Harsh noise wall

{{short description|Subgenre of music}}

{{Infobox music genre

| name = Harsh noise wall

| stylistic_origins = Noise, harsh noise

| cultural_origins = Mid-1990s, United States, Japan, France

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| other_topics = Japanoise

}}

Harsh noise wall, also known as wall noise, noise wall, or HNW, is an extreme subgenre of noise music, described by music journalist Russell Williams as "a literal consistent, unflinching and enveloping wall of monolithic noise".{{cite web |author=Williams, Russell |date=22 May 2014 |title=Live Report: Harsh Noise Wall Festival III |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/15315-live-report-hnw-fest-iii |accessdate=19 July 2017 |work=The Quietus}}

Harsh noise wall features noises layered together to form a static sound. Harsh noise wall musician Sam McKinlay, also known as The Rita, considered the genre as "the purification of the Japanese harsh noise scene into a more refined crunch, which crystallizes the tonal qualities of distortion in a slow moving minimalistic texture."Novak (2013), p. 57

Despite largely staying underground, harsh noise wall has enjoyed a cult following among the noise music scene.