‘Full of Hell and Merzbow have both made careers on seeing how far they can push their own sounds and that of their genre. Together they did both at the same time.‘
Release date: November 25, 2014 | Profound Lore | Bandcamp | Full of Hell Facebook | Instagram | Website | Merzbow Bluesky | Facebook | Website
A noisy grindcore band and the grand master of noise music walk into a recording studio – sounds like the set-up for a corny joke, but it’s actually the backstory of an intense, visceral record with few parallels. Full of Hell and Merzbow are infinitely punishing on their own, but on their collaborative self-titled record, they pulled out all stops to deliver a hellish, mangled soundscape that will take careless listeners eons to recover from.
Joe McKenna
I have always considered my journey into ‘noise music’ as one starting out as morbid curiosity that slowly developed into an appreciation and deep intrigue as to how the use of abrasive, harsh, and detractive sounds could be applied to heavier genres as a means to amplify extremity and challenge preconceived definitions of music as a whole.
Falling down the pipeline of some of the most fringe and extreme artists that are honoured within the categories of noise, such as Whitehouse, Death Pile, Boredoms, Vomir, and Nurse With Wound, discovering how far this form of music branches out would not have been made possible without the introduction of Merzbow. By exploring the influence and interesting career of the Japanese noise artist Masami Akita, I was captivated by the surrealist artistry that surrounded his music that aimed to transgress sonic limits and construct new ground for musical application. Merzbow truly fell into its own category during its early years of existence, taking influence from experimental, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, and free jazz circles like Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor, to develop extensive noise ambient soundscapes and become a catalyst for avantgarde expression both for the Japanese scene as well as reaching other regions where noise was developing in extreme and experimental music.
In a similar vein, my lust for extreme metal that delved deeper and deeper into sonic ambivalence and abrasive tendencies would soon introduce me to Full of Hell. The US-based grindcore outfit’s emphasis on dissonant electronic and noise elements always had an unusually immersive feel in releases such as Trumpeting Ecstasy and Weeping Choir that scratched that itch for me. Throughout the band’s career, the development of Full of Hell’s sound has been relatively progressive with them utilising variety of sonic characteristics such as industrialised shoegazey soundscapes and math-infused riffs that intensify their caustic sound. Much of this experimentalism with sonic extremity is certainly down to the proficiency and open-mindedness of the artists involved with this grindcore ensemble. However, it could also been said that Full of Hell’s desire to collaborate on projects with other equally experimental and sonically excessive artists has greatly broadened the band’s sonic pallet going forward. Of course, many will know of the band’s that have collaborated with Full of Hell like The Body, Thou, Nothing, Primitive Man, and of course, the key topic of this feature, Merzbow.
Whilst Merzbow had previously dabbled in the world of extreme metal, with the album Venereology released in 1994 on Relapse Records being recognised as having key death metal and grindcore influences at the time, the artist’s primary focus on noise over other extreme characteristics in the genre would often turn away a fair number of listeners in these earlier periods of existence. Yet there was still a devoted few who were eager to see what the Japanese noise artist could produce within the extreme metal underground scene. Collaboration with extreme metal artists therefore did not seem like such an impractical possibility, featuring with the likes of Boris and Agoraphobic Nosebleed to name a few, but arguably nothing comes as close to imbuing a sense of extremity and musical grit quite like Akita’s work with Full of Hell in 2014.
The album creates the perfect balance between extreme metal’s volatile rhythmic excessiveness with death/grindcore passages and brutal guttural vocals, and a deliverance of static noisescapes that carve out space within each of these tracks to compel you into a state of delirium. From the opening, you are hit in the face by this record’s antagonism – no waiting around, no climactic build-ups, just pure adrenalizing brutishness is thrown into the first track fittingly titled “Burst Synapse”. Whilst it takes some time to detect the influence of Merzbow at first, with much of the conventionalities of this record going to Full of Hell if we consider elements such as rhythm, melody, and harmony (or somewhat lack thereof), upon deeper listening you can really get a sense of how space and texture really plays an important role in this partnership. Amongst the riffs on tracks like “Blue Litmus” and “Fawn Heads and Unjoy” grainy and dissonant sound collages fill these pervasive spaces and increase the intensity, whilst other tracks like “Mute” and “Ljudet Av Gud” make more use of atmosphere that emphasise traits like feedback and layers of static.
The influence of both these great artists on the current state of extreme music production and performance is clearly undeniable, and much can be down to the interests of both Merzbow and Full of Hell exhibiting a need to push sonic excesses beyond their controllable limits. Not only do I think this first collaboration between the two highlight extreme music’s willingness to experiment past perceived boundaries, but it also shows the significance of collaboration with extreme and underground music communities as to what can be achieved and how creativity can be negotiated between numerous participants of a range of artists and their respective mediums. For me, Full of Hell and Merzbow stands as a pinnacle work of collective originality that has opened me up to a range of musical possibilities and gets me increasingly more eager for anticipating releases that feature artists and bands collaborating with each other.
Dom South
With 1996’s Pulse Demon, Merzbow unleashed 73 minutes of electronic cataclysm which defined the noise genre for a generation. Its optical illusion art was as hard to look at as the album was hard to listen to, artwork which has been repurposed by many a band from collaborators to local hardcore bands. In one famous instance, a local hardcore band became a collaborator, in small part due to a shirt using the Pulse Demon artwork.
By 2014, Full of Hell had released two studio albums, two EPs and multiple splits with other bands as well as four noise tapes. They had begun to push the dial of grindcore, powerviolence, and metal with noise and sludge influences. That combination of noise and metal set the foundation for their Pulse Demon shirt, a tribute to a legend and an influence. When Balazs Pandi introduced Full of Hell to Merzbow as a result, a collaboration was born.
While Merzbow was no stranger to collaboration with metal artists, having worked with Boris and Sunn O))), this was Full of Hell’s first collaboration at all. In the end, it became Full of Hell’s most accomplished work to date, with embellishments from the overwhelming aural bombardment of Merzbow. From the opening blast of “Burst Synapse”, it was clear this was a no-holds-barred grind assault from the Maryland upstarts. Vocalist Dylan Walker’s low growls became high screeches atop everchanging riffs and Dave Bland’s mind-blowing ferocity on the drums.
Across its 23 minutes, Full of Hell remain committed to blasting through almost every song as fast as possible, with let-ups such as that in “Humming Miter” only serving as a brief respite to make the ensuing chaos feel more violent. The other moments of lower tempo serve as foils for Merzbow’s noise and avant-garde percussion to take center-stage. With first “Raise Thee, Great Wall, Bloodied and Terrible” and the longer “Ludjet Av Gud” feature a slightly reserved but still screeching distorted noise over crashing cymbals, with Walker’s voice lower in the mix growling almost as extra percussion. Merzbow’s whirring grows and grows throughout as Full of Hell catch their breath. The listener does not of course.
Much of what we’ve become accustomed to is present from Full of Hell, the sludgier, death metal riffs are here with Walker’s vocals all across the spectrum. Guitarist Spencer Hazard’s love of Melvins creeps in sometimes with the slower riffs, a theme which has become a centrepiece of many of their recent tracks with “Thrum in the Deep” a real forefather to these. These hallmarks of their now trademark sound with the added nonsensical distortion and mechanical gnashing from Merzbow make this an almost perfect album.
Add in some saxophone madness and a little bit of noise wall in addition to the sludge towards the back end of the album and anyone whose brain needs utter chaos to get through a day need look no further. On “High Fells” the sludge is slowed à la Corrupted, giving way to Kevin Morris’ saxophone (which also rears its head as part of “Ludjet Av Gud”’s noise wall). Closer “Fawn Heads and Unjoy” also remains my favourite Full of Hell song. Its brutality and pure force, especially after the sludge and noise of the two preceding tracks, make it’s sub-1.5 minutes hit as hard as anything they’ve released since. Hazard’s high-pitched, frantic riff sounds frenzied, among a band in perfect harmony playing as fast and wild as possible without feeling rushed.
All of this is without even touching on the companion piece Sister Fawn, where Merzbow takes a starring role. A noise album before a grindcore album, it doubles down on the foundations of “Ludjet Av Gud” and “Raise Thee, Great Wall, Bloodied and Terrible”. Full of Hell provide a great foil for Merzbow to expand upon his sonic terror. At 35 minutes it has even more aural madness than the self-titled album to dive into, which makes sense given the noise genre’s typical song length compared to grindcore. In truth, this isn’t the album itself, but it’s also an intriguing document of two artists exploring how their respective sounds can fit together.
Full of Hell and Merzbow have both made careers on seeing how far they can push their own sounds and that of their genre. Together they did both at the same time. While much of the criticism from the metal crowd call this album pure noise, while some noise fans suggest it isn’t noisy enough. For me, it’s simply cool as hell.
Eeli Helin
Full Of Hell has been quite an important band for me, when it comes to some of my own musical shenanigans as well as general listening experiences. The act’s vicious rage met with excellent, cutting edge production earned a place in my heart ever since I heard the first notes of ”Burst Synapse”, which coincidentally is the opening track for their collaboration with Merzbow, which is still perhaps the most often-rotated album of theirs in this household. It’s not only significant to me due to discovering Full Of Hell via it, but also because it posed the idea of collaboration in confines of extreme metal and noise in a newfound way, as far as my own aural perimeters are concerned.
Full Of Hell are the type of band that seem to always hit home regardless of mood or timing, and seeing the response from their audience in regards to everything they do, I feel like I’m not alone in that. Their importance as a relatively young band only adds to that, and having been able to collaborate with someone of Merzbow’s caliber so early on in their career, can’t be taken lightly. Full Of Hell went on to work with amultitude of other artists, such as the Body, Primitive Man, or most recently Andrew Nolan, and I personally think that these type of albums allow them to exist in a formthat I usually prefer over to their ‘standard’ albums, granted that there’s nothing wrong with them either. I guess overall the concept of a collaboration flourishes since more often than not it’s a one time thing (unlike the Body collabs, though),and the sonic territories explored are something unique. While some people were vocal about Merzbow being absent throughout most of the record, I think the blend just worked well enough to make the album a sum of its parts rather than picking up any singular things that you can recognize and assume were done by this and that. The album got its extension companion Sister Fawn that however flourished in the noisier end of the scope and in pushing the extremes even further, so ultimately everyone was satisfied. Or should’ve been, at least.
While Full Of Hell’s regular output doesn’t exactly wander off into calmer territories aside from some slow burners here and there, on the Merzbow collaboration they are undoubtedly on their most frenetic form. Some moments of deceleration are strewn to places where they make the most sense and allow for somespace to breathe, but all in all the album is just relentless from the first seconds onto its untimely end. A 23-minute duration is usually plenty for a grinding oeuvre, but when it’s of this magnificence, wouldn’t hurt if it ran twice as long.
As should be obvious by now, Full Of Hell are not only some of the finest artists in their craft currently in existence, but a significant band for me as well, and one of the few names that come up in conversations I’m having, seemingly all the time. The fire of grind burns brightly in the quartet, but in a way where it doesn’t limit the scope of their artistry at all. Granted that the main emphasis lies on elements found on this album, it’s nice to have someone like them around, who can go out of their eay to do anything their souls’ desire and the outcome is pure bliss across the line. Merzbow is of course a heavyweight player when it comes to all things noise, and even though I’m not underlining him as much here, it goes without saying that he’s an important cornerstone in the world of extreme music, and more than provides his fair share here.It’s been ten years since this one came out, and I, alongside a fair share of others, would be open for round two.
