Originally written by Erik Thomas.
Synopsis:
WOW. Imagine 3 Inches of Blood mixed with early Kreator, and Iron Maiden.
On crack.
Review:
This short (14 minutes) but killer EP is four tracks of furious thrash, punk, black, death metal and (classic) grind that never comes across as a mere Discordance Axis off shoot, but a group of veteran musicians with a crafty sense of cross genre appeal and a tenacious delivery.
Headed by Jon Chang (Discordance Axis) and joined by Japan’s Takafumi Matsubara (Mortalized), the material is blazing fast and raw, but has this underlying catchiness amid the primal urgency. Chang screams like banshee and Takafumi’s guitars are million a miles an hour shred, with a feral, yet somehow loose and with a memorable sense of prose.
The four tracks are all blistering, high octane numbers with nary a second to catch your breath, however, as apparent from the 48 second mark of opener “Into the Throat of Berserk” and the 1:55 and 3:49 marks of “Haiiro Ikotsu Gakidou” as well as the melodic layering that litters the entirety of the thoroughly rollicking “Horobit Monogatari” and closer “Aka”, the band has a knack for tremolo picked harmonies that give the primal, veracious undertones a sense of deft addictiveness that will keep you raising the horns and snapping your neck.
I love finding blind (stuff I sign up for that I have no idea about) releases like this and them ending up being excellent. I just hope that A) a full length release is forthcoming, and B) someone can translate Japanese for me.
