Merzbow - Monoakuma [Room40 Promo]

After more than 20 years of reviewing music we've been thrilled to find the first ever incoming Merzbow promo in our postbox recently, his "Monoakuma" album which has been released via Room40 / Australia on November 30th, 2k18. The single track release which captures a live recording of Masami Akita's performance in Brisbane in 2012 spans a stunning and well demanding 50 minutes, a perfect explaination for and example of why the Japanese artist has managed to remain a well relevant staple and driving force within the Noize / HarshNoize scene over a period of four decades now. Obviously recorded with on location microphones we experience a combination of deep, melancholia-inducing and partly even melodic beauty underneath brutal layers of Digital HarshNoize and ear-piercing lo-fi bleeps mixed with faint echoes of audience noise, all glued together in a grinding, overwhelming maelstrom that leaves our brains in total silence after sitting through this album in one headphone session. Great stuff. Excellent!