well!

Released in 1983, Masami didn't really like this one due to it having too many synths, too many guitars, and too many drum machines—it had too much "guitar rock appeal". While I think his opinion changed, damn, this dude just hates fun!

The first track is the most danceable ... read more

A "proper" review? Who needs that? Mushi is a banger album from legendary Japanese hardcore band The Stalin—it's their fiercest record, and it's better than Stop Jap in my opinion. Every track on here is fun (i.e., killer, but Go Go スターリン actually sounds a bit playful), besides the first and last ones, which are a bit slower and have a more serious tone. Does it do anything mind-blowing? No, it's straightforward, but it is crazy good. It also has some ... read more

This one has grown on me a bit since I last heard it, a year ago, I think. In the Cabinet kicks the album off in a heavy way; it has this building-up, introductory vibe. Mayonaka No Hakucho dials the heaviness back with its mix of jumpy and more "emotional" guitar, but Rabid Dog brings it back with its pounding drums and its metallic-sounding guitar. Even the moments when Maco sings have some fierceness to them; the only exception would be the more melancholic-sounding portions. ... read more

"I was very pleased being isolated last year in the [countryside], but for the past 10 years I was in a shiny sunny city in the [south] of France, and the best place I belonged was between the walls of my [apartment]." ~Romain Perrot, Musique Machine interview, 2015

Renoncer means "to give up" in French, so the title of this release, Renonce, means "gives up". The cover shows Romain—dressed in all black, with a trash bag on his head—sitting on a chair. ... read more

Thank you @parannemi for the rec! Live is, well, a live album by Japanese psych noise rock legends High Rise (with a lineup of Asahito Nanjo, Munehiro Narita, and Yuro Ujie). There isn't any date or venue mentioned on the release, but is that even important when there's the music? The album begins nicely with Sadame. The guitar is good and straightforward, but it doesn't blow your socks off… until Narita starts going crazy with it, and it doesn't take long for that to ... read more

After the dark, operating theater hell of Delìrium Còrdia, Fantômas not only go back to the sounds of their debut but also do a 180-degree turn when it comes to mood. Suspended Animation is a concept album about April 2005, with each track not only correlating with a day but also holidays. (Limited editions also included a spiral-bound calendar for the entire month, with illustrations by Yoshitomo Nara [who also did the cover art]). What's the result? 30 tracks ... read more

The last @magnesianovaa recommendation—it only took me a month to get through all seven! Let's not talk about the recommendations page for now...

Shin'en is a single, 1-hour-long track. A hum and unidentified moving object are constantly present—it sounds like something glassy is rolling and plinking underwater. Besides these two, there's differing static in both ears: the one in the right ear is like a calm mini jackhammer (it's like something is vibrating; ... read more

I wanted to review both this and a Merzbox disc today, but I got a little sidetracked. Oh well, the Merzbox can wait.

Venereology wasn't the first Merzbow release to assault the ears of Americans, but it certainly was more of a breakthrough—stretching beyond noise listeners—considering it was released on Relapse Records's Release Entertainment imprint. Influenced by death metal and made while drinking lots of beer, Venereology is a beast of a record.

Albeit the album is ... read more

Yup, another @magnesianovaa Ambient Noise Wall recommendation, the penultimate one.

Phallus Dei (which translates to God's Phallus) seems to be themed after the Cold War, or more specifically, intercontinental ballistic missiles created during it. The cover art shows eight MIRVs from the LGM-118A Peacekeeper (USA) passing through clouds, and the track titles are NATO reporting names for the R-36 and R-36M (Soviet), respectively.

SS-9 Scarp is made out of static, soft crackling, a light ... read more

国境巡礼歌 [Kokkyō Junreika] is one of Seazer's best-known works, for a good reason—spoiler: it's great. Another title for it is J.A. シーザー・リサイタル [J.A. Seazer Recital].

Just like the original vinyl release of Shintokumaru, it is a cut-down version of a much longer performance (which took place on February 3, 1973, at the Nippon Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo), from two hours to 53 minutes. The complete version was released under the alternate title I ... read more

"What is noise? One answer is in this CD." ~Jojo Hiroshige in the liner notes

Ejaculation Generater follows the same formula of screaming and high-speed noise assaults as every other Masonna album, and it is probably the best to do it. What makes this one stand out from the rest? The noise is dynamic; there are many different sounds (it doesn't sound like loud-as-fuck white noise blasting at you all the time), and the loops are great. The album sounds like multiple noise ... read more

I'm going to stop the Merzbox and Gerogerigegege relistens completely for a while and just chill by blasting other noise albums instead. I've heard Sissy Spacek's self-titled album, but it was like listening to a malfunctioning grindcore CD. Dash is more of a noisecore CD that is somehow overblown to hell and back, even though it's noisecore we're talking about. The drums, vocals, and whatever else just make up loud insanity—it's like tumbling down a flight ... read more

Shock Rock was released simultaneously with Christine 23 Onna's Acid Eater and Space Machine's 2 under the "Yamazaki Maso 15th Anniversary Freakout Triplex Series" to commemorate 15 years of Maso's activities. Yamazaki actually had to temporarily cease Masonna activities in 2000 due to his health, so this is the first Masonna album since Vestal Spacy Ritual in 1999 and the last before Evil Black Disc was released in 2016.

It's, well, a Masonna album: a whirlwind ... read more

YOU WANT SOME REAL PUNK ROCK? THIS IS REAL PUNK ROCK!
Yamantaka Eye (Boredoms, Hanatarash) and Chu Hasegawa (Corrupted, Boredoms) teamed up and made only one release, which is a live recording of their performance in Osaka in February 1995 as a support band for Brutal Truth. We Are Voice and Rhythm Only smacks 48 songs into a runtime of 10 minutes. They all look like this: Eye screams something in English, Hasegawa smacks the shit out of those drums, and there's usually a bit of feedback. ... read more