Japanese Metal

Sithter – Chaotic Fiend Review

Sithter – Chaotic Fiend Review

When you’re still feeling young and invincible, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that the lifestyle choices you make today can have very real repercussions for your future health and well being. Now while I’m fully aware that this sounds like something your mother might say in an attempt to keep you on the straight and narrow, there is nevertheless a salient point here, and it’s something that Mike Williams is currently all too aware of. “As I write this, the Eyehategod frontman is laid up in a serious condition in hospital, awaiting a liver transplant, with decades of excess finally beginning to take their toll on his fragile body. In spite of his chaotic lifestyle, the speed and ferocity of Williams’ deterioration has still come as a considerable shock to many, so the release of Chaotic Fiend — the latest showing from Japanese Eyehategod worshipers Sithter — comes at a poignant time for both the sludge scene and the metal community as a whole.” Tributes and well wishing.

Abigail – The Final Damnation Review

Abigail – The Final Damnation Review

“Remember that awesome review of BarbatosStraight Metal War a year ago? Remember those silly lyrics and song titles? Remember checking out all the bands referenced because you’re a sick son of a bitch? Well, here’s Abigail, another one of Yasuyuki Suzuki’s sick and twisted metal outfits.” Have a bad taste in your mouth? Just wait….

Defiled – Towards Inevitable Ruin Review

Defiled – Towards Inevitable Ruin Review

“As you might expect for a Japanese tech-death band, Defiled make music that’s a bit strange. Their last two records, Divination, and In Crisis were fast and brutal but had an idiosyncratic sound that can only come from a band in relative isolation – think of how strange Ulcerate sounded in 2009 and multiply by wider cultural barriers and you get something that doesn’t quite fit in to preconceptions.” Sometimes strange can be brutalful.

Boris with Merzbow – Gensho Review

Boris with Merzbow – Gensho Review

“To write about Gensho, the latest in a 15 years long series of collaborations between illustrious Japanese experimental metal, rock, and everything in-between trio Boris and legendary noise musician Merzbow (alias Masami Akita), is to write about three different records: a Boris shoegaze-cum-drone meditation, a Merzbow harsh noise attack, and a mammothian combination of the two.” What’s with guys who like drone and writing run on sentences, anyway?

Coffins – Craving to Eternal Slumber Review

Coffins – Craving to Eternal Slumber Review

“Fresh from their evidently finite dormancy, Japan’s popular death-doom export, Coffins, is back with the mini-album Craving to Eternal Slumber. The legend that is Happy Metal Guy favorably reviewed their previous release, and this largely fits into the canon they’ve already established for themselves.” It’s funny you should mention Happy Metal Guy and canon in the same sentence….

Barbatos – Straight Metal War Review

Barbatos – Straight Metal War Review

“Japan’s Barbatos is apparently a side project of Yasuyuki, vocalist/bassist for punk-metal combo Abigail. While the two bands are similar to the point of redundancy, Barbatos has been far less prolific, releasing only four full-lengths (and a bunch of 7″ splits) during a 15-year career. Straight Metal War is their first LP in nearly a decade, and it’s on Hell’s Headbangers — a label whose resistance to modernity is rivaled only by the Amish — so you KNOW it’s gonna be some old-school shit.” Boobs!

Sigh – Graveward Review

Sigh – Graveward Review

Sigh are on their tenth trip around the turntable and still spin at 45, since there isn’t a faster option. Graveward is their attempt to penetrate the monolithic shadow cast by In Somniphobia, an album so fantastically strange that it was a sidestep even by the standards of a band that defines the term “avant-garde”.” Sigh is a breath of fresh air.

Legion of Andromeda – Iron Scorn Review

Legion of Andromeda – Iron Scorn Review

“I must have had the phrase “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” drilled into my head by every music teacher imaginable. Everybody practices chords and scales repeatedly, right? Riffs? Solos? You have to in order to succeed in anything. Well, how about songs? Japan’s newest export in industrialized noise metal, Legion of Andromeda, have set out to challenge your notions of what noise and repetition can create via their debut, Iron Scorn.” And who doesn’t like fudge?

Mono – The Last Dawn / Rays of Darkness Review

Mono – The Last Dawn / Rays of Darkness Review

“Intensity and drama unify my musical palette. As unalike as Count Bassie and Ulcerate are, they’re both able to serve up a shitton of excitement, albeit in quite different ways. But the differences between dramatic genres are still immense, which makes a Mono record quite the refresher in between this year’s big tech-death releases.” Here’s something a little bit different.

Vampillia – Some Nightmares Take You Aurora Rainbow Darkness Review

Vampillia – Some Nightmares Take You Aurora Rainbow Darkness Review

“”Beautiful” is a word that I don’t normally use to describe an album here at AMG, and especially in Casa de los Grymm. “Fun” is even less of a descriptor. What was it again that Euronymous wanted none of via his record label again? But I took a shot at an unknown (to me, at least) group of Japanese noise brigands (with a former Boredom, Toyohito Yoshikawa, in its ever-growing ranks) known as Vampillia. With quite a few releases under their belt (seventeen, according to their website), their newest, the very wordy Some Nightmares Take You Aurora Rainbow Darkness, is their first full-length, and it’s a good snapshot into their crazy world.” All your bases are belong to us! And don’t call me Aurora Rainbow!