The Great God Plan CD

Painkiller, the legendary experimental trio of jazz saxophonist John Zorn, Napalm Death founder turned electronic maverick Mick 'Scorn' Harris and Material bassist Bill Laswell, return with another slab of nightmarish intensity, this time drawing inspiration from Arthur Machen's 1894 horror classic The Great God Pan. Known for their blistering fusion of free jazz, metal and avant-garde chaos, the group takes a more measuredithough no less menacingiapproach here, delivering two sprawling, doom-laden pieces that creep through the shadows with unrelenting dread. 'Ercildoune' builds slowly, its eerie atmospherics punctuated by Zorn's tortured sax wails and Laswell's cavernous basslines, while Harris keeps the tension tight with percussive restraint that feels more like a lurking presence than a rhythmic backbone. 'Secret Sins' takes the descent even deeper, a brooding, oppressive soundscape where distorted drones and spectral echoes coil into a suffocating fog of unease. Less outright feral than some of their past work but just as unsettling, this latest offering in Painkiller's ongoing trilogy proves they can summon horror in more ways than oneisometimes, the slowest burns leave the deepest scars.