Praxis
Sacrifist

Fear Strikes Ninety.

It's my ninetieth review, and I need an astonishing album; I had thought of a split album between Napalm Death and the Japanese S.O.B. But I postponed the face-off between these two pinnacles of Grindcore.

In the end, I chose Praxis: total manipulators of sound. Unpredictable in their extreme sonic solutions.

A project born from the mind of Bill Laswell who gathers around him for this second album, dated 1994, an anthology lineup. First among them is the "heretic" jazz musician John Zorn. There's also Buckethead, Brain, Mick Harris, Yamatsuka Eye: no further introduction is needed for such important musical figures.

You can get lost in listening to the album; nine tracks follow one another in forty-five minutes that gulp down everything. Free Jazz, Dub, Ambient, Funk, Metal. And immediately afterwards it is all regurgitated, inundating the listener with violent vitriolic bursts. A form of alienating and total sound terrorism.

It's no coincidence that among all the collaborators, Zorn's figure stands out; and that's why I believe "Sacrifist" can be compared to "Torture Garden" by Naked City, particularly in those diabolical sonic slashes like the opening "Stronghold." Ninety-four seconds fired at a sidereal speed, between muted guitars, various samples, and whirling drums. With the piercing and unnervingly high-pitched screams of Yamatsuka, amplified by John's noisy and frenzied saxophone: amphetaminic.

The remaining eight tracks raise my threshold of fear well beyond the fateful ninety.

Give it a listen; you'll come out shattered...

Ad Maiora.