Hayaino Daisuki
Headbanger’s Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire!
Hydra Head
(N)J-Rock
Did you know that Mickey Rooney received a special commendation from the Media Action Network for Asian Americans for his sensitive, nuanced portrayal of the lovably buffoonish Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s? No? That’s because it’s completely untrue! I mean, have you seen that shit? But Jon Chang, grindcore’s biggest otaku, deserves one for his ambassador work between the Japanese and American underground scenes. He’s currently working with Takafumi Matsubara from Mortalized in two bands, and he wrote lyrics that abstracted the language of anime and obscure video games into deeply personal poetry in Discordance Axis, one of the greatest grindcore bands ever. So hey, here’s his “fun” record! In which Chang, Matsubara and drummer Eric Schnee play a fantasy hybrid of hyperspeed thrash and over-the-top Japanese shred metal bands you’ve never heard of. Trust me, I looked up some of the bands Chang cited as inspirations for Hayaino Daisuki (“I Love Speed”) on YouTube—this stuff is cheesy as fuck, all synthed up and full of dudes wearing leather over frilly shirts. I’m all for Melt-Banana and Unholy Grave getting appreciated in the U.S., but I don’t know about this.
Thankfully, Headbanger’s Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire! has the “hyperspeed thrash” part too—which really should be amended to “speed metal” because it’s technically more accurate and because, ew, “thrash revival.” Whatever, a lot of it sounds like Slayer if the vocals sounded like the scream on “Angel of Death” all the time. And it really never lets up on the speed; there’s a couple of microsecond breath-catching stops on “Into the Throat of Berserk,” but otherwise it’s Slayer riffs into little fast-forward power metal melodies into equally brief shredder solos with almost no break (or “No Break Twitch Screaming,” per DxAx). Chang does stick to the high end of his vocal range, screeching with more grit and panic than any of the Japanese poodleheads. It’s particularly suited to Matsubara’s guitar style, and in a way this EP is almost like viral marketing for Gridlink, their full-on grind project that’s already scrapped an album Dethklok-style, but is putting one out for real this year. We get to hear Chang and Matsubara work together, but it’s sort of a sideline from the DxAx/Mortalized/Gridlink canon. Plus it allowed me to say “poodleheads” in 2008! —Chauncey Kosciuszko
