"Death Rattle" is the noise of two forces of nature in collision. Like a pair of clashing typhoons, Philadelphia based avant guitarist James Plotkin and Norwegian free jazz drummer Paal Nilssen-Love generate chaos, disturbance and a terrifying beauty in their first ever collaborative recording. Free jazz and metal-edged rock never chimed so exhilaratingly together before. James Plotkin's distinctively extreme, aggressive guitar sound has been a constant presence in underground music since the late 1980s, when he founded the metal/industrial band OLD. As a solo artist and as a member of outfits such as Scorn, Khanate, Phantomsmasher, Khlyst and most recently Jodis, he has plotted a nomadic trail through new metal, dark ambient, industrial, noise, grindcore and drone rock. Sought out by Michael Gira, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Franz Treichler, Francisco López and many more, he has also remixed a wide range of artists from KK Null and Sunn O))) to Pelican, Earth, Nadja and Neu! Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the most intense drummers working on the planet right now. He grew up in Stavanger, west Norway, where his parents ran the city's thriving jazz club. In theory he's now based in Oslo, but there's a huge global demand for his percussive threshing machine. He's often travelling on a relentless round of musical projects and festival appearances - notably with Mats Gustafsson in The Thing, his Chicago trio with Ken Vandermark and Ab Baars, the Hairy Bones group with Peter Brötzmann and Toshinori Kondo, a trio with Massimo Pupillo and noise artist Lasse Marhaug, plus duos with Peter Brötzmann, Terrie Ex, John Butcher and others. His unstoppable flow is unleashed on the opening track "The Skin, The Colour" - an endless Niagara gush of splashy drumming and distortion. It erupts with full force also on "Cock Circus", where Plotkin bombards his laser-guided guitar missiles through some brain-boggling digital effects. James had previously mastered some of Paal's CD releases and they finally met in April 2012 when the drummer was passing through Philly. In December, after Paal had just finished a ten date US tour with a Norwegian jazz trio, they got together for the four hour session that resulted in "Death Rattle". He was worn out, but turning up the volume and raising a sweat felt like a relief and a release. The pair improvise moment by moment, but there's a tangible, overarching arc that these two veterans instinctively understand - a depth of vision that lifts them head and shoulders above their younger peers.