PAINKILLER - The Great God Pan

Rejoice! We have a trilogy!

Oh wait, that's already how I started the review of the second comeback album from John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris as PainKiller!

PAINKILLER - The Great God Pan (CD) (2025)

After two albums of moving their Grindjazz legend legacy into the realm of half-Electronic Future Jazz - "Samsara" rather straight forward, "The Equinox" more complex and refined - the trio stepped on the brake to deliver a much more textural and Ambient work with "The Great God Pan".

Laswell and Harris mostly bring flowing and droning atmosphere to the two over twenty minutes long tracks. While the Electronic artist of ex-Napalm Death drumming fame actually plays percussion again in "Ercildoune", you shouldn't expect wild blastbeat explosions. No, even when he plays some wilder stuff, it appears so subtly in the mix that you probably won't even notice it as what is it on first listening.

The base of the music stays slow and minimalist almost all the time, meandering in a mood that can sometimes be eerily beautiful, but most of the time feels hauntingly nocturnal.
Zorn is the only player who repeatedly goes for the berserk PainKiller trademark with sudden shrill saxophone crescendos. But even those are placed in a restrained effectful manner between long passages of a more calm, soulful and spiritual performance.

"Secret Sins" is the wilder piece of the two, with more dirty noises and a more adventurous yet also denser mood. And it starts with thirty seconds of actual old-school "Guts Of A Virgin" grindfuckery!

All in all "The Great God Pan" remains a very different beast than the other two CDs - and that's brilliant, because it completes the wide picture of what PainKiller stands for over three decades after the group's inception.

Alongside Zorn's sister group Naked City, which started with the idea of Jazz musicians playing Grindcore, the pivotal role of PainKiller in connecting the extreme and Avant-Garde edges of Jazz and Rock music cannot be overstated. One could have easily let the name  rest comfortably on its luxurous couch in music history, but I applaud the group to not only reactivating but also redefining it with this strong trilogy! 

PAINKILLER - The Equinox

Rejoice! We have a trilogy!

PAINKILLER - The Equinox (CD) (2025)

Last year's return and reimagination of the John Zorn / Bill Laswell / Mick Harris cult trio PainKiller wasn't a one-off, but only the first of three releases with the new less improvisational approach of ex-drummer Harris laying down a foundation of Electronic beats and sounds and the other players adding bass and saxophone on top. "The Equinox" totally follows this blueprint introduced on "Samsara", but!

Well, to be completely honest writing this review is one of those rather futile excercises, where you cannot really add anything not already covered by the album's own hype text on the OBI strip. And I even accidentily got two of those in my copy, as if Tzadik thought they weren't mocking my attempt enough already.

So the short and probably sufficient version is that the album does everything its predecessor does, but more refined, more dynamic and with more variety. Harris' groundwork is significantly more complex, Laswell's Dub and Fusion bass lines sit tighter on his even wilder breakbeats and even deeper and more atmospheric Ambient textures. And Zorn is just... really everything he can be on the saxophone, delivering a plethora of both shrill outbursts and achingly beautiful warm melodies.

But where's the news here? You know these guys are masters, legends even in their fields. "Samsara" was the already amazing warm-up in their new Ambient Electronic Jazzcore Techno Noise constellation. "The Equinox" shows their further adaption and improvement of the workflow. The result is Future Jazz PainKiller, part 2: The Masterpiece?

I'm very curious to hear how in hell and on Earth they will follow this up with "The Great God Pan" next month!

PAINKILLER - Samsara

PAIN FUCKER MOTHER KILLER!

PAINKILLER - Samsara (CD) (2024)

PainKiller are back in their original line-up of John Zorn, Bill Laswell and ex Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris. "Talisman", a live recording from 1994, released in 2002, was the last album in that constellation. Meanwhile however blast beat originator Harris has stopped drumming altogether. So how does this work?

Before giving you the answer let me briefly bring you up to speed in case you're unfamiliar with this legendary trio, which I have used as a reference point in this blog countless times!

It all began with Zorn's love for Napalm Death and the idea to let Jazz musicians play Grindcore, which birthed the album and band Naked City. You'll hardly find an album which matches the craziness of the forty-two tracks (with between eight and seventy-two seconds length) of "Torture Garden"!
PainKiller was not exactly the reversal, but at least a variation of that idea: the Jazzers Zorn on saxophone and Laswell on bass plus the Grindcore drummer, who had as good as zero experience in improvising or even playing slow playing what today is commonly called Jazzcore.

From 1991 to 1994 they released three studio albums: the brutally chaotic "Guts of a Virgin", my personal favorite "Buried Secrets" with guest apperances of Godflesh on two tracks ("The Toll" might be Justin Broadrick's most extreme vocal performance ever), which also introduced Dub influences, and "Execution Ground", which broadened the range to Ambient and saw the band indulding in longtracks up to twenty minutes length.

Since then there have been a couple of live performances (and respective releases) both with Harris and other drummers. But who would have even thought of the possibility of this new album?

In some ways "Samsara" goes back to the early days of PainKiller: Jon Zorn's alto saxophone improvisations go through all the extremes from warm smoothness to shrill screeches and wild noisy bubbling sounds. Laswell reprises his rumbling and roaring bass sound and the signature flanger effects in slow passages.
Beyond that however the premise is very different now. No live drums and no extreme vocals either. Instead "Samsara" presents the Power Electronics version of PainKiller.

So instead of mostly the bass leading the flow and evolution of the music, the foundation of these eight new pieces had been recorded by Mick Harris alone. Dynamic, completely Electronic tracks made of synth sounds, effects, noises and pumping beats, which would probably all already work on their own. The other players however elevate the material with the bass stying close to the rhythmic guideline while infusing his special tone, and Zorn finalizing them with a rich performance of in your face Avantgarde and floating Spiritual Jazz.

So there you have it: PainKiller goes Future Jazz - still regocnizable, with a similar vibe and rawness, yet recontextualized for a new age. I dig it.

 

JOHN ZORN - Full Fathom Five

Alter, nachher ist Heiligabend, also sei jetzt mal besinnlich!!!

JOHN ZORN - Full Fathom Five (CD) (2023)

Zum Glück stößt der mittlerweile siebzigjährige John Zorn immer noch jedes mal, wenn er sich nachts im Bett umdreht ein Album aus, und darunter befindet sich nicht nur irrwitzig wilder geiler Scheiß wie das 2022 erschienene "Spinoza", sondern auch von ihm für von ihm zusammengestellten Bands geschriebene kontemplativ entspannende Nachtmusik wie das ebenfalls letztes Jahr erschienene "Perchance To Dream", in dessen Nachfolge sich ebenso "Full Fathom Five"  verorten lässt.

Die Besetzung des (beinahe) klassischen Jazz-Quartetts (Klavier, Kontrabass, Schlagzeug, jedoch statt z.B. Saxophon Gitarre) ist diesmal allerdings anders, nur Zorns Lieblingspianist Brian Marsella ist auch schon im Lineup des erwähnten Vorgängerwerks zu finden.

Musikalisch geht es hier gleich etwas flotter los. Überhaupt ist in den sieben Stücken von "Full Fathom Seven Five" eine Menge los, allein Drummer Ches Smith macht mitunter ordentlich Rabatz.
Und doch ist der Gesamteindruck der einer sehr beruhigend durch die stille Nachtluft gleitenden Smooth Jazz-Perfektion; warm und sttimmungsvoll genug, um sich einfach alle rasenden Gedanken im Kopf stillstehen lassend darin einzubetten, und doch stets kreativ und interessant genug, um einen jederzeit inspirieren zu können.

Der Meister und die kongenialen Umsetzer seiner Vision haben also wieder einmal eindrucksvoll gesprochen. Ein traumhaft schönes und wunderbar produziertes pures Jazzalbum.

Die CD sieht wie immer edel aus, lädt mich schriftgrößenbedingt allerdings nicht zum Lesen der gedruckten Worte ein.

Wer anfassbare Tonträger eh obselet findet (pfui!), der kann mittlerweile übrigens aufatmen, da Tzadik tatsächlich dieses Internet entdeckt hat. Man kauft bei neuen Veröffentlichungen das Labels also tatsächlich nicht mehr die Katze im Sack, sondern kann sich auch vorher per Stream informieren. Als ob dies nötig wäre... Oder hat John Zorn tatsächlich bei aller für den normalsterblichen Hörer kaum einholbaren Quantität seiner Veröffentlichungen jemals die Qualität schleifen lassen? 

MUSIC 2022: TOP 22 albums

Here we go again! As you could already see in my TOP 5 reissues, TOP 7 live albums, TOP 13 live shows and TOP 6 non album releases I'm trying to keep my end of the year lists short.

And what a year I've chosen for that decision! It was hard, a lot of ins and outs, but I ultimately stuck to just twenty-two favorite albums! No sneaking in of extra recommendations under each entry like last year, just a plain TOP 22. As always these are only studio albums which I own in physical format. So I know that there are tons of stuff out there which I just didn't indulge in yet, Kendrick Lamar and The Mars Volta just being two of the most popular examples. (Oh, there's sooo much more like Brutus, Chat Pile... ok, don't even get me started, haha.)

I tried to consider earlier releases which I might have neclected a little, but also took the risk of including some very recent material. And for the time being I am happy with it. Looking back on this a year from now I will have some changed opinions about the ranking anyway, because that always happens. Hell, if you compare this list with my TOP 5 albums on VEILOFSOUND.COM (which I had finished a couple of weeks ago), even those have changed a bit already!

From A as in Autopsy to Z as in Zola Jesus and back from Zeal & Ardor over The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble and Jo Quail to 300,000 V.K. so many artists I would have expected here didn't make it. But well, I guess that's just unavoidable if you don't do at least a TOP 36. But even then I would still feel bad about those albums who fell off the edge. So fuck them, right? No, don't fuck them! Music is awesome. Check out all my reviews from 2022 stuff and go listen to some music! 


But now without further ado....  here finally are my...

TOP 22 ALBUMS 2022:

1. VOIVOD - Synchro Anarchy
   
   
   
   No, it's no suprise that this is my album of the year. But while I suspected "Synchro Anarchy" to wind up here as soon as its first songs had been released almost a year ago, that has never been a pure matter of course. With so much great music coming out all the time I found myself more than once wondering whether Voivod really should take this spot. But than I listened to this masterpiece again and all doubts went to bed, because damn, this is so fucking good! After over fourty years the French Canadian sci-fi ProgPunkThrashers are still on top of their game, pushing the envelope with complex and catchy material that not only lives up to their own legacy, but actually couldn't be more relevant today. Yet another incredible show of force of the seemingly unstoppable SnakeChewyRockyAway lineup.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT - Spirit Of Ecstasy



The future of Extreme Metal and the apocalpyse of Jazz inseparably intertwined and mangled through the Manhattanite maelstrom of glorious dissonance. With guest musicians from Alex Skolnick to Kenny G, from Andromeda Anarachia to Voivod's Snake! It's one thing to sport a mind-blowing musical vision, yet a totally different thing to exceed oneself in it like the New York Avantgarde Black Metal trio did on "Spirit of Ecstasy". The ferocious mega city moloch rampages purposeful but more disturbingly chaotic than ever and it's indeed... ecstatic.









3. WIEGEDOOD - There's Always Blood At The End Of The Road
   
   
   
   Psychotic. Relentless. Devastating. Destructive. Misanthropic. Those were probably the keywords of my review for this monstrous Black Metal assault. If I had to pick out just one thing which makes this unique panic attack of an album special I would just say: those killer riffs! (And those hypnotic licks of course... and the tireless brutal highspeed drumming... and the abrasive vocals... and the occasional throat singing...) Fuck it, this just slaps!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. FORLESEN - Black Terrain
   
   
   
   What an epochal journey of Doom Metal is this? Consisting of past and present members of Botanist, Kayo Dot and Lotus Thief the band with the name that sounds completely different to German ears than its actual Middle English meaning "to lose completely" takes us through manifold musical worlds on this vast atmospheric future classic.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. ARCHIVE - Call To Arms & Angels / Super8
   
   
   
   Is this Archive's magnum opus? I'd rather not claim something like that, but the double album "Call To Arms & Angels" for sure is a huge earnest masterpiece in an undefinable place between soulful ballads, dark experimental electronics and epic Post Trip Hop Progressive Art Rock. With multiple singers and guest musicians the collective created a seventeen tracks strong soundtrack to the quarantine and isolation of the pandemic years. And if that wouldn't already be enough to take in, some versions of the album come with the equally great bonus of the whole score to the making of documentary "Super8".
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. MARC URSELLI'S STEPPENDOOM - SteppenDoom
   
   
   
   John Zorn producer Marc Urselli bringing together an international all-star ensemble of Doom, Stoner and Post Metal instrumentalists and indigenous  (Tuvanese, Mongolian and Inuit) overtone singers for a primal and  powerful fusion of styles that through its diversity also works as an almost anthropological overview of the art of throat singing. Ten years in the making this ambitious project transcends the promise of its premise and dooms and drones in an ancient place far beyond the origins of Doom itself.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. GGGOLDDD - This Shame Should Not Be Mine
   
   
   
   Outside flowers claim it's spring - and inside Milena Eva works through her trauma in clear and stark words to come out of it with her head held high. Adding many new electronic elements while maintaining their roots in Post everything from Punk to Rock to Black Metal, the band formerly known just as Gold provides a perfect backdrop for one of the most important stories told this year. Profoundly touching.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. KEIJI HAINO + SUMAC - Into This Juvenile Apocalypse Our Golden Blood To Pour Let Us Never
   
   
   
   

   Is this rollercoaster a free jazz version of noise rock or the essence of metal dragged through the unfiltered existential chaos of the human condition?
   I've asked exactly this question before, but since I still haven't come close to a satisfying answer, it seemed appropriate just to repeat it. On their third album encounter Japanese experimentalist Haino and the North American Sludge trio Sumac unleash brutal improvised magic which defies explanation or classification - and ultimately this brilliant noisiest of all releases on this list doesn't need to answer any of my small mortal questions at all.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. AFTAB DARVISHI - A Thousand Butterflies
   
   
   
   Performed by various chamber orchestra constellations including a cello solo piece, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet or the duet of piano and clarinet in the title track, the music of Iranian composer Aftab Darvishi melts Contemporary Classical arrangements with traditional influences from her home country and experimental Ambient ideas.  "A Thousand Butterflies" rewards the attentive listener with an immersive emotional experience. A precious musical gift that keeps giving. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. JOHN ZORN - Perchance To Dream
    
    
    
    No Bandcamp, no YouTube, no Soundcloud. On this one I'm afraid you just have to completely trust me, because you'll only get these wonderful compositions of John Zorn, performed by a quartet including John Medeski and Bill Frisell on this CD. Cymbals, chimes, organ, piano, Fender Rhodes... Soothing vibrations and light guitar breezes are the primary language of a dreamily Smooth Jazz experience. designed for nocturnal hours of either contemplation or just letting your mind drift to other places. On par with Aftab Darvishi this is one of the purest and most sincerely beautiful albums of 2022.
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. LAIBACH - Wir Sind Das Volk - Ein Musical Aus Deutschland
    
    
    
    In Laibach's half-theatrical work, which sees them collaborating with several stage actors and drum duo The Stroj,   Slovenian Retrogarde meets the texts of German playwright Heiner Müller and forms a kaleidoscopic stream of consciousness of German identity during and after the Second World War. Closer to the accustomed band sound and a little less deeply overwhelming than the live performance it is based on, "Wir Sind Das Volk" still is a very strong and serious experience burning with recent relevance.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. KIKAGAKU MOYO - Kumoyo Island
    
    
    
    The farewell year of the Japanese street musician collective turned world-acclaimed Krautrock phenomenon Kikagaku Moyo has been a joyful victory parade with celebrated live shows everywhere (including Berlin) and a final studio release which sparkles with variety, dynamic and visceral musical storytelling. Not only a wonderful album, but one which is always even a little better than I remembered from its last spin. And that lead guitar in "Yayoi, Iyayoi" lives rent-free in my head anyway.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. WORMROT - Hiss
    
    
    
    If you understand Grindcore more as a mindset than as one rather narrow specific style you can take it to the most unexpected places. Napalm Death have proven that many times, and so do the Singaporeans Wormrot. Being fluent masters in the language of Grind they allow themselves to take the twenty-one tracks on "Hiss" to the worlds of Punk, Post Rock, Thrash and Death Metal, Voivod worship, tribalistic and even symphonic parts without ever risking to lose their ferocious grindibility, summed up in the song title "When Talking Fails, It's Time For Violence". This is undoubtly among the very best Grindcore that has ever smashed my mug!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. GOAT - Oh Death
    
    
    
    Dang! Both visually and sonically these Swedish masters of Psych ceremonies don't waste any time funking right into your face.
    Vivid and groovy, at the same time jazzy, tribalistic. folkloristic, krautrocky and post-punkish the jams on "Oh Death" fly by faster than you could ever die of a sudden bliss overload.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
15. SPINIFEX - Spinifex Sings
    
    
    
    "Spinifex Beats the Plague" had been among my favorite Jazz releases of 2021 and the Fusion sextet doesn't even for the blink of an eye think of cooling things down on its successor. Strengthened with the two amazing singers Priya Purushothaman and Björk Níelsdóttir interpreting Indian and Icelandic poetry, Spinifex are spinning a carousel of adventurous Free and Vocal Jazz, Jazzcore and what our forefathers called World Music, on which Mats Gustafsson's The End and Christian Vander's Magma are chasing each other's wiggling tails. Absolutely bonkers and brilliant experimental fun!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
16. THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET - Miserere
    
    
    
    Jason Köhnen had a productive year releasing several albums with various projects, two alone with The Lovecraft Sextet. Other than den 80's synth of "Nights Of Lust" this one however can be described as a direct crossbreed of Bohren & der Club of Gore and Black Metal, just like White Ward's "False Light" - but it sounds completely different in every way! A sinister, often depressing, sometimes eery elegant mass of the most evil Darkjazz ever, drenched in cavernous screeches, organ, cello, Colin Webster's longing saxophone and crowned with opera singer Lilian Tong's soprano voice "Miserere" is a timeless horror score one of the most daring and possibly the most haunting entry in Köhnen's discography.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
17. ASSUMPTION - Hadean Tides
    
    
    
    Inspired by Death and Doom Metal greats like My Dying Bride, Sorrow, Paradise Lost, Mournful Congregation, but also classic Celtic Frost and Morbid Angel, this bleak new album from Assumption screams oldschool without ever sounding antiquated. Consequently the Italians don't let traditionalism hinder them from also incorporating Ambient and Neubauten influences  into their hugest and most exciting work so far.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
18. MOTORPSYCHO - Ancient Astronauts
    
    
    
    Side A: A powerfully rolling FuzzProg'n'Roll opener as we know and love it from the Norwegians. A short Yodok III style interlude. A half ballad / half freakout Mellotron epic. Side B: Just one cinematic 20+ minutes (almost) instrumental Krautrock score for an imaginary movie. Nothing more, nothing less. And done by Motorpsycho this is of course jawdropping stuff.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
19. LILI REFRAIN - Mana
    
    
    
    A mystic shaman and guardian to invisible realms beyond our perception? Or just a vessel of the unfiltered pure joy of music? No matter as which you understand Lili Refrain, there's no doubt that the Italian singer and multi-instrumentalist ultimately wields life-affirming magic on "Mana". On a loop-based backdrop of synths, drums and guitars her voice mesmerizes between incantatory whispers, Eastern European and Scandinavian Folk spheres and other-worldly Opera. Wondrous and spellbinding.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
20. LONDON ODENSE ENSEMBLE - Jaiyede Sessions Vol.1
    
    
    
    Whenever El Paraiso Records go Jazz, it's worth noticing anyway, but an album which is the culmination of what was growing on two albums of the Martin Rude & Jakob Skøtt Duo and a third extended to the Rude Skøtt Osborn Trio seems especially interesting. Bass, drums and saxophone now find themselves in the company of keyboards and guitar and together they burn a smooth firework of timeless Miles/Coltrane/Hancock worship between hippie Prog, Psych Rock and Latin Jazz Fusion with electronic sprinkles on top. Embedded in a warm dynamic production the chemistry and momentum of these sessions leave nothing to be desired. Volume 2 incoming soon...
    
    
    elparaisorecords · London Odense Ensemble: Sojourner
    
    
    
    
    
    
21. E-L-R - Vexier
    
    
    
    On their second full-length album the Swiss trio transforms mountains into riffs and lends the landscapes and ancient myths of the Alps an ethereal voice, incarnated through the levitating harmonies of their two female singers. "Vexier" is an escapist, dreamily headbanging monolith, which unifies Shoegaze, Doom, Post Rock, sludgy Post Metal and a pinch of Black Metal in elemental majesty.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
22. EMMA RUTH RUNDLE - EG2: Dowsing Voice
    
    
    
    So intimate yet so very strange. So experimental yet so pure and direct. Mostly inspired by traveling through Wales on her own for one month and recorded with minimal equipment Emma Ruth Rundle created an album she doesn't even try to sell as something equally as big and important as her regular work. But even though this wordless journey seems closer to Lingua Ignota, Jarboe or Diamanda Galas  being lost in the wilderness than to her usual sound, there is no reason to shrug this sinister subconscious twin of "Engine Of Hell" off! Dark and intriguing.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

MIDYEAR TOP 15: my favorite albums of 2022 (so far)

Ok, you know what's up: Half of the year is over, so here's my very spontanously in the moment and probably subject to heavy change until the end of the year list of my favorite albums of 2022 - so far!

No distinction between live and studio albums and only stuff I already own in physical form.

1. VOIVOD
   Synchro Anarchy
   
   
   
   
   
2. WIEGEDOOD
   There's Always Blood At The End Of The Road
   
   
   
   
3. ARCHIVE
   Call To Arms & Angels / Super8
   
   
   
   
4. GGGOLDDD
   This Shame Should Not Be Mine / Live At Roadburn Redux
   
   
   
   
5. JOHN ZORN
   Perchance To Dream
   
   
   
   
6. LAIBACH
   Wir sind das Volk
   
   
   
   
7. JO QUAIL
   The Cartographer
   
   
   
   
8. NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM
   Set Chaos To The Heart Of The Moon
   
   
   
   
9. ASSUMPTION
   Hadean Tides
   
   
   
   
10. 300,000 V.K.
    Der Sturm
    
    
    
    
11. TEMPLE FANG
    Fang Temple
    
    
    
    
12. BLUT AUS NORD
    Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses
    
    
    
    
13. LONDON ODENSE ENSEMBLE
    Jaiyede Sessions Volume I
    
    
    
    
14. BLOOD QUARTET
    Root 7
    
    
    
    
15. YĪN YĪN
    The Age Of Aquarius
    
    
    

JOHN ZORN - Perchance To Dream

Imagine you're back in the early 1980s. You discover the early albums of a jazz instrumentalist called John Zorn and you decide: Wow, that guy is onto something! I will collect everything he ever releases!

Yeah, at least from a financial standpoint that would have been a regrettable life choice for sure. Probably still worth it though.

JOHN ZORN - Perchance To Dream (CD) (2022)

One of Zorn's several recent albums is this one named after a famous Shakespeare quote. It's one of those works, where he didn't perform on Saxophone or any other instrument himself, but put together a group of musicians to play his compositions.

The line-up features his longtime companion Bill Frisell (among many other things core member of Naked City, yet also guest guitarist on Earth's "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull"), organ player John Medeski, Brian Marsella on piano and Kenny Wollesen on drums and chimes.

What makes this album stand out immediately among a big chunk of Zorn's discography is that this music is sincerely beautiful and tender. No shock effects, no outbursts of shrill art or challenging avant-garde. No, this album is a relatively calm and contemplative experience. Yet that doesn't mean it's without profundity or unexpected elements.
What gives "Perchance To Dream" a lot of its depth is the choice of instruments and sounds. Piano and chimes, organ and Fender Rhodes piano are almost constantly creating those vibrant pervading overtones which seem to resonate right in your head. It gives the whole album a very dreamy, yet inspirational atmosphere.

The first track "Introit" is a meandering piece of almost neo-classical doomjazz from minds, who were there, before the term doomjazz was even coined. Underlained with ambience by cymbals and chimes the piano seems to work towards a melody for over ten very patient minutes without ever reaching a real solution.
The band is lulling you into believing that the whole album could be like that, but then follow it up with a surprising light swing in "A Secret Twilight". As the Rhodes and organ go through your whole body, the guitar light-heartedly soothes you with Latin fusion vibes.

The whole rest of "Perchance To Dream" is covering various aspects of easy-listenable smooth jazz. Even with the often prominent guitar this sounds very traditional, but still with that certain nocturnal Zorn twist. It's dark music, Nachtmusik, but it's not menacing or evil. The closest we get towards the edge of a sinister place is in the accordingly named "Hekate", in which the Greek Goddess, guardian of portals between worlds, shows you just glimpses of the chaos on the other side.

But then the soft piano and guitar in "Tenderness" bring you back into a most comfortable realm. No, most of the album is just beautiful and meaningful beyond my limited capacity of words.

In cases such as this it's usually a relieve that I can include a Bandcamp player or YouTube video and leave it to the reader's ear to complete the picture. But that's also John Zorn: To my knowledge there are no samples whatsoever out there. Buy the CD or die!

And I can only recommend to do so, before they get rare and expensive. Because this might be one of the most wonderful listening experiences you'll get this year.