Here’s some stuff….
So I actually missed Gridlink’s only US show until 2009 after posting about it. (There’s a video from Osaka there, too.) I heard after that I seriously missed out. I did get a copy of the Gridlink demo, and I’m pretty sure the forthcoming LP Amber Grey is going to be amazing. No hyperbole, this stuff is nuts. Hydra Head will be releasing the LP along with an EP by another Jon Chang project, Haiyano Daisuki. HD has Chang’s Gridlink partner and ex-Mortalized guitarist Takafumi Matsubara on guitar and bass, drummer Eric Schnee, and additional vocals from Michelle Bowlin. Headbanger’s Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire is a tribute to over-the-top shred metal and classic thrash. Along with Slayer and Yngwie Malmsteen, HD are so taken with obscure Japanese metal that three-quarters of the EP and the entire LP will be sung in Japanese. Chang gave a bit of background on the Japanese bands that inspired Haiyano Daisuki:
“Anthem and Mephistopheles are very old (started in like ‘84 or ‘85). The Mephistopheles stuff is very hard to come by but Anthem can be purchased on Amazon Japan. They have such a huge catalog it’s hard to single out a great release by them, but their new CD is awesome. Concerto Moon is almost like [Yngwie Malmsteen’s] Rising Force but played at faster Maiden speeds. Concerto Moon and Anthem are technical heavy metal, while Mephistopholes is a bit more raw.”
For now, there’s one unmastered track on HD’s MySpace page. Since we’re already talking about nerd shit, there are trailers up for Mother of Tears, the conclusion to Dario Argento’s “Three Mothers Trilogy“! And it’s not all that Argento-looking (at least what they’re showing us now), but it does look way less bland than every other horror movie in recent memory! So maybe it’ll be cool!
There’s a clearer and slightly longer one here, but it’s got really generic and terrible narration. Obligatory tie-in: One track on Claudio Simonetti’s score features Cradle of Filth vocalist Dani Filth.
Maybe it’ll be good!