John Zorn
Six Litanies for Heliogabalus

Just thinking about it makes me nauseous. It was annoying, piercing, simply insane. But I couldn't stop myself.

I kept going: I was fascinated by how that combination of sounds, screams, indistinct noises wanted to forcefully penetrate me. Because in the end, that's exactly what John Zorn is: music that can only be represented by a gash, a clean cut of the skin, and maybe blood. It opens you up and invades you with an unheard-of violence, that not even the worst of movies could stage.

Probably a "normal" person would have stopped after just one minute, screaming in terror, scandalized. But those who continue do so because they know that behind that madness, there's a man perfectly aware of his actions. Zorn knows exactly what his latest album evokes, and he will be thrilled to know that few people will listen to it. That is exactly what he desires.

"Six Litanies For Heliogabalus" is clear-cut. 6 tracks, or rather 6 litanies, that being such have no title, they are just litanies: invocations, perhaps repetitive, to a specific recipient. Mike Patton will tell you the rest.

This album is modern art: undefined, hard to understand, but brilliant.

Don't want to listen to it? Maybe you're right, it really is too strong for you.