Crude "Immortality" CD
[Deranged]
Ahhh, yes. I love raging hardcore/punk from Japan, and this "best of" collection of songs chosen from the band's past releases really hits the spot. Wild vocal shouts, rugged and intense straightforward chord progressions played at moderate speeds, slight doses of melody on occasion, tons of overdriven rock-based lead breaks that rarely hint at a little bit of a metal influence, lots of volume... it's all here. This is killer because it doesn't sound like traditional old school hardcore, it doesn't sound so much like classic hardcore/punk, there's not a lot of metal involved... but a wide ranges of influences are definitely drawn upon - all of the aforementioned included! And the writing is energetic as fuck, too. Very cool. Shit, "Stand & Fight Again" even has moments that sound like Kiss on crack... crazy, heavy, insane Japanese crack! Fuck yeah. I'm loving this! The mastering could be better since a few of the songs are significantly quieter than the others, but the recordings are pretty good otherwise. Of course things are a bit raw and distorted, but it works perfectly, and the mix is generally even, aside from a couple of songs that lack bass presence. The drums and vocals almost always sound great, and I'm not bothered by the guitars either. The sound is dry overall, and that's great in this case. The CD comes in a really interesting little package. The sleeve is a one-sided xerox with the lyrics inside and blank white paper on the other. An acetate overlay is wrapped around the white portion of the sleeve with an Asian dragon and some Japanese characters on the cover, as well as some Pushead-esque lettering for the tracklist. All of the lyrics are in Japanese except for a couple of lines, all of which are basically the portions of the songs that contain the song titles. The CD version of this release is limited to 300 copies, so if you don't want the LP you had best act fast. I wish they had thrown a few more songs on here for good measure. I generally hate "best of" collections, but I don't really know much about this band or their prior releases, so I'd love to hear more. It's awesome to see a raging Japanese band like this actually getting released outside of Japan for once! Thank you, Deranged! (8/10)
Running time - 29:38, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Positive Will, Change of Everything, Stand & Fight Again, Distress]
Deranged Records - http://www.derangedrecords.com

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