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John Zorn - Moonchild review



Reviewer:
N/A

4 users:
9.25
Band: John Zorn
Album: Moonchild
Release date: 2006


01. Hellfire
02. Ghosts of Thelema
03. Abraxas
04. Possession
05. Caligula
06. 616
07. Equinox
08. Moonchild
09. Le Part Maudit
10. The Summoning
11. Sorceress

Now here is a real treat for those of us who like for our music to be a little forward-thinking and belong to the oft-abused avant-garde category. Moonchild is a guided improvisation project led by none other than John Zorn (the father of 'extreme' avant-garde) and includes the incredibly talented Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn and Joey Byron as instrumentalists. The effect belongs to roughly the same category as similar experiments by Fushitsusha, Keiji Haino, Massacre, Ruins or Zeni Geva, although to me it actually seems like this is the most consistent and focused release of this kind yet.

John Zorn is not actually a performer on Moonchild. Instead, he is responsible for the whole concept of the project and for guiding the trio of great musicians that he invited to record it. Moonchild is influenced by such things as Alistair Crowley and Artonin Artaud and is supposed to be a hybrid of magickal spontaneity and ritualistic trance, at least according to Zorn's detailed notes. Even if we think of all of this as hogwash, the music on this record truly speaks for itself. This is absolutely brilliant stuff with all the performers going to much further extremes than they ever dared before. Especially Patton is incredible. Adding to his already impressive portfolio of techniques, he now also provides us with a bona-fide black metal screech, as well as some real death metal growls. Trevor Dunn outdoes himself on the bass, providing both a solid rhythm section and quite melodic riffs. The drummer, Joey Byron is a real animal and it really amazes me that he doesn't get lost amongst all the convoluted rhythms.

This is a masterpiece of a record and highly recommended to anyone interested in the more experimental sides of rock music. This might not come as a surprise considering the caliber of the musicians involved in this endeavor but a lot of things could have also gone wrong. They didn't. Get this album!





Written on 24.11.2006 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool.


Comments

Comments: 6   Visited by: 38 users
24.11.2006 - 02:45
ylside

Very interesting indeed, I'll to listen to it.
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24.11.2006 - 03:47
Dangerboner
Lactation Cnslt
I've heard some of it. It's hella weird but I need to hear more.
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24.11.2006 - 06:46
Linak
I Own You Bitch
Moon...child?.. seriously? oh.. you gotta be kidding me, Moonchild? seriously... *gasp* I am SO listening to that album... one day
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Stick this up your fucking pee-aitch-dee.
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24.11.2006 - 15:25
Baz Anderson

is there anywhere where we can hear some samples or a song or something?
i am interested in hearing this...

EDIT: i have just found one track here
http://www.myspace.com/johnzorn
and it was very... interesting..
is there any more anywhere?
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27.11.2006 - 20:08
Alfonso

The drummer's name is Joey Baron. He's been a longtime Zorn collaborator, playing in his best-known ensembles: Naked City and Masada.
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04.12.2010 - 18:27
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
Written by Alfonso on 27.11.2006 at 20:08

The drummer's name is Joey Baron. He's been a longtime Zorn collaborator, playing in his best-known ensembles: Naked City and Masada.


These two projects are among the best on avant-garde extreme.

Love those grind/jazz works with ambient escapades, this is extreme music at its charmest level! =)
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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