PURPLE TRAP

DECIDED...ALREADY THE MOTIONLESS HEART OF TRANQUILITY,
TANGLING THE PURPLE PRAYER CALLED "I"

 Disc one:
  1/  Who Decided the Number 1?                  (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           3.33
  2/  The Reassembling Place of Dispersed Holy   (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           11.43
               Murderous Thought
  3/  I Already Know the Settlement of           (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           12.42
           Iridescent Happiness
  4/  I Can Hear a Scream...A Scream Resembling  (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           7.36
                    a Scream
  5/  Only Half An Imitation of Your Imitation   (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           3.41
                  of Yourself
  6/  Come To This Side...Sadness                (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           5.36
  7/  Supposedly Generous Possessors of Death    (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           17.46
          Meet a Warning While Napping

 Disc two:
  8/  Just Now Let Us Continue To Say Farewell   (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           6.44
  9/  Decided...Already The Motionless Heart of  (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           5.40
           Tranquility, Tangling the Prayer
                     Called "I"
  10/ A Sudden Accident Protesting Production    (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           6.54
                    Methods
  11/ Where Shall Released Time Go Next          (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           8.44
  12/ Continuously Draw a Gentle Spiral...       (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           30.49
                 Red Death!
  13/ Ask a So-Called Sage Who Speaks Only       (Keiji,Laswell,Ali)           6.27
        Plausible Excuses The Meaning of
            the Volition "Further..."

          Recorded at Orange Music, Orange, New Jersey, October 1998
          Engineered by Robert Musso
          Produced by John Zorn
          Associate Producer: Kazunori Sugiyama
Haino Keiji: guitars; Bill Laswell: bass; Rashied Ali: drums.

          1999 - Tzadik (USA), TZ 7221 (2CD)

REVIEWS :

Guitarist/vocalist Keiji Haino, bassist Bill Laswell, and drummer Rashied Ali jam forth an endless wall of distorted builds and apexes that are ends in themselves. These extend-a-climax distortions, much along the lines of a Sonic Youth extended instrumental freak-out, are their own payoff, as there never was a structure — pop or otherwise — that was deviated from or returned to. Haino's distinctive yells and plaintive moans add some worthwhile variation, but overall the recording is one interminable set-ending crescendo. However cathartic it may be, it is still wanky. For die-hard fans only.

2 stars out of 5

Joslyn Layne (courtesy of the All Music Guide website)