A certain magic floods the room when free improvisers of the highest order get together to make music. And when said improvisers are also kindred spirits who know and can anticipate each other’s moves, a kind of wonderful telepathy takes over. Such was the case when enigmatic Japanese noise legend Merzbow (Masami Akita) got together in the studio with fellow countryman Keiji Haino and Hungarian drummer Balázs Pándi for Become The Discovered, Not The Discoverer. For their second encounter for RareNoise, following 2016’s An Untroublesome Defencelessness, the three intrepid improvisers explore a threshold of sound so blisteringly intense, that it passes into a zone of divine cacophony.
Comprised of four lengthy, uninterrupted suites, each containing dense, sometimes harsh sonic onslaughts, Become The Discovered, Not The Discoverer is fuelled by Merzbow’s cathartic sheets of electronic sound and guitar, Haino’s slashing guitar, bass and vocal work and Pandi’s pummelling intensity on the kit.