2 Bullet - "Ya Basta!" (fan video)

Japanese anarchist dark electro / industrial metal band 2 Bullet have just released a new track "Ya Basta", inspired by the recent violence in Mexico, particularly in Ciudad Juarez. This fan video for this track was made out of Mexican mockumentary "Niños Incómodos" ("Troublesome Youths"), featuring children in the roles of kidnappers, corrupt cops and drug traffickers:

Proletarier - "初夜" (2001)

PROLETARIER "初夜"

Year: 2001
Genre: Melodic Heavy/Power Metal
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. 初夜

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This is much less heavy and extreme than most of the stuff I have on my blog. But it's really obscure... and yes, it's left wing.

Proletarier are a very obscure melodic metal/rock band from Japan who released their first and only LP in 1999 and several singles in early 2000s. Almost nothing is known about them, except for the info from their official homepage - but unfortunately it's all in Japanese, and not updated since 2003. They also have some kind of a political blog, so I asked a friend, who knows a little Japanese, to translate it. But we could understand not very much: only that they're leftist and pro-environment. Their leader's name is 覚幸, which could be "Akira Yuki" or "Satoshi Kou"... not sure which transliteration is right. As for the song names, "初夜" is for "First Night", "最良の日" - "Better Day(s)", "幼年期の終わり" - "Childhood's End" (probably a reference to A.Clarke's novel), "赤軍" - "Red Army"... and we couldn't get any better translation for "1945～ｵｯﾍﾟﾝﾊｲﾏｰの夏～" than "1945 - Oppenheimer's Summer". Except for this 2001 single, no releases by Proletarier are available anywhere. I'm very interested in getting their first self-titled LP: it seems to be more political, and after 2000 they turned to more glam rock/metal...

By the way, I'm curious about the current state of Eastern Asian leftist movements. There was a lot of anarchists in China and Japan, especially in 1920s, and these guys were pretty badass... but what about today? Anyway, I recommend you to watch the South Korean movie "Anakiseuteu / The Anarchists", and the Japanese one "United Red Army". I'm also going to watch "Lady Snowblood II: The Lovesong Of Vengeance", which is Japanese too, but I'm not sure if it's pro-anarchist or not.

2 Bullet - "You're Downloading Anarchism" (2007)

2 BULLET "You're Downloading Anarchism"

Year: 2007
Genre: Electro-Industrial / Industrial Rock
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. Humankind
2. Burn Their Flag
3. Gung-ho Guns
4. Worthless Future

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This EP is a free internet release by 2 Bullet, licensed under CC NC-BY-SA. "When you get these songs, you're downloading Anarchism!" (c) 2 Bullet. Of course it's an obvious pun on a well-known RIAA poster:

2 Bullet - "Democratic Violence" (2004)

2 BULLET "Democratic Violence"

Year: 2004
Genre: Electro-Industrial / Industrial Rock
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. Democracy
2. Pray For Me
3. Drain People's Blood
4. Survivor
5. Liquid Seed
6. Tell Me Something
7. Shockwave
8. Lost

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2 Bullet is a relatively well-known radical leftist electro-industrial act from Japan. According to their official site:

"2 Bullet is started early 2003 in Tokyo by anti-totalitarianist.
In 2003, left wing radicalist group of "some artist community" suddenly armed and started uprising.community became dysfunctional and confused. 
Then Dee Lee took command authority of radicalist commando and succeeded revolt.
This is the story of "start of 2 Bullet".
"2 Bullet" means "power balance", "point a gun each other", a metaphor of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction).
Our motto is "In a revolution, one triumphs or dies".
We fight with tactical industrial sound"


Yes, not very good English, but my English probably isn't much better :/ As for their lyrics, they're written mostly in Japanese, with some parts in English.

Acrostix - "Truth Turned Gray With Justice" + "Amebix Japan" tribute (2008)

ACROSTIX "Truth Turned Gray With Justice"

Year: 2008
Genre: Stenchcore / Thrash Metal
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. Thrash 'Em All
2. Killing Frost
3. Iron Bird

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As the name of the 1st track suggests, on this EP Acrostix' sound became much more influenced by thrash metal (and 80's metal in general). Check out the track "Iron Bird" - now it's my favourite song by Acrostix after "Eternal Winter".

There is one more release by Acrostix, called "A Chain of Hatred", but it's "burning spirits" hardcore, not metal. So I wouldn't post it here, though it's very good anyway.

Contrast Attitude & Acrostix - split (2004)

CONTRAST ATTITUDE / ACROSTIX "split"

Year: 2004
Genre: Crust / D-Beat (Contrast Attitude), Crust Metal / Stenchcore (Acrostix)
Country: Japan

Track List:

Contrast Attitude

1. Negative Example
2. Need Times
3. Judgement of Cross
4. Indirect Lecture
   

Acrostix

1. Awave
2. The Beginning or the End
3. Eternal Winter

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The Japanese band Acrostix is my most recent discovery and instant favourite. Their name is an obvious reference to Amebix, and I wouldn't hesitate to call them "japanese Amebix". Of course their music isn't black metal or blackened crust, but it's still very decent stenchcore/crust metal. Here's their split album with Contrast Attitude, who play very fast and noisy crust/d-beat. From the Acrostix' side, I love the track "Eternal Winter" - it's just epic one, clearly influenced by gothic/doom metal, and with lots of keyboards. Quite resembling some tracks from "Monolith" by Amebix, but more raw and powerful. Yes, their sound is very raw and fuzzy, but I like such kind of rawness...

Shikabane - 1st EP + split w/ Agathocles

SHIKABANE (屍) 1st EP + split with Agathocles

Year: 199?
Genre: Grindcore
Country: Japan


Track List:

1. 善悪
   
2. 人間に生まるること難し
3. 独裁者
4. 現実逃避
5. 罰すべき世俗の偽善者
6. 過剰欲
7. 精神安定剤
8. 虚栄の過ち
9. 身心脱落
10. 無心無念の境界
11. 所業 + 無
12. 仏造って魂入れず
13. 摩訶般若波羅蜜多心経 + 欲にきりなし、地獄に底なし

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I've already posted all releases by Shikabane that I have, expect for the first EP and the 3 tracks from their split EP with Agathocles. Well, here it is! Of course, it's not metallic hardcore / blackened crust, as on their latest releases, but rather fastcore/grindcore with very fast and short tracks. It still resembles Radioskugga a little, though.


It's unknown if they are still active as a band, or if they have any other releases beside those I've already posted. But anyway, they already left their mark in history of Japanese hardcore/crust scene.

Shikabane - "Why Do You Live?" (2004)

SHIKABANE "Why Do You Live?"

Year: 2004
Genre: Blackened Crust / Grindcore / Experimental
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. Ash-Bone
2. Why Can't Obstacle Disappear In This Society?
3. Nihilism
4. Coming Apart ...
5. Breakdown Of Mental Balance (I Dive In A Foward Looking Attitude)
6. What Do You Take Responsibility This My Suffering?
7. I Can't Try
8. The Last Myself 

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Since many of you liked "Ego & Desire" by Shikabane, I've decided to post one more album by them. It looks like their last release, at least I don't know anything about their albums after 2004. I also have their 1st EP and their split w/ Agathocles, but I'm not sure if I should post it here.

This release is very diverse in terms of sound, drifting from acoustic parts (which I didn't like very much, though) to blackened crust and even grindcore. The mood of the album is very dark and gloomy, the guitars' sound is noisy and fuzzy, and the vocals are typical for a Japanese crust band. There are English translations of the lyrics in the booklet... but I need to say that they're not very intelligible. Even my English is better ;)

Anyway, I like Shikabane. They're probably my favourite crust punk band from Japan, and I'd be happy to have any other albums by them (if there are any besides these 4 releases I already have).

Shikabane (屍) - "Ego & Desire" (2000)

SHIKABANE "Ego & Desire"

Year: 2000
Genre:  Blackened Crust
Country: Japan

Track List:

1. 憎悪
2. 繰り返しそしてまた その繰り返し
3. 自我と煩悩
4. 人のために生きるか 自分のために生きるか
5. ボーナス・トラック(ライブ３曲)

in English:

1. Hatred
2. Repeat... And Repeat It Again
3. Ego & Desire
4. Living For Someone or Living For Myself
5. bonus track (live)

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Shikabane, or 屍 (which translates to English as "Undead", I believe), are one of the best Japanese crust punk acts, and here's my favourite album by them: "Ego & Desire". It isn't really blackened crust, though I can catch the strong black metal overtones especially on the first track, "Hatred". It was also said that they sounds simular to Radioskugga - and they definitely are (to some extent). I'm still waiting for the really blackened crust from Japan, though. Japan has a very strong crust/hardcore scene, and Japanese anarchist black metal is expected to appear in the near future.