*2025 stock* PainKiller's Collected Works presents the complete documentation of one of experimental music's most brutal and boundary-pushing collaborations. This four-CD compilation gathers all studio recordings and essential live performances from the trio of John Zorn (saxophone, vocals), Bill Laswell (bass), and Mick Harris (drums, vocals), documenting their three-year assault on the boundaries between avant-garde jazz and extreme metal. PainKiller was formed in 1991 when NYC downtown giants John Zorn and Bill Laswell teamed up with Mick Harris, the legendary drummer who had just left grindcore pioneers Napalm Death. The collaboration brought together three icons of underground music: Zorn's expertise in radical improvisation and genre-blending projects like Naked City, Laswell's visionary production work with everyone from Public Image Ltd to Herbie Hancock, and Harris's devastating blast beats that had helped define extreme metal.
The music explored territory previously charted by avant-garde group Last Exit (in which Laswell was also a member) with a decided soft spot for ambiance and dub. Their approach was deceptively simple: could improvisation make a crowd mosh? The answer was a resounding yes, as they created furious, booming blends of thrashy punk and squalling free jazz that were entirely improvised but maintained recognizable grooves firmly planted in the metal universe.
Collected Works includes their controversial early EPs Guts of a Virgin and Buried Secrets, both released on Earache Records and featuring artwork so extreme that the former was banned in the UK under the Obscene Publications Act. The compilation documents their evolution from 11-second noise blasts like "Handjob" to extended ambient explorations, showcasing the full range of their destructive capabilities. The centerpiece remains 1994's Execution Ground, their double album opus featuring extended tracks that displayed the full range of the musicians' skills. Zorn's unmistakable shrieking saxophone, Harris's pounding drums, and Laswell's growling sub-bass lines received heavy mixing desk treatment, resulting in music that was no less intense than their early works but revealed new depths of atmospheric manipulation.
Also included are live recordings from Japan featuring collaborations with Yamatsuka Eye of Boredoms, whose unhinged screams and throat gymnastics proved a perfect match for Zorn's squalling sax. Guest appearances throughout their catalog included Buckethead, Keiji Haino, Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green of Godflesh, and others from experimental music's outer fringes.
Collected Works captures a unique moment when three masters of their respective underground scenes created something that satisfied neither jazz purists nor metal traditionalists while establishing entirely new possibilities for extreme improvised music.
