Imagine being trapped inside a dystopian laboratory where the walls themselves emit sound—part cosmic transmission, part mechanical torture. This is the grim setting evoked by multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Moore with his solo project Bell Barrow on the ambitious album, CoreCore Pulp. Like intercepting alien communiqués meant for someone else’s ears, the album presents 75 minutes of instrumental soundscapes that exist in the disturbing liminal space between pure noise assault and methodical sonic exploration.
CoreCore Pulp marks the latest evolution from Washington D.C.’s non-profit label The Saccharine Underground, released on 10 April 2025. The album represents an uncompromising fusion of disparate sonic territories—merging the confrontational power electronics pioneered by Merzbow and Throbbing Gristle with free jazz psychedelia and gestures toward avant-garde black metal.
Moore, operating alone as Bell Barrow, handles an impressive array of instruments throughout the recording: guitars, 4-string fretless bass, drums, and various noise/synthesis elements. This one-man approach allows for a uniquely coherent vision across the album’s 12 tracks, despite their improvised nature. Engineered by Andy Baldwin of Metropolis Studios fame and produced by Bell Barrow (Moore himself), the album was recorded between December 2024 and February 2025 at SV Studios in D.C.
The project’s conceptual framework revolves around what Moore describes as transmissions from the “tachyonic antitelephone”—information from the future reaching us in the present, violating causality itself. This temporal displacement serves as a metaphor for the machine-flesh hybrid etched within this music; music that sounds simultaneously primordial and futuristic.
The album’s 75-minute runtime unfolds like a sequence of experiments on unwitting subjects. The sounds are equal parts intergalactic communication and clinical torment—bleeps and bloops that simultaneously fascinate and unsettle. Its instrumental approach deliberately avoids lyrical crutches, instead relying on pure sound to convey lurking danger within its sonic crevices.
This approach bears comparison to Throbbing Gristle‘s instrumental ‘Beachy Head’, where the suggestive atmosphere does more work than explicit content ever could. While CoreCore Pulp is more overt in its portrayal of unsettling themes (20 Jazz Funk Greats was riddled with pranks, afterall) its extended runtime allows for a more complete immersion in its unsettling world.
The opener, ‘An Eye On The Future’, immediately establishes the album’s sonic blueprint. Screeching electronics battle with a persistent, almost taunting drum beat—a marriage of harsh noise traditions with more conventional instrumental elements. This track draws from the Merzbow playbook, specifically recalling the approaches of Dharma rather than the pure assault of Noisembryo.
‘The Shining Sleep’ represents some of the most overtly electronic moments. Constant sirens and piercing background textures create an unending sense of paranoia. The screeching tonal qualities demonstrate the tension these electronic elements can generate, demonstrating Moore’s understanding of power electronics as an emotional medium, rather than one of pure abrasion.
In contrast, ‘Coffin Text’ veers into free-jazz territory, employing conventional instruments to reach decidedly unconventional sonic destinations. Though not quite matching the frenetic energy of John Zorn’s Painkiller project, the track charts similar territory through clouded, inconsistent rhythms and purposefully chaotic percussion. The lingering guitar presence in the background occasionally evokes the blackened drone textures of Skullflower‘s more extreme output like Fucked On A Pile Of Corpses.
‘Microtomes’ follows a similar trajectory, balancing free jazz explorations with electronic underpinnings, while ‘Peace Field Autopsy’ moves between free-form improvisation and moments of contemplative, chin-stroking ambiguity in its final movements.
The album closes with ‘From Hunter To Remains’, which returns to the synth-driven ominous dread that characterises much of the record, bringing the sonic journey full circle.
CoreCore Pulp stands as an imposing monument to a venn diagram of similarly intentioned, though disparately produced, strains of experimental music. Crossing genres from the confrontational industrial/power electronics of Merzbow and Throbbing Gristle, the free jazz improvisations reminiscent of John Zorn, and the blackened textures that recall Skullflower, Bell Barrow has created a multi-faceted record that remains cohesive in its disturbing vision and wayward experimentation.
While the album’s thematic elements and associated imagery amplify the dark, absurd mutilations being suggested, the album’s true strength lies sonically in its lack of rigid structure. This deliberate formlessness creates a canvas where noise, free jazz, power electronics, and psychedelic elements can coexist and mutate freely.
Most impressive is Moore’s multifaceted musicianship, seamlessly transitioning between drums, bass, guitar, and electronic manipulation throughout. This ability to create such a varied yet coherent sonic landscape whilst handling all instrumental duties speaks to both technical proficiency and clear artistic vision.
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