John Zorn — Moonchild

With Moonchild ,John Zorn is again invocating the occult and devilry into musical form. But instead of using classical instruments as he has in recent pieces. He’s using Rock instruments to make a suite of songs, which bends and breaks the shackles of rockstructure. It summons up wonderfully intense and sinisterly brooding atmospheres, to revel in again and again.

Zorn has used long time collaborators Mike Patton (Peeping Tom, Fantômas), Joey Baron and Trevor Dunn (Trio Convulsant, Electric Masada) to make an album that is both captivating and structurally complex. Patton is in fine form, giving a breath taking vocal performance, twisting his voice from rabid growls to vocal noises to speaking tongues to creepy crypt keeper speaking in foreign language, possibly Latin. His voice soaring through many pitches and emotions. Joey Baron snakes out some wonderfully all over the place drumpatterns, that give the feeling of organised chaos, but also he touches down in ponding death toll cinematics and ritualistic abandon. Trevor Dunn uses his bass to create hardcore eruptions, punky stretches, cartoon start/stop noise and eerier black atmospherics, that could curdle milk. Though out the work there seem’s, to prevail the musty air of demonic visions and mist enveloped graveyards, sinister figures leering at you over blacked grave stones.

It stand’s as one of Zorn’s greatest works, that puffs up great clouds of sinister occultic groove to intense vein bulging rock and eerier ‘don’t look behind you’ creepy sound scapes. A blackly twisted soundwork, which I can see enjoying for many an hours to come, trying to unwrap it’s darkly macabre secrets. I recommend those who can make their way to Zorn's performance of this piece, at The Barbican the middle of next month, do so. Because it’s going to be one hell of a show, literally, I’m sure.