released March 1, 2005

ALL ABOUT JAZZ (allaboutjazz.com)
Andy Haas/Don Fiorino: Death Don't Have No Mercy
By FLORENCE WETZEL
September 21, 2005

John Lennon once said that the world is run by insane people for insane purposes. So what's an ordinary citizen to do? One response is to make music, and Death Don't Have No Mercy is a clear response to the current insanity—namely the shameful war America is waging in Iraq. Good, we need more protest music. Best of all, this is an extraordinary recording, a stimulating blend of sounds and cultures fueled by great passion.

Part of what makes the disc special is the instrumentation. Andy Haas plays saxophone, piri (Korean woodwind), fife, and live electronics, and Don Fiorino plays guitar, lotar (Moroccan lute), banjo, and dobro. Each of the songs features just two of the instruments, in combinations ranging from guitar and sax to the more exotic dobro and piri. Weaving throughout are electronics, played by Haas with originality and vision. The duo is to be commended for seamlessly combining such apparently disparate instruments.

Of the twelve cuts, the three that strike deepest are renditions of traditional American war songs: "Anthem" is a version of the National Anthem, "Hymn" is a version of the "Marines' Hymn," and "Come Marching Home" is based on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Haas and Fiorino turn these songs on their heads, the familiar melodies deconstructed into soundscapes of disturbing beauty. Particularly moving is "Come Marching Home," where Haas' sax is so evocative it's chilling. Other standouts include "Ashes in the Sand," a gorgeous meditation that combines a mesmerizing lotar with sax and electronics, and the spare, haunting "Blood of Words.".

The disc wraps up with "Que Sera, Sera," featuring a gentle guitar with sax and electronics. The song, where a child muses on his fate as an adult, can perhaps be heard as a poignant comment on the scores of Iraqi and American soldiers whose fates have surely taken turns they never envisioned or wanted.

This is genuinely exciting music with a rewarding wealth of sounds and ideas. And by interweaving traditional American war songs with others that evoke war's pain and futility, Haas and Fiorino are making a point. As the quote on the cover says, "Is it any comfort to know that the tanks murdering in my name are digging a grave for my people as well?"


EXCLAIM! (CANADA) (exclaim.ca)
Andy Haas / Don Fiorino Death Don't Have No Mercy
By David Dacks
Published Feb 01, 2006

One of the biggest disappointments of last year was the Liberation Music Orchestra's weak-willed war protest Not in Our Name. Its sleepy tempos and politely ironic takes on tunes like "This Is Not America" and "Amazing Grace" did a great disservice to their incendiary protest music from 1969. Death Don't Have No Mercy is merciless in using its sonic inventiveness to achieve biting social commentary. All tunes are duets between former Martha and the Muffins horns-man Haas and stringed instrumentalist Fiorino. Each plays a variety of instruments, while Haas always brings spontaneous electronic manipulation to the table. Fiorino does strange things to a dobro, producing crystalline notes and menacing scrapes at the same time. Haas is as lyrical as he has to be on his wind instruments, and paints in the rest electronically. The opener, "Anomolous Behavior" sees the sax blast out one note at a time, as the effects wash over it and Fiorino's tense dobro to create a dub texture of knife sharpening sounds. Haas's electronics aren't the usual delay plus harmonizer settings, they act as a third lead instrument summing up both players contributions within a fearsome landscape. The deconstruction of patriotic standbys like "Johnny Comes Marching Home", and a very abstract American "Anthem" are not only great jumping off points into free improv, but actually gain poignancy with the juxtaposition of American-identified instruments (dobro, fife) with "foreign" ones (Korean piri, North African lotar) suggesting an uneasy coexistence. Haas and Fiorino have produced a moving piece of work. (Resonantmusic)


THE WIRE issue 259 September 2005

Andy Haas & Don Fiorino
Death Don’t Have No Mercy
Resonantmusic 001

Reviewed by Julian Cowley

Extricated from the ranks of downtown New York improvising freewheelers The Hanuman Sextet, saxophonist Haas and guitarist Fiorino trace exhilarating lines of flight across extensively tilled musical ground. In addition to electric guitar, Fiorino exploits the rootsy connotations of the dobro, banjo, and lotar, a North African lute; Haas adds fife and piri, an Oriental reed. Original material is in this way coloured with allusion and tinged with hints of various traditions. Inherited material, including the title song, the American national anthem, a hymn by Offenbach and “Que Sera Sera”, is stretched into unfamiliar shapes and granted an alternative identity. Haas enhances both variants and evocations with subtle fluxions of live electronics. Diverting music.


JAMBANDS.COM

Published: 2005/12/12
by Brian Ferdman

Artists respond to tragedy in different ways. Some, like country singer Alan Jackson, are inspired to create heartfelt tributes that rely on ham-handed lyrics to make a blunt statement. Then there are musicians like Andy Haas and Don Fiorino. With just two instrumentalists and no lyrics, they compose a mysterious sonic journey and find deep meaning in the reworking of classic patriotic songs. While Jacksons Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) spoke to the gut of Middle America in a simple and somewhat base manner, Haas and Fiorinos Death Dont Have No Mercy is a heady collage of sound and symbolism that appeals to the minds of those Americans who still believe in free thought. Oh, and by the way, the album is fucking brilliant.
Recorded in one day, Death Dont Have No Mercy is the woodwind and string duos pointed and powerful response to the Iraq War. With Haas manning the sax, piri, fife, and live electronics and Fiorino handling the guitar, lotar, banjo, and dobro, the two build a mysterious Arabian soundscape for their riveting anti-war statement. Their original compositions, such as the haunting Ashes in the Sand and the pious meditation of Blood of Words, serve to construct a Middle Eastern atmosphere and set the scene for the deep impact of the deconstructed American anthems that follow. As they twist, stretch, and contort The Star Spangled Banner, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Haas and Fiorino seem to be pointing out the inherent hypocrisy in Americas foreign policy in Iraq. These time-tested anthems of strength and American perseverance suddenly appear to be weak and suffering from internal bleeding. The irony of hearing When Johnny Comes Marching Home when we have no idea when or if Johnny will ever come marching home is rather insightful. As Haas and Fiorino see it, the once mighty America is now crumbling, crushed by the weight of guilt from a series of bad decisions that have cost many lives. The album concludes with a chilling version of Que Sera, Sera that accurately sums up the laissez-faire attitude many Americans embody while their brothers and sisters are murdered on the other side of the planet.
Veterans of New Yorks downtown music scene and past collaborators with the great John Zorn, Haas and Fiorinos esoteric brand of atmospheric jazz is not for everyone. However, those who can appreciate unorthodox, bold statements will savor this work of art. After all, Jimi Hendrix once made history with his unique rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, and Haas and Fiorino have taken Hendrix giant step and sent it skyrocketing into the psychedelic stratosphere in an album that is thoroughly profound and quite moving.


EXCLAIM! (Canada) (exclaim.ca)
Destination Out: Year in Review 2006

Andy Haas / Don Fiorino
Death Don't Have No Mercy (Resonantmusic)
Former Martha and the Muffins saxophonist Andy Haas had a busy year, releasing three excellent discs; Death Don't Have No Mercy is the strongest and most affecting. Haas takes on various wind instruments while Fiorino coaxes some strange stringed sounds from his arsenal. Haas is one of the most adept electronic manipulators around; his electronics aren't the usual delay plus harmonizer settings, they act as a third lead instrument summing up both players contributions within a fearsome landscape. Songs on this album are positively chilling, with tunes sounding like the aural equivalent of crime scenes. And this disc is a disturbing rumination on violence and culture clashes. Haas and Fiorino have crafted a powerful anti-war statement without using any words. Age old slices of Americana like "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the national anthem itself gain poignancy with the juxtaposition of American-identified instruments (dobro, fife) with "foreign" ones (Korean piri, North African lotar) suggesting an uneasy but fascinating coexistence of different worlds. David Dacks