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This meeting leaps far beyond the sum of its parts. Mick Harris (Napalm Death, Lull, and Scorn), Bill Laswell (Massacre, Praxis and Material), and John Zorn (Naked City and Masada) all have prolific, prestigious, and prodigious careers that met up to produce a handful of recordings. As Painkiller, they explore the outer limits of Death Metal violence, Free Jazz frenetics and reality-splitting Dub come through on recordings such as Execution Ground. They perform a music of opposites, gliding easily from Harris' blastbeat-driven, gat-beat assaults to Laswell's heavy Dub basslines. Zorn's horn histrionics match Janet Leigh's dying shower scene screams (Psycho). Painkiller is a misnomer; they will leave you with emotional scars and post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Marc Kate
