Born in the bucolic city of Pori, Finland, Circle has been defying expectations since 1991. This unpredictable ensemble led by Jussi Lehtisalo has been reinventing, refining and perfecting its technical drones and heavy riffs over the course of numerous European, American and Japanese releases. The band effortlessly devours and personalizes skewed progressive-rock rhythms, distorted guitar firepower, cosmic sound paintings, gleaming minimalism, Kraut-influenced phrase repetition, and hymnal incantations written in a made-up language called Meronian. Circle’s instantly recognizable albums and frantic live sets have garnered ample international praise while masterfully exploring the outer limits of grinding tension and celestial calm.

Merzbow is one of the of the pioneers of the extreme scene, alongside the likes of Hijokaiden and London Ontario’s Nihilist Spasm Band. During this time he has released an insane amount of noise documents, including four on Alien8 Recordings. It is quite difficult to argue with Merzbow’s title, the king of noise. He reinvents himself on each new release, with a lot more change than your average band.