John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris on PainKiller's Surprising Return

'Samsara,' out soon, is the trio's first new recording in 30 years

Just dropping in quickly to share a fresh New York Times feature on the in-progress reunion of PainKiller, the pioneering jazz-metal-dub-ambient outfit formed in the early ’90s by John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris, then best known as the drummer of Napalm Death. Follow this gift link to read.

Technically the group has been active in the years since its final early-era studio album, 1994’s Execution Ground, with the original lineup playing shows through 1998, and Zorn and Laswell reviving the project first with Hamid Drake and later with Ruins’ Tatsuya Yoshida. (An edition with Dave Lombardo was announced for last year’s Big Ears festival but didn’t end up actually convening.) A live album from the Harris lineup, Talisman, came out in ’02, but that was recorded back in ’94, and though the group reunited for a one-off 2008 show in Paris, that was never officially released.

So Samsara, out Nov. 29th, marks the first new music from the Harris trio — which both Zorn and Laswell said they consider to be the band’s definitive lineup — in three decades. And as you’ll read, the circumstances of the collaboration are very different this time around.

One reason for that is Laswell’s health, which continues to be in crisis — go here for the latest on his condition and how you can help.

For more background on the group, see this 2020 Rolling Stone feature on Zorn’s various metal-oriented collaborations and this 2012 interview with Laswell, part of my (dormant but not defunct!) Heavy Metal Bebop series. As for the present, I’ll let the piece itself fill in the rest of the details. When the record comes out, play it loud!