Album Review

Score 7.7
Written by Erik Thomas
Published on 4/7/2008
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.



RationalGaze's Avatar
RationalGaze | posted on 4/2008 | Reply
wow total shredfest!, seems fitting that DA's old guitarist went to Municipal Waste, that'd be a kickass tour
vugelnox's Avatar
vugelnox | posted on 4/2008 | Reply
This really caught me by surprise. I've been waiting for the album from Chang's other band Gridlink for ages now and at some point heard he was also recording an EP with this group. Turns out these guys can fucking SHRED with the best of them. I love how even though it really sounds nothing like DA it does keep one of their best attributes in being ridiculously over-fast but still entirely memorable and catchy.
Warhammer Battle Master's Avatar
Warhammer Battle Master | posted on 4/2008 | Reply
The '3 Inches of Blood on crack' really caught my eye and it's a dead on description. I'm listening to 'Into The Throat of Berserk' right now and digging it pretty hard. This is definitely something to keep an eye out for.
JW's Avatar
JW  | posted on 4/2008 | Reply
Discordance Axis kills. Good review, Erik. Sounds like something I'd totally dig.
PizzaClaus's Avatar
PizzaClaus | posted on 4/2008 | Reply
Hey dude... I'm pretty sure it's Jon Chang, if it's the same person from Discordance Axis.