Praxis Sacrifist CD

Praxis: Bill Laswell, John Zorn, Buckethead, Blind Idiot God, Bootsy Collins, Mick Harris, Yamatsuka Eye, Bernie Worrell.
Engineers include: Oz Fritz, Bruce Calder, Matt Stein.
Recorded at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York.
Praxis: Buckethead, John Zorn, Mick Harris, Yamatsuka Eye, Bernie Worrell, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins.
Personnel: Yamatsuka Eye (vocals); Buckethead (guitar).
Audio Mixer: Jason Corsaro.
Recording information: Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, NY.
Unknown Contributor Roles: John Zorn; Bootsy Collins; Bernie Worrell; Mick Harris; Yamatsuka Eye; Rob Soares; Gabe Katz; Ted Epstein; Andy Hawkins; Blind Idiot God.
An experimental group with a musical vision wide enough to encompass artists like the avant-garde musician John Zorn, the eccentric rock guitarist known as Buckethead, and the outrageous funk bassist Bootsy Collins, on this early-1990s release Praxis specializes in semi-instrumental controlled sonic chaos, which swings wildly between the tortured guitar and vocal howls on "Stronghold," the extreme death metal of "Suspension," and the mutant space funk of "The Hook."
The second disc of Bill Laswell and Buckethead's project Praxis is much less of a band effort and much heavier in tone. Laswell calls in some of his associates for various tracks, which makes this more a revolving-door project. Many tracks are speed/thrash metal at their noisiest; most notable of these is "Rivet," which combines Buckethead's ultra-heavy guitar riffs and shredding solos with sounds of shattered glass for an unbelievably aggressive experience. There's also a short dub interlude ("Iron Dub") and a hip-hop freakout with lots of scratching and high-pitched shrieks ("The Hook"). P-Funkers Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell (both also featured on the first disc, Transmutation) each contribute one lengthy track: "Deathstar," with Bootsy's free-form bass explorations, and "Crossing," featuring Bernie's psychedelic improvisation on a distorted Hammond organ. Also thrown into the mixture are Mick Harris (Napalm Death, Scorn) and Yamatsuka Eye (the Boredoms) screaming at the top of their lungs, plus John Zorn on some shrill alto parts and game calls, the band Blind Idiot God, and lots of frightening ambient sounds, noises, and samples out of Shinya Tsukamoto's cult movie Tetsuo: The Iron Man. All this adds to the overall assault on your senses. Though this is a great disc, it will put most beginners off by its mind-numbing intensity; many advanced listeners may also get lost. Only those who feel comfortable with aggressive noise may really enjoy this. There's been a particular CD reissue that should be avoided: all of the tracks are put into one lengthy CD track, with very low sound quality, and half of "Crossing" is missing. This reissue can be easily identified by looking at the back cover, which has the name of producer John T. Matarazzo listed; he was not credited on the first release. ~ Christian GenzelOption (8/94, p.121) - "...With all the industrial-ism going on out there, it's getting harder to make noises of unique character, but as a player and producer Laswell consistently demonstrates the knack to meet that challenge..."