Thanks, everyone, for the emphatic and detailed suggestions. The recent digital Merzbow releases being plentiful and ubiquitous (though the interesting-sounding Alien8 recordings were nowhere to be found right this minute), I successfully bagged a copy of 'Noisembryo' on eBay and decided to wait out its arrival. Rifling through a remainder bin at Mondo Kim's last night, however, I chanced upon a sealed copy of the 2CD 'Age of 369/Chant 2' on Extreme for $7.99. Who could resist? The stressed metal onslaught is about what I expected, although there were surprising little snippets of tonal and chordal material that occasionally peeked out of the maelstrom. No one mentioned that one, but I'd imagine it's giving me a pretty good idea of Akita's earliest style. If I follow that with 'Noisembryo' and then '1930' and/or 'Amlux,' I imagine that I'll have a pretty good idea of Akita's stylistic development. Based on their "subject matter," I guess I'll still eventually need to check out 'Space Metalizer' and 'Aqua Necromancer,' though... Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com NP - Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Conduction #70: TIT for TAT (For 4 Ears)