Harsh
Harsh adjective - Difficult to endure.
Musical
Musical adjective - Having a pleasantly flowing quality suggestive of music.
Usage example: the musical sounds of the babbling brook
Both words in one sentence
- Where noise music at large uses any number of non-musical sounds or textures to achieve a particular musical effect, the effect intended by Harsh Noise is most often a visceral one: To overwhelm the listener with sound, either through pain or ecstasy.
Source: Harsh Noise -
Musical Assassin: Metal-Head Mystery Meat: One issue of Marvel Comics series had a group of Joe recruits being put through deliberately harsh training to see who cracked.
Source: Franchise / G.I. Joe -
His collaborations with other artists could also be considered to qualify; he still does his usual harsh noise thing, but since it's underpinned by works with more traditional musical qualities it's still more accessible, making it usually reside in the 6-9 range.
Source: Music / Merzbow
Cite this Source
Musical and Harsh. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 07, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/harsh/musical
Harsh & Musical. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/harsh/musical>.
Musical or Harsh. 2016. Accessed August 07, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/harsh/musical.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "harsh" and "musical" have occurred on timeline