Merzbow - _Tauromachine_
(Release, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (6 out of 10)
When one thinks of the amount of volume that Masami Akita's noise project Merzbow releases within the span of a year, it is not hard to understand why his releases can tend to veer towards being very hit and miss. Merzbow's fifth output on Release (two splits, three full lengths) seems to be less of an actual harsh noise assault and more of an exhibition of industrial sounds mixed in with Pain Jerk-esque editing techniques. While this album has been billed by Relapse/Release as being harsher than the previous Merzbow full length _Pulse Demon_, I found it to be anything but. While _Pulse Demon_ had a mild psychedelic influence on it, _Tauromachine_ hardly delivers any sort of brutal sound assault that would humble it. Perhaps I am being unfair to this disc in the sense that, by what Relapse/Release was promoting, I had anticipated another masterpiece such as _Venerology_ but instead I was left with an output that, while being above and beyond many noise acts, falls very short by Merzbow standards. This is more than likely worth looking into if you are ambitious (read: stupid) enough to try and find every Merzbow release, but there is a plethora of other offerings from this Japanese noise master that are easy 9s or 10s on the rating scale, and much more worthy of attention.
Contact: Relapse/Release, PO Box 251, Millersville, PA, 17551, USA
(article published 16/1/1999)
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