Pulse Demon
| Pulse Demon | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Merzbow | ||||
| Released | May 28, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | October–November 1995 | |||
| Studio | ZSF Produkt Studio, Tokyo, Japan | |||
| Genre | Noise | |||
| Length | 73:20 | |||
| Label | Release | |||
| Producer | Masami Akita | |||
| Merzbow chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| Pitchfork Media | (8.7/10) |
Pulse Demon is an album by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow. Unlike Venereology, his previous album for Release, this album is not inspired by heavy metal. Outtakes from this album are included on Merzmorphosis.
The holography, shiny silver artwork is an homage to the 1970s Prospective 21e Siècle imprint of Philips Records, in particular the albums of Ivo Malec. However, the art is most similar to the work of Bridget Riley, "Fall" and "Current" in particular.
Basically, this shiny silver is the color of Heavy Metal. I mean it the way William Burroughs said it. My basic idea is I think this idea has been approached in the past by Heldon and King Crimson.
The title was inspired by the 1970s afro-rock band Demon Fuzz and Akita's use of a fuzz box as a pulse generator. Some song titles were inspired by Jon Appleton's Appleton Syntonic Menagerie LP.
Critical reaction to Pulse Demon was mixed. Pitchfork Media gave the album's 2003 re-release a score of 8.7/10, their highest rating out of their sparse eight Merzbow album reviews. Calling it an "incomparable classic", the reviewer describes the album as "simply pure sound, viciously unadulterated static", going on to state that "music cannot get much more extreme than this. Maybe John Cage's 4'33", and that's so far to the limit, it's probably cheating. This is the edge of music, of sound in general." Also praised was the album's packaging, being called "more valuable than some people's lives." However, AllMusic's dismissive two-line review from Jason Ankeny was "Merzbow's second American release offers more of the deafening white noise that is his trademark, mastered for maximum loudness. Not for the faint of heart, but ideally suited for the hard of hearing." Being only given 2.5/5 stars, Pulse Demon is one of the four lowest rated of AllMusic's 31 (solo) Merzbow reviews. The A.V. Club's ambivalent review summarized it as "genuinely extreme, downright torturous sounds that are strangely compelling in their shredding intensity."
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