Painkiller

Painkiller is a United States avant-garde jazz and grindcore group formed in 1991 and active from 1991 to the present. The project is known for combining free-form jazz with extreme metal intensity, and later recordings also bring in ambient and dub influences. Its core line-up consists of John Zorn on saxophone, Bill Laswell on electric bass and Mick Harris on drums.

Members and guests

Mick Harris is also known for his work in Napalm Death and as a founding member of Scorn. He leaves the group in 1995 to focus on computer music, after which the band name is widely thought to be inactive. The group later returns with Zorn and Laswell playing with drummers including Hamid Drake and Yoshida Tatsuya. Other musicians who appear with the band live or in the studio include Yamatsuka Eye, Buckethead, Mike Patton, Makigami Koichi, Justin Broadrick, G. C. Green of Godflesh, and Keiji Haino of Fushitsusha.

Style and activity

The band is also referred to as Pain Killer. Its output sits within avant-garde, experimental, grindcore and jazz, with the music moving between highly aggressive passages and more spacious textures. No confirmed new studio album is mentioned in the available information.