''Venereology'' is an album by the Japanese noise musician

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

. It was inspired by

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

and

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...

. It was the first of five Merzbow albums released by the American heavy metal label

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

, under their Release Entertainment imprint, and as such was responsible for bringing Merzbow's work to a much wider audience in the United States. ''Venereology'' has also gained notoriety for the loudness of its mastering, which violated American limitations on the

dynamic range Dynamic range (abbreviated DR, DNR, or DYR) is the ratio between the largest and smallest values that a certain quantity can assume. It is often used in the context of signals, like sound and light. It is measured either as a ratio or as a base-1 ...

allowed on CDs, and for its third track, "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times", which is often cited to be the loudest track created in CD format - having a RMS value of 0.00dB. The liner notes includes an extensive thank you list in the style of many metal releases. ''Venereology'' was reissued on vinyl with a revised track list and bonus tracks by Relapse in March 2019.

Background

Akita then explained that his next album for Relapse, '' Pulse Demon'', was back to his normal sound and was recorded sober.

Track listing

;CD ;LP

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album notes. ;Musicians *

Masami Akita is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

– performer, "decomposition," mixing *Kazuyoshi Kimoto – bass guitar on end part of "Klo Ken Phantasie" and on "Outtrack 2" *Reiko Azuma – noise on "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times" *Bara – vocals on "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times" and "Slave New Desart" ;Technical and visual personnel *Mackerel Can Molding Company – live recording on "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times" *Antoine Bernhart – atrocity photos research *Naomi Hosokawa – photos transformation assistance * Abtechtonics – art direction, color *David Shirk – mastering D*

James Plotkin James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer known for his role in bands such as Khanate (band), Khanate and OLD (band), OLD but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has played guitar for Phantomsmasher and Scorn (band), Sco ...

– mastering P reissue*Jonathan Canady – additional design P reissue*Jacob Speis – layout P reissue*Matt Jacobson – executive producer, visual & logo interpretation for production *Bill Yurkiewicz – executive producer *Masami Akita – remixing and rearrangement from original DAT tapes at Munemihouse, Tokyo in October 2018 P reissue

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1994 albums Merzbow albums