Noisembryo / Noise Matrix

It’s a bit hard to nail down the ‘best’ place to start with Merzbow, partly as he’s released over 400 albums, partly as there are several distinct phases to track through his forty-plus years of dedication to noise. But Noisembryo is as good a Merzbow album as any, indeed better than most; unrelenting and yet hypnotic, somehow flickering with surprising detail, its evocations of crushing steelworks, chemical flammables and drag racing burnouts match velocity with volume. Its textural richness rewards repeated listening, even as its decisive cut-offs and disorienting channel-switching repeatedly jolt your body into unholy contortions. An incredible rush.