History Music / Merzbow

* {{Biseinen}}: He's fairly good-looking [[OlderThanTheyLook for his age]], hell, in some pictures he even appears like an older version of Music/{{Skrillex}} sans the undercut.

* ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic: One of the biggest inversions of this trope in music: he appears like a typical nerdy {{Biseinen}}, with long hair, glasses and a skinny physique. [[OlderThanTheyLook He even looks fairly young for his age]]. But his musical output is ''literally'' the auditory equivalent of MindRape.
* '''''[[SensoryAbuse SENSORY ABUSE]]''''': One of the masters.

Despite being highly acclaimed in many musical circles, '''''Merzbow's music is definitely NOT for everyone'''''; much of his work is ''extremely'' harsh, dissonant, mechanical and rough-sounding, and often employs ''every form'' of musical SensoryAbuse imaginable, including, but not limited to: heavily distorted, chattering electronics, tape loops, an emphasis on both heavy, sub-sonic bass and piercing ultrasonics, and extensive use of reverb, feedback, and static, which is even made more harsh and sonically abusive through his [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth rough production style]][[note]]Remember this as you keep reading, however; you're in for a big surprise[[/note]]. His music comes across as overwhelming and difficult to listen to, and to the uninititated, may come across as sounding like a massive wall of black noise.

Despite being highly acclaimed in many musical circles, '''''Merzbow's music is definitely NOT for everyone'''''; much of his work is ''extremely'' harsh, dissonant, mechanical and rough-sounding, and often employs ''every form'' of musical SensoryAbuse imaginable, including, but not limited to: heavily distorted, chattering electronics, tape loops, an emphasis on both heavy, sub-sonic bass and piercing ultrasonics, and extensive use of reverb, feedback, and static, which is even made more harsh and sonically abusive through his [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth rough production style]][[note]]Remember this as you keep reading, however; you're in for a big surprise[[/note]]. His music comes across as overwhelming and difficult to listen to, and to the uninititated, may come across as sounding like a massive wall of black noise. Due to this, his music is very, VERY high on the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness. [[note]]He is the last artist on the scale, with one of his songs being classified as the hardest song in the '''entire''' scale.[[/note]]

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: His output is a VERY, '''VERY''' hard '''[[UpToEleven 11]]''' ''at the lightest'', but what's surprising about him is the fact that, despite being known for his Level 11 music, he has also done Level 1 ambient/chillout music, and in live shows, he is known for toning down his music so as to bring it to around 8-10. Most of the time, though, he cannot be ranked lower than 11 because most of his music is just so hard and brutalizing that it easily goes off the high end of the scale.

* SignatureStyle: Very loud, chattering electronics, time-signature torture, loads and loads of SensoryAbuse, and harsh, disorienting atmospherics. Think of a Famicom and a fax machine fucking.

** Some consider Music/AphexTwin and, more recently, Music/VenetianSnares, Music/{{Skrillex}}, Music/KnifeParty and Music/{{Excision}} to be his modern-day, albeit (relatively) LighterAndSofter counterparts.

Merzbow's music is a matter of debate among ElectronicMusic fans, owing to its [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible highly experimental and abstract nature]]. He is frequently cited as an early pioneer of {{Industrial}} music in TheEighties, alongside acts such as Music/ThrobbingGristle and Music/Whitehouse. Due to this, he has gained substantial attention in underground ElectronicMusic circles, with many indies acts drawing inspiration from his works. However, he has also made forays into ambient-ish music and musique concrete. It is also arguable that he had a role in establishing/influencing the intelligent dance music (IDM) genre when it was still an UnbuiltTrope, before artists like Music/{{Autechre}} and Music/AphexTwin entered the spotlight.

Merzbow's music is a matter of debate among ElectronicMusic fans, owing to its [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible highly experimental and abstract nature]]. He is frequently cited as an early pioneer of {{Industrial}} music in TheEighties, alongside acts such as Music/ThrobbingGristle and Music/Whitehouse. Due to this, he has gained substantial attention in underground ElectronicMusic circles, with many indies acts drawing inspiration from his works. However, he has also made forays into ambient music and musique concrete. It is also arguable that he had a role in establishing/influencing the intelligent dance music (IDM) genre when it was still an UnbuiltTrope, before artists like Music/{{Autechre}} and Music/AphexTwin entered the spotlight.

** In a rather extreme example of [[ZigzaggedTrope zigzagging]] this trope, he has not just produced some of the clearest albums on record, but he has also recorded the ''two most horribly brickwalled'' albums ever produced: ''Pulse Demon'' and ''Venerology'', the latter having a dynamic range of '''''zero''''', gain values in ''the negative twenties'' and containing the loudest track ever put to compact disc: "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times".

* StylisticSuck: He has ''actual musical talent''; intentionally bad musicianship is just his style.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: His output is a VERY, '''VERY''' hard '''[[UpToEleven 11]]''' ''at the lightest''. Some of his ambient works are definitely softer, but he cannot be ranked lower than 11 because most of his music is just so hard and brutalizing that it easily goes off the high end of the scale.

** In a rather extreme example of [[ZigzaggedTrope zigzagging]] this trope, he has not just produced some of the clearest albums on record, but he has also recorder the ''two most horribly brickwalled'' albums ever produced: ''Pulse Demon'' and ''Venerology'', the latter having a dynamic range of '''''zero''''', gain values in ''the negative twenties'' and containing the loudest track ever put to compact disc: "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times".

** Played straight with ''Pulse Demon'' and ''Venerology'', two of the loudest albums ever released, with the latter having a dynamic range of '''''zero''''', gain values in ''the negative twenties'' and containing the loudest track ever put to compact disc: "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times".

** Some consider Music/AphexTwin and, more recently, Music/VenetianSnares, Music/{{Skrillex}}, Music/KnifeParty and Excision to be his modern-day, albeit (relatively) LighterAndSofter counterparts.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: The mere fact that his musical style sounds like the equivalent of a radio station advertisement gone horribly wrong is enough to put people away from his music. Little do many know that unlike other Noise artists, he has ''actual musical talent'', and it shows up even in his harshest recordings, though it's all hidden behind that mess of drum machine blastbeats and chattering electronics.

** Some consider Music/AphexTwin and, more recently, Music/{{Skrillex}}, Music/KnifeParty and Excision to be his modern-day, albeit LighterAndSofter counterparts.
* StylisticSuck: The radio static you hear in many of his songs is not due to technical failure or recording mishaps: he intentionally makes his music sound staticky to obscure any traces of melody and make his songs more abstract-sounding.

* [[WidgetSeries Widget Artist]]: [[CrazyAwesome Hands down, the most eccentric musician in the J-music scene]]. He's even more weird than all of them combined.

** Some consider Music/AphexTwin and, more recently, Music/{{Skrillex}} and Music/KnifeParty to be his modern-day, albeit LighterAndSofter counterparts.

[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/Merzbow YMMV page here.]]

* SignatureStyle: Very loud, chattering electronics, time-signature torture, loads and loads of SensoryAbuse, and harsh, disorienting atmospherics. Think of a Famicom being raped by a fax machine.

* SignatureStyle: Very loud, chattering electronics, time-signature torture, loads and loads of SensoryAbuse, and harsh, disorienting atmospherics.

Despite being highly acclaimed in many musical circles, '''''Merzbow's music is definitely NOT for everyone'''''; much of his work is ''extremely'' harsh, dissonant, mechanical and rough-sounding, and often employs ''every form'' of musical SensoryAbuse imaginable, including, but not limited to: heavily distorted, chattering electronics, tape loops, an emphasis on both heavy, sub-sonic bass and piercing ultrasonics, and extensive use of reverb, feedback, and static, which is even made more harsh and sonically abusive through his [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth rough production style]][[note]]Remember this as you keep reading, however; you're in for a big surprise[[/note]]. His music comes across as overwhelming and difficult to listen to, and to the uninititated, may come across as sounding like a massive wall of black noise. Due to this, his music is very, VERY high on the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness. [[note]]He is the last artist on the scale[[/note]]

----

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Early works were mostly noisy PsychedelicRock. Merzbow later scrapped this for harsh {{Industrial}} music akin to early power electronics artists such as Music/ThrobbingGristle, and again in TheNineties for a harsher and louder sound influenced by early Brutal DeathMetal bands.

** Ambient, [[AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDiffrent believe it or not]].

Merzbow's music is a matter of debate among ElectronicMusic fans, owing to its [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible highly experimental and abstract nature]]. He is frequently cited as an early pioneer of {{Industrial}} music in TheEighties, alongside acts such as Music/ThrobbingGristle and Music/Whitehouse. Due to this, he has gained substantial attention in underground ElectronicMusic circles, with many indies acts drawing inspiration from his works. However, he has also made forays into ambient music.

** IDM: He is one of the early pioneers of this subgenre.
** Ambient, believe it or not.

** He, however, has also produced the two loudest albums currently known, ''Pulse Demon'' and ''Venerology'', the latter having a dynamic range of '''''zero''''' and containing the loudest track ever put to compact disc: "I Lead You Towards Glorious Times".
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: His output is a VERY, '''VERY''' hard '''[[UpToEleven 11]]''' ''at the lightest''; he cannot be ranked lower than that because his music is just so hard and brutalizing that it easily goes off the high end of the scale.

* {{Postmodernism}}: He's influenced by Dadaism and early {{Industrial}} artists.

* StylisticSuck

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Early works were mostly {{Industrial}} music akin to early power electronics artists such as Music/ThrobbingGristle. Merzbow later scrapped the industrial sound for a harsher and louder sound influenced by early Brutal DeathMetal bands.

* '''LoudnessWar''': His output might sound like a huge wall of blastbeats and staticky black noise, but surprisngly, he '''''[[AvertedTrope averts]]''''' this trope: almost all of his musical output is crystal-clear and highly polished.

* HarshNoise: He is the TropeCodifier.
* {{Industrial}}: One of the pioneers of this musical style. It is arguable that he has made contributions to the development of IndustrialMetal with his DeathMetal-influenced mid-1990s work.

* ArchivePanic: Unless you are Merzbow himself, do NOT attept to collect every single release he has put out since 1979, as his catalog is rather...extensive. [[FromBadToWorse Probably not helped by the fact that he is known to work under multiple aliases]].

* {{Industrial}}: One of the pioneers of this musical style.

* {{Postmodernism}}

YouHaveBeenWarned. If you really, REALLY, '''REALLY''', '''''REALLY''''' want to take a shot at his music, then [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGqzaPzrQG8 1930: go ahead and listen]]. Just pray that your eardrums won't get blown off in the process.

TheOtherWiki [[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merzbow_discography has a comprehensive list of his known works]].

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: His output is a VERY, '''VERY''' hard ''[[UpToEleven 11]]'' ''at the lightest''; he cannot be ranked lower than that because his music is just so hard and brutalizing that it easily goes off the high end of the scale.

* EverythingIsAnInsturment: He even uses instruments made out of ''trash''.