Review of 13 Japanese Birds Vol 9: Hiyodori

Well from what I've heard this is the best of the series so far and the opening track, Hiyodori, is one that I would love to hear more of but I'm thinking I won't be so lucky. It's loud and brutal and features some great loops and flicks of the ole laptop pedal knobs. Across the Earth starts out with a cool distorted loop and then goes into the usual drumming we've heard through out the series. This track sounds like a song at times, which is something I don't want to hear from Merzbow at all, but for some reason the track is still pretty cool sounding overall and kept me interested during the 16+ minutes. Sounds like it'd be on a Boris With Merzbow release. Past the half way point the track slows down and goes into some Prog Rock sounding thing...then picks up again. This has got to be the most musical sounding track he's ever done and it's pretty damn good but it's not Merzbow. Purple Triangle is another smash of loud noise and spazzed drums. Nothing special. For what the series is worth I think it's a good concept but damn does it all seem rushed. I am going to give this a 4/5 simply because it's the best from the series.