Execution Ground

Execution Ground
Studio album by Painkiller
Released	November 15, 1994
Recorded	June 1994 at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York; November 1994
Genre	Avant-garde jazz, grindcore, dub music, dark ambient
Length	180:35
Label	Toy's Factory, Subharmonic
Producer	John Zorn
Painkiller chronology
Rituals: Live in Japan (1993) Execution Ground (1994) Talisman: Live in Nagoya (2002)
John Zorn chronology
Absinthe (1993) Execution Ground (1994) Masada: Alef (1994)
Alternative cover

Execution Ground is a double CD by Painkiller, a band featuring John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris. The second disc contains ambient dub versions of two tracks. The album was also released with alternative cover art and, in Japan, as a 3-CD set containing a live concert called Live in Osaka.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Maurice Rickard awarded the album 4½ stars stating "The first disc of this inventive and unsettling two-disc set features three long improvisations that show off the band's dub influence. The second disc, subtitled "Ambient Dub," is a rethinking/remix of the third and first improvs on the first disc. Overall less thrashy than some Painkiller excursions, the improvisations here are striking for their greater sonic space without sacrificing any of the heaviness. At times, the band rests, making way for ominous breathing and distant sustained screams, which recur throughout. The transitions from silence to groove to noise and back are relentless and dramatic. Harris proves to be an astonishingly inventive drummer, consistently varying the foundation in surprising ways. Laswell's tone varies from the brightness of flanged round-wound strings scraping the frets to a clean, menacing low-frequency pulse, and sticks mostly to elemental, non-flashy lines that keep the mood deep and dark. Zorn's playing is excellent here, varying between extremely overblown piercing tones (perhaps the best way of being heard over such a rhythm section) and nearly conventional jazzy lines that confidently ride atop the din.".^[1]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Track listing

Disc 1

1. "Parish of Tama (Ossuary Dub)" - 16:05
2. "Morning of Balachaturdasi" - 14:45
3. "Pashupatinath" - 13:47

Disc 2: Ambient

1. "Pashupatinath (Ambient)" - 20:00
2. "Parish of Tama (Ambient)" - 19:19

Japanese Bonus CD: Live in Osaka

1. "Gandhamanda" - 13:00
2. "Vaidurya" - 9:00
3. "Satapitaka" 11:00
4. "Bodkyithangga" - 13:00
5. "Black Bile" - 1:45
6. "Yellow Bile" - 0:58
7. "Blue Bile" - 2:41
8. "Crimson Bile" - 1:46
9. "Ivory Bile" - 1:26

• Recorded in November 1994 by Oz Fritz

Personnel

• John Zorn – alto sax, vocals
• Bill Laswell – bass, samples
• Mick Harris – drums, samples, vocals
• On Live in Osaka Yamatsuka Eye - vocals (Tracks 4-8)

References