Evolving out of Pure and then Total, Skullflower coalesced in 1987 and debuted in 1988 with the self-titled EP on Broken Flag. Over the next decade, a large assortment of characters (including guitarist Matthew Bower and drummer Stuart Dennison, the only members to appear on all their releases) would generate a truly amazing amount of loud noise masquerading as music (or vice versa) before going on indefinite hiatus after 1996's This Is Skullflower, a release that confounded expectation by taking a quieter tack (not necessarily more minimal), away from the extreme noise for which Skullflower was known.