Review Summary: Full of Hell and Merzbow join forces to create on of the most pummeling albums of 2014
Metal and noise, two of the most aggressive, and ear piercing genres of music. This is an album by Maryland grind band, "Full Of Hell" and notorious harsh noise artist, "Merzbow" who's extensive catalog and history need no introduction. While Full of Hell have toyed with a combination of grind and noise on previous material, they make an effort to mix it into their sound on this album, chopping up and rearranging Merzbow's contribution, adding extra bulk to their already hellish sound.
The most striking thing about this album is how diverse and memorable it's eleven songs are. Each song has a unique quality that makes it stand out from the others. The band also uses an excellent display of vocals that range from shrieked highs to guttural lows, and even some semi-clean vocals that work in favor of the albums intensity and memorability.
The album opens with "Burst Synapse", utilizing memorable and heavy guitar riffing, drumming done at breakneck speed, and the excellent aforementioned vocals. The track then slows and transitions into a jarring breakdown before sizzling out. This is followed by "Gordian Knot", a track that makes excellent use of Merzbow's ear piercing noise adding flavor to the already crushing sound. The band further varies their sound by adding some sludgier moments on tracks like "Blue Litmus", "Thrum in the deep", and " High Fells", creating an excellent dynamic to the music. The album even uses horns on some of the later tracks, most significantly on "High Fells", which closes with flurries of dark sickly sounding horns.
The one flaw on the album however, are the Merzbow tracks. While Merzbow's sound largely works with the material presented on this album, songs such as "Raise thee great wall bloodied and terrible", and "Ljuvet av gud" stick out like a sore thumb among the fast grindier songs on the album, with the latter being the longest track on the album, clocking in at just under six minutes long.
Overall, Full Of Hell and Merzbow seamlessly blends together grind, sludge, and noise, creating a stand out album that definitely deserves multiple listens.
Recommended tracks:
Burst Synapse
Gordian Knot
Blue Litmus
Thrum In The deep
High Fells
Fawns Head And Unjoy
