Though not quite the equal of 1995's
Freedom Bondage, the Albini-helmed
Desire for Agony is nonetheless an exercise in guitar brutality and avant-extreme noise execution. However, it is not as directional in its attack; that is to say,
Desire for Agony is a bit more oblique, jazzy even, at least in notational structure. Either way, there is no suppressing or sublimating KK Null's devastating guitar work -- not to mention his Samurai war vocals. Having developed his morbid fascination many years before, what with early album titles like Autofuck, How to Kill, and Skullfuck Live, Null certainly keeps the spirit -- Mishima-like -- alive with tracks like the titular "Desire for Agony" and "Autopsy Love," the latter of which steamrolls like
Motorhead meets
King Crimson. Even if not the band's finest hour in the sun,
Desire for Agony, as with any
Zeni Geva release, is about as intense as humanly possible. ~ Patrick Kennedy