Is it me or is Merzbow getting more melodic and vaguely “kosmische” these days? The opening track ‘Vanamali and Shravan’ is a positive feast of layered electronic tones which, once you can hear your way through the stampede of digital hooves, is packed with one thousand beautiful melodies all exploding at once like fireworks of multiple colours. ‘Balaram’ is decidedly more subdued, and sumptuous glorpy Theremin-like lines shoot their way through an atmospheric pulsation zone along with the slightly more familiar bursts of Merzbow’s sandpapery rasps. ‘Yamuna Snan’ is even more complex, stereophonic explosions and ultra-processed digital water splashes all colliding in a glorious melange of unstoppable tidal-wave proportions. The merciless pounding rhythms and pulses which used to be one of Merzbow’s signature sounds has evolved into something much more ambiguous and benign, and results in music which is no less powerful but somehow more approachable and easier to listen to. (THE SOUND PROJECTOR)