Reviews

Hardcore Kitchen

Dotrash Dotrash CD

Stripped-down, raw, blisteringly fast female-fronted punk out of Japan. Sharing as much in common with X-RAY SPEX as with Seattle’s SUX, or the late CLEVELAND BOUND DEATH SENTENCE. Little glimpses of pop melody with some backing vocals and a touch of keys balance the banging guitars and thrashing drums. Lyrics are in Japanese, but it’s that kind of perfect punk production where you probably wouldn’t be able to understand the lyrics even if they were in English. Like a femme-fronted Japanese SEXY. A definite must-listen.

Killseduction Demo 2023 CD

We got riffs on this one! Three quick thrash metal tracks with an …And Justice for All-style medieval intro from this Japanese band. The production is super clean, and the playing is impeccable, riding the finest crossover line between straight thrash and hardcore. Blastbeats abound, and the rapid-fire spoken vocals make this premium fodder for classic Big Four fans as well as SUICIDAL TENDENCIES devotees. Cool CD.

Low Card De La Muerte El Paris Savage Video Violence CD

Nagoya’s LOW CARD DE LA MUERTE have been raging outside of the North American consciousness for years now, but hopefully this monstrous full-length will put an end to that and place them firmly on our radar. It’s hard to describe how much energy there is crammed into this little piece of encoded plastic, but the songs explode off of the disc and never (ever) let up. Their blazing hardcore has elements of early ’00s thrash, delivered with an ear toward their Japanese forebears and tongue firmly planted in cheek. Songs like “Massgomi Operations” leave you breathless after a sub-30 strafing and “VxAxCx” shows their mastery over weirdness, making the sheer bizarre insanity of the construction sound like it belongs. Fifteen tracks (in fourteen minutes) followed by a ten-song rehearsal recording that could easily stand as its own separate (and equally killer) release. The rehearsal takes are raw, even faster, more straightforward and pack just as much energy, which gives the entire full-length a feel like you’re listening to a band splitting a set with…themselves. I am seriously blown away. 2018’s El Paris Radio Massacre Sessions disc was great, but this is one of the best releases I have heard all year.

Middle / Slamming Avoid Nuts split CD

Okay, so first off—SLAMMING AVOID NUTS is probably my new favorite band name of all time. Secondly, this is a really great split album with a whole ton of musical diversity, and not even just between the bands. MIDDLE flops between sounding like an early ’90s dissonant Dischord act and sloppy, power-chord-heavy street punk. The aforementioned SLAMMING AVOID NUTS play Oi!-infused D-beat with throaty, guttural vocals. High-energy all around; a solid disc if I may say so myself. I think this might only be available in Japan, but it’s worth ponying up the cash for the shipping.

Disturd / Ulcer Warfare split CD

This CD is a dream come true. Literally. It is typically the kind of release that I dearly wish for, like an innocent teen unaware that it is actually in the works. Had I been asked, on a casual occasion like when you’re waiting in line for the toilet at the pub, which current crust bands would I like to see teaming up, DISTURD and ULCER would have probably come up. I was right to buy that lucky crust amulet off that stinky fellow last year. As he promised before passing out, it always pays off, and Kobe’s Hardcore Kitchen got the job done with this Warfare split. This album delivers what it is supposed to do and more in great fashion. DISTURD has grown into this quietly cult and iconic Japanese crust band, survivors of what I would describe as the “Crust War spirit” of the ’90’s and ’00s. They have been going for ages and always epitomized the notion of crust referentiality, meaning that their music and aesthetics heavily and openly rely on and crave to emulate very specific bands. In DISTURD’s case, it’s an undying love for ANTISECT and SDS, whose style of crunchy, heavy, dark metallic punk they nail perfectly. However, Warfare also introduces a different side of the band, as the first two songs are significantly slower, closer to the apocalyptic, atmospheric groove of early AXEGRINDER or MISERY. The vibe is moodier too, and the bleak instrumental intro and outro convey a sense of storytelling and narrativity that fits this old school crust style perfectly. Looking forward to more from this lot. ULCER plays in a similar category, but the band never treads in the fast and furious department, rather focusing on writing mid-paced, filthy metallic crust with a doom metal influence in some of the guitar leads. I like how raw, aggressive, and primitive the band sounds (again, classic UK bands like AXEGRINDER or ANTISECT are relevant points of comparison), and I definitely get a big COITUS influence here, even if this approach is particular to Japanese crust like AXEWIELD (who had two future members of ULCER) or REVÖLT demonstrated in the past. One of the strongest crust records of 2023, and a personal favourite. Now where is that ALEMENT/SWORDWIELDER split I have been also wishing for in my dreams?

V/A Chain of Karma CD

Break out your bandanna and knuckledusters, this CD is a cornucopia of metallic/NYHC-style hardcore bands from Japan. Six bands, each offering three tracks apiece, so you get a good dose of material from the bands you know, and a good sense of what the others are all about. The disc opens and closes with its strongest material, kicking off with the SUICIDAL-loving mosh masters CYCOSIS and closing with the Burning Spirits-meets-CRUMBSUCKERS crossover of SAIGAN TERROR (best known for their super-elusive EP on Bacteria Sour). In between you’ll find straightforward trebly hardcore from B SIDE APPROACH, some particularly weird joke-y black metal-style stuff from the reliably strange HARD CORE DUDE, some super-catchy riff-centered mosh from GAMY, and some very metallic and technical stuff from EEVEE. Not as great as some of the other Hardcore Kitchen samplers from the past (I highly recommend Destructive Decibel Domination and the N.E.K/ADA MAX split) but there’s plenty to like here, especially if you’re a fan of the heavier side of hardcore.

V/A Disco Charge 2023 CD

This is a compilation of bands from Japan from 2023. The styles are varied and quite different from song to song, and all of them rock pretty hard. My favorites are ASBESTOS, CRIKEY CREW, DEMIGLACE, COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS, ZTOM MOTOYAMA (who breaks up the load and fast music with some nice pedal steel playing, unorthodox for a pedal steel player but that makes it more interesting), and my absolute favorite on this compilation is GENBAHU ONABIES playing hard-driving punk—I’d buy this for that one song, so I will be on the hunt for more records by them.

Retortion Terror / Worm split CD

Technical modern metallic hardcore from WORM, legit mainstream shorthair metal appeal in more than a few parts. Fierce technical grind from RETORTION TERROR, inhumanly fast during the hardcore parts, and then they grind, sometimes with spoken (almost rapping) vocals. A chaotic listen from start to finish—both bands are from Japan, and the whole thing clocks in just over fifteen minutes.