Freedom Bondage
Alternative Tentacles, 1995

While any of the dozens of releases from this Tokyo noise rock juggernaut make fine foundation-rumbling additions to a noisenik record collection, this mid-career release stands out as one of the more intriguing documents of their storied oeuvre. While this album, like all Zeni Geva releases, delivers the punishing, heavy pummeling you come to expect from a Zeni Geva record, Freedom Bondage benefits from more complex, dynamic song structures and guitar tones that set it apart from other records in their discography as well as the bands they’re often compared to, such as Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, Einstürzende Neubauten, Grief, The Melvins, or Swans. In fact, many of their records have a similar vibe as Swans’ Filth and Cop albums, with oppressively heavy riffs played with maximum intensity and minimal fuss, but like the contradictory title of the album, the songs on Freedom Bondage utilize more tools to create haunting and ethereal passages, adding depth and texture to their onslaught.

The sequencing of this album also makes it a standout release. The fun kicks off with lead track “Alienation”, which chugs along at a quick pace and pummels with K.K. Null’s legendarily guttural riffs, perfectly captured by Steve Albini’s production. This is followed by “Death Blows”, featuring a minimal song structure that’s brutally simple but flourished with some chiming acoustic guitar and a fuzzed out guitar eruption as a finale that ups the ante for the listener/victim. Next, “Burn Your Flesh” gets rounded out by sustained organ tones and some double kick bass drums before track 4, “Disorganization”, a rock steady riff fest, bleeds into the next pounder “Hate Trader”, that’s notable for some harsh church organ from hell. Truly, it comes off sounding something like a jacked up dot matrix printer going berserk, followed with some bouncing vocal effects, acoustic guitar, and a sudden end with a single bass drum hit. Perfectly demented. Perfectly brilliant. Side 1 ends with the sprawling “Interzona”, featuring some wicked guitar leads, piano, a tense rhythm guitar backdrop and a gear jamming mid section that dissolves into a spacious and haunting space before building back up with some double bass drumming and fragmented song structures, coming very close to King Crimson prog or Don Caballero math rock territory.

The first few seconds of Side 2, could be mistaken for a dungeon synth track, starting with hushed keyboard, vocals, and acoustic guitar, but nearly 2 minutes in, some distant Sonic Youth-style guitar sneaks in and helps “Shi No Umi” slowly build until a massive, snarling riff takes over near the 3 minute mark. Floodgates opened, the title track “Freedom Bondage” rips at a speedy clip until about halfway through, when the floor drops out and some dub-style drum fuckery bounces around spare guitar work. After a few deep breaths, it kicks back up into high gear again to finish out the track. The finale, “Ground Zero” is the longest track on the album at nearly 11 minutes (although it fades to the sound of falling rain at about the 9 minute mark). Starting off with some sinister synth on par with the gnarliest of ’80s horror soundtracks, this sprawling bludgeoner pulls out all of the tricks, plus a few new ones, like clean singing from K.K. Null (!). Freedom Bondage is a masterful demonstration of why this masterpiece might be one of the greatest albums by one of the greatest bands of the Japanese underground.