Shogakara Taigae

Another quite obscure japanese masterpiece that originally came out only on cd around 1992 has been recently reissued: Yoshihiro Hiraoka & Human Arts "Shogakara Taigae", the only release by this short lived project. Shame on myself and any other self-proclaimed japanese hardcore nerd out there who wasn't already familiar with these guys, since this seriously rips! Here we're talking about a japanese all star side-project. Led by the singer of Poison/Poison Arts, this band included the best guitarist ever from the land of the rising sun, the mighty Chelsea (Deathside, Poison & Paintbox) as well as Minoru (The Comes, Lipcream) on bass. Not sure who's the guy under the skins but he does a great job for sure! But band members' pedigree is useless when the music can speak for itself. And here we're talking about high quality stuff, top notch Burning Spirits kind of hardcore filtered with some catchy melodies. While their main bands were more straight forward, here it seems they tried something a bit more weird and unconventional. Like "英知", the third to last song of the record, a very pop & melodic tune that somehow fits perfectly on a generally way more metallic album. I guess here Chelsea was trying something different that later morphed into Paintbox? Anyhow, here you'll find the trendmark Chelsea way of playing guitar that made Deathside one of the best band ever. A serious contender if I'll ever write a japanese full length top ten list. How this album is not a cult one revered by legion of fans worldwide is a mystery to me. Hope this reissue gives it the recognition it deserves!