For the Guilt


Eyehategod screamer Mike IX Williams and Wolvhammer vocalist/guitarist Ryan McKern have teamed up -- since 2008 -- for a project they've dubbed the Guilt Øf ...

And yes, it's spelled with the slashed 'O' and punctuation. The project throws the middle finger up at form and structure and "is a deafening noise manifestation bred in the gunfire high-rise of New Orleans," McKern told Noisecreep. "The music is a dark journey of digital discord and rhythmic misanthropy that pushes the borders of sonic deliverance. Incorporating the styles of industrial, hardcore, metal, spoken word and pushing the feedback layers of total disaster." Sounds terrifying, in the best possible way.

Williams and McKern trade instrumentation and vocals in the project. The pair found each other organically, at local, underground shows in New Orleans and began to record their jam sessions. "That was followed by weeks of audio file transfers, a unique way to form a band and keep the creativity flowing when the two lived on "different sides of the shore from each other," McKern also said.

"It's something I've wanted to do for a long time and finally hooked up with someone who is into it and has some equipment to get it all done, that being Ryan from Wolvhammer," Williams also told Noisecreep. "He was living in New Orleans, and we started talking about an experimental noise project that also incorporated punk and black metal elements, as well as straight up ambient and spoken word in the vein of early industrial stuff like the great SPK, Throbbing Gristle, Einsturzende Neubauten, as well as modern acts like Brighter Death Now and Atrax Morgue. Even though Ryan has moved back to Minneapolis, he comes down and stays and we have recorded and manipulated almost 20 songs."

The goal of the project is to take everything the duo love about noise, electro and punk and turn it into a project that could "incorporate any style we wanted, and really make it dark and have it become our own: a free medium without rules or traditional structure," McKern said.

The Guilt Øf ... will be releasing two split albums, one with Italian power electronics group IVS Primae Noctis and one with Japanese noisemongers Merzbow. The Merzbow split will be released on via Chrome Peeler Records and will feature a 16-minute track! A tour is also a possibility, time permitting, since both have full-time bands that require their attention! But Williams said, "We are going to rehearse a live set soon and hopefully do some touring."

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