Extrema Ratio: A Dangerous Method

In 1989, John Zorn, in the liner notes of Spy Vs Spy (Elektra), a cover album of Ornette Coleman compositions, thanked (among many) the bands Napalm Death, Blind Idiot God, and The Accused, before finishing with "Fucking hardcore rules. Smash racism." Zorn's music comes slamming back to mind with A Dangerous Method from Extrema Ratio, because the timing is right for improvised music to return to hardcore. "Naked Convulsions" opens the disc with a sample of the writer William Burroughs explaining, "Nothing is true, everything is permitted; everything is permitted because nothing is true." These prophetic words may never have been more accurate given the first casualty in the presidency of Donald Trump was truth.

The quartet of vocalist XlaidoX, baritone saxophonist Alessandro Cartolari, drummer Diego Rosso, and Valdjau Kathportha on electronics reanimate Zorn's bands Naked City and Painkiller with the primal screams of vocalists Yamatsuka Eye and Mike Patton of The Dillinger Escape Plan. That opening track blasts screeching baritone against off-kilter beats and megaphone declarations to wake up. Throughout, the thickness of electronic pulse, baritone saxophone and bass drum kits, acts as heavy artillery. When the quartet switches back and forth between the thrashing speed violence and the quietude of strained whispers on "I 8 Indifference," they work a juxtaposition to great effect. "Asthenic Rite" works an oxymoronic loud ambient post-apocalyptic path with the assistance of Luca Benedetto's trumpet and Fritz Welch's spoken words. By the time we get to the hardcore pulse of "Revolution" with words from Mao Tse-tung calling for a class war, it's clear we're not in Kansas anymore.