Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Hayaino Daisuki- Headbanger's Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire



Tracklist:
1. Into The Throat Of Berserk
2. Haiiro Ikotsu Gakidou
3. Horobit Monogatari
4. AKA

So, here it is, my first-ever review in all its glory. Unedited since the very first time I posted it in the Metal-Archives. I pretty much hate it, and was going to massively edit it before posting it here, but I decided I'd rather give all you Chainsaw Justice readers a chance to mercilessly mock and humiliate me.

Have fun:

Really, you shouldn’t even be reading this review right now. The fact that Jon Chang is in this project gives you a reason to buy it. Everything the man touches somehow becomes musical gold. From his work with Discordance Axis to his newer project Gridlink, I’ve yet to hear a bad album with the Changster on it (I’ve still got a few Discordance Axis splits before I truly have all of the Chang-man’s work, but, meh, close enough).
So, on to the music.

Chang and his mischievous little cohorts have left us a lot to love here. Matsubara (of Mortalized fame) tremolo picks his way through the majority of the songs, and does it with style and speed. The riffs are very catchy and very fast, when he isn’t tremoloing, he’s breaking out some juicy riff or hitting a blazing solo. The drums are well done, Eric Schnee proves that he’s a fast and efficient drummer whose style fits the music quite nicely. Jon Chang’s vocals are great as always, that madman shriek of his is still intact and shrill as ever. He doesn’t use his low grunts though- their absence on both this and the new Gridlink record is a bit disturbing, and a bit of a disappointment. Their occasional inclusion in some of Discordance Axis’ recordings were a real treat, it would be a shame if Chang were to stop using them. But, as always he efficiently delivers a solid vocal performance, one that complements the music quite well and pierces through my speakers like a audile spear. Collectively, the music absolutely rips, Hayaino Daisuki prove their ability to write catchy and fun thrash/grind at absolutely blazing speeds.
The only real problem I have with this record is the production. I’m no audiophile or anything, and can tolerate and enjoy lo-fi production when appropriately used, but the production on this record is sub-par at best. The bass drum is too loud while the guitars are not loud enough, which causes some problems. The constant rumbling of the bass drum renders the guitars near inaudible, making it difficult to discern Matsubara’s succulent riffs. When Schnee stops clanging on his blasted bass drum (which he does for about 98% of the whole record), the guitars come bursting out in full color, and you get to hear small sneak-peeks of how great this record would have been had the production not sucked.

Another small mention: This record is incredibly short. Even for an EP, Headbangers Karaoke Club is extremely brief, clocking in at a mere 14:02. Ultimately though, it isn’t a huge problem, it just leaves you wanting more Hayaino Daisuki to sink your teeth into.

Once you get past the shoddy production, though, you realize that this record truly shines. It’s everything that modern thrash/grind should be: fast, catchy, and fun as hell. Definitely worth a download, at the very least. Hayaino Daisuki released this EP in 2007, so we’ll hopefully get more out of these guys soon.

(Originally written for metal-archives.com)

Huh, that wasn't too bad, it's certainly better than I remember it being.

How was my writing, folks? Feel free to send me either criticisms or praise via comments or e-mail, I appreciate both.

Oh yeah, woohoo first post!

-Gravemarker
Purchase:
Amazon

3 comments:

Axel Sikth said...

I've actually been interested in this album for a long time, but was always turned off by the production. It sounds muffled as fuck. Anyways, I might go give this a listen sometime.

Anyways, nice first review. Keep 'em coming!

Andrew Childers said...

dude, i don't even wanna think about some of the early shit i wrote and sadly it's still all out there under my own name. by that standard, you're doing pretty well.

BCL said...

Oh dude, I know what you mean by the production. But it is correct, It is like "in joke" or however you want to put it, but get pissed or whatever, crak this and then its "EQ'D" , youre the eq spazzzzzz