Tag: Japan

  • Abigail live in Toronto, September 2018

    Abigail live in Toronto, September 2018

    Abigail photo courtesy of Suspicious Activities PR   Abigail / Warsenal @ Coalition, Toronto on 23rd September 2018 Perverse metal motherfuckers rejoice! Legendary Japanese black thrash metal royalty Abigail are nuking Toronto as part of their first ever Canadian tour. Promoter Neurotic Entertainments labels this Canadian tour as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so black thrashers out…

  • Crossfaith in Wiesbaden, 15 June 2018

    Crossfaith in Wiesbaden, 15 June 2018

    The series of the toughest pits to step into for photography continues. Sweat all over the lens, intense moshing and rarely a chance to get the camera above the heads of all the fans that rocked the Schlachthof venue in Wiesbaden on Friday, the 15th of May. The band was Japanese, and it was intense – it…

  • BlackLab – Under The Strawberry Moon

    BlackLab – Under The Strawberry Moon

    On the surface of it, BlackLab are a doom metal band, and yet not completely so. Hailing from Japan, BlackLab are two Japanese women: Chia Shiraishi on drums, and Yuko Morino on guitar and vocals. A bass-less two piece, but they are (dark) light years removed from the generic boredom of the likes of Royal…

  • Solitude – Reach For The Sky

    Solitude – Reach For The Sky

    Japanese metallers Solitude are Toru Nishida (bass), Akira Sugiuchi (vocals), Takamasa “MAD” Ohuchi (drums) and Shingo Ida (guitars). This is Solitude’s third album following 2009’s Brave The Storm and 2001’s Virtual Image (all released in Japan on the splendidly named Spiritual Beast label). Reach For the Sky was mixed by Magnus Sedenberg who previously worked with the…

  • Sithter – Chaotic Fiend

    Sithter – Chaotic Fiend

    Now, Japan has produced some pretty solid stoner and death/doom bands over the years, from Coffins to Corrupted, Eternal Elysium to Chuch of Misery… not to mention Boris, who practically deserve their own category. But when it comes to straight-ahead Japanese sludge, I usually come up empty. So when I heard that Sithter, a band…

  • Coffins – The Fleshland

    Hellbound Metal: ” While this probably takes a back seat to their countrymen in Church of Misery for me, just the fact that this Japanese death-doom squad has a new album out is saying something in itself—it’s been a full five years since their last full-length, albeit not for a lack of splits in the…

  • Blasphemous Meals #6 | At The Heart of Winter’s End

    Blasphemous Meals #6 | At The Heart of Winter’s End

    “This installment of Blasphemous Meals brings you the very best of winter’s warmth from Hellbent for Cooking. These dishes are hearty and fire the soul. Just because winter is over doesn’t mean that heavy food should be eliminated with heavy metal. Enjoy the following foodie ventures from the Blasphemy Blog test kitchen. Winter may be…

  • New venue, same Acid Mothers Temple…

    For the past four or five years, I’ve counted on Japanese spaced-out psych merchants Acid Mothers Temple coming through town in April. They always seem to take a trip over here right when spring starts to bloom. Well okay, so spring was a little late this year. Also of note: this gig wasn’t at the…

  • Boris is in town tomorrow–and there are still tickets available!

    Typically, when the hottest band from the land of Japan comes to town, the gig’s a sell-out. They’ve always played Lee’s Palace, and it’s always been completely packed. Although I’d expect nothing less from tomorrow’s performance, it seems that tickets are still available, both from Ticketbastard, and at Rotate This, which’ll save ya $4.50 in…

  • BXI: Boris & Ian Astbury

    Since hearing about its upcoming release, I’ve wondered what kind of compilation Astbury and a band whose output has been as diverse as Boris’ has been would produce. Well, now I have an answer: such an effort is short and sweet, which is a problem when only half of it is really good.