The third in a long-running series of collaborations between Japanese noise legend Merzbow and dark ambient/electronic artist Nordvargr (also of Swedish black industrialists Mz.412, Toroidh, and Folkstorm), Partikel III delivers more of the sinister pulsating electronics that marked their previous offerings. This is the final chapter in the trilogy, a carefully composed assault of brutal electronic noise, minimal rhythmic elements and detailed dark ambient soundscapes that often turns into a trance-inducing barrage of sound. The first two tracks on Partikel III were composed by Nordvargr, the second set by Merzbow, with the other artist contributing additional material to each pair of tracks. The sound ranges from the weird skittering electronica of "Heterotic String Hybrid", where murky, almost breakbeat-like rhythms surface through the buzzing analogue drones that hint at the sort of minimal techno that Nordvargr experimented with in his Resignation recordings, then disappear into black holes of vintage synthesizer drift and malevolent, cackling electronics; that rhythmic backbone continues with "Lorentz Covariance", where frenzied tribal drums loop around pulsating, crackling electronic noise, adding new layers of computerized chaos and broken digital rhythm. The latter half of the album is a two-part piece titled "Submaton", split into two fifteen minute halves, each one a terrifying noisescape that melds air raid sirens and burbling black synthesizers with cascading high-end tones and waves of sustained feedback, strange wailing melodies taking shape in the chaos, a heavy malevolent vibe running through the grinding hypnotic loops and gurgling distorted waveforms. This stuff is sort of within the same realm as Prurient's more recent recordings, a fusion of harsh, hyper-complex electronica and severe power-electronics imbued with luminescent pulses of rhythmic black plasma.

    Comes in digipack packaging.