READER’S CHOICE: THE HELP OUT JAPAN EDITION
We didn’t mention recent events in Japan this past Friday because, well, they weren’t metal-related. Sure, some touring bands, like Iron Maiden and Murderdolls, suddenly had to cancel their show plans, and High on Fire, miraculously, survived their second major natural disaster in as many months (the first being the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand), but that hardly seemed worth discussing in the midst of this major tragedy.
Then this morning we got the following e-mail from reader Daisuke Kamiya:
“Hello, I am current university student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an avid reader of Metalsucks. And if you read the email subject, I am assure not here to beg you guys to donate for Japan. All I’m here to ask is if you guys can post an awareness of what happening in my home country Japan and if you guys can just post a yahoo website to make metal heads around the world be aware that they too can help out.
“As we all know on March 11th 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 8.9 occurred 80 miles off the coast of Sendai, Japan, 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. This devastating earthquake is the worst in the history of Japan, causing disastrous floods that obliterated tens of thousands of buildings, devouring almost anything in its path. The government of Japan has estimated an over 10,000 death toll from this catastrophic event.
“And in return, here are some recommended pure Japanese metal bands that people should check out.”
Of course, we’re only too happy to oblige Daisuke. So here’s that website with a list of organizations you donate to if you want to help out.
And after the jump, check out the bands Daisuke recommended… with my own snarky commentary, of course. Because, unfortunately, your country undergoing a horrific ordeal does not necessarily make you talented.
This is actually perfectly serviceable DM. It’s not remarkable, it’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but it’s not bad at all. So we’re off to a pretty decent start here.
Shadow
Daisuke compared this band to Arch Enemy, and I understand why — they sound exactly like Arch Enemy. Like, if the songcraft were a little stronger and the guitars were a little less dinky-sounding, you could probably convince me that this was a new Arch Enemy song. How you feel about that will obviously be determined by how you feel about Arch Enemy.
Infected Malignity
Super-brutal death-grind is super-brutal. I don’t think enough bands take advantage of the word “malignity.” Anyway, I think the drums sound awful, even by death-grind standards, and diarrhea vocals are like the one kind of DM vocals I can’t really stand — but I suspect a lot of you will really dig this band.
Death I Am
I was willing to go along with this until I heard the pig squeals. In another world, this band might be Japan’s answer to All Shall Perish. The music is really pretty good; the band has struck a fine balance between songwriting and showing off. Again, I wish it were more distinctive, but a lot of it rocks quite hard, and none of it, save for the pig squeals, is bad.
In conclusion, help out Japan and listen to Sigh.
-AR
