Painkiller (band)

Painkiller (also officially known as Pain Killer) is a band originally formed in 1991. Their style can be considered a mix of avant-jazz and death metal. Later albums also incorporated elements of ambience and dub.

The three primary members of the band are: John Zorn on saxophone, Bill Laswell on electric bass and Mick Harris (formerly of Napalm Death) on drums. The band has also had several musicians make guest appearances both live and in the studio, including Yamatsuka Eye, Buckethead, Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green of Godflesh, and Keiji Haino of Fushitsusha.

Harris departed from the band in 1995 to dedicate himself solely to computer music and it was believed at the time that the band had gone defunct. However, Zorn and Laswell have recently resurrected the band name and played some dates with either Hamid Drake or Yoshida Tatsuya filling in the drum slot. Rumours of a new studio album from the band have not been confirmed.

Discography

• Guts of a Virgin EP (Earache, 1991)
• Buried Secrets EP (Earache, 1992)
• Rituals: Live in Japan (Toy's Factory, 1993)
• Execution Ground (Subharmonic, 1994)
• Collected Works (Tzadik, 1997)
• Guts of a Virgin/Buried Secrets (Earache, 1998)
• Talisman: Live in Nagoya (Tzadik, 2002)

(A bit of overlapping occurs in the discography: obviously Guts of a Virgin/Buried Secrets collects the first two discs onto a single CD; Collected Works includes the first two EPs with Execution Ground and a bonus live disc.)