Contributors: Lord Mokrap, T, C, Danny Martin, and Yonder Tarr
Hayaino Daisuki’s Speed Metal Dojo
Any band that substitutes a picture of a bunch of chicks imitating the back cover of “Reign in Blood” for an actual photo of the band in their liner notes probably has their hearts in the right place.
Hayaino Daisuki (“we love speed” in Japanese) is a living love letter to ’80s Japanese thrash and speed metal put together when Jon Chang and Takafumi Matsubara aren’t doing Gridlink. So far, they’ve released two EP’s, “Headbanger’s Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire” and “Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell…or Did You Mean Hawai’i Daisuki.” I bought their first EP thinking 1) that the name was hilarious and 2) that it would be some sort of grindcore, given the pedigree of the players.
I was way off, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so completely won over by a band so quickly in my life. Opening with a scream that would make a young Tom Arraya blush, “Into the Throat of Berserk” kicks off HKCDF. Chang’s banshee screech. Dry raspy guitars. Pounding drums. Thrumming bass. Brief pause. All hell breaks loose!
You could drop the needle anywhere on either EP and have your face peeled back! Chang abandons the high/low attack he used in Discordance Axis and focuses instead on a throat shredding, piercing shriek. In keeping with the band’s ethos of “way too much for you all the time,” he just never shuts up, unleashing a nearly constant barrage of insanity. He pauses only to allow mindbending guitar solos to slash out, and presumably to occasionally breathe. Unless he can do that Kenny G breathing thing. I think he can. At 1:57 into “Haitro Ikotsu Gakidou,” up second on HKCDF, Chang pulls off the most badass thing I’ve ever heard him do in any of the bands he’s fronted. I’m out of synonyms for “scream,” but I can tell you the hair on my arms stands up every time I hear it. On my first spin, I actually started laughing. It was so amazing no other reaction seemed possible. Michelle Bowlin is listed as a backup vocalist, but the only song I can say for certain I hear anyone other than Chang on is “Kirei” from the second EP. Just as piercing and unhinged as Chang, but with a sort of punk edge in her voice, she more than holds her own alongside the Grindcore Ninja Commando.
The guitar playing on both EP’s is quite simply orgasmic. Lots of tremolo picked rhythm lines set up furious eruptions of face melting shred. The soloing is much more speed metal than thrash, focusing more on warp-speed melody than whammy bar abuse (although there are a few leads that would make Kerry King smile). Soaring twin guitar harmonies zip by at obscene speeds, as if early Helloween got stuffed into a blender with some Bay Area thrash. There are even some harmonies that sound a bit like something a second wave Norwegian black metal band could have written. The short run times of their two releases may worry some of you, but fear not: there are more riffs in HD’s roughly 27 minutes of recorded music than most bands could ever hope to write. Everything is happening all at once, always.
The bass is audible, always thumping along just underneath the churn of the six stringers. Nothing fancy, but it does the trick just fine. The drumming is possessed of an appropriately breakneck abandon. Snapping thrash beats, lots of cool fills and rolls. This music, true to the form to which it pays tribute, is all about the guitars and the vocals. However, HD’s rhythm section has the speed to keep everything rolling and are loose enough to keep everything frantic and desperate without being sloppy.
Both EP’s have a “recorded live in the studio” sort of charm to them. None of the quantized, sterile “hospital metal” sound that is so popular today. This sounds real.
I highly recommend this band to anyone who appreciates speed metal or thrash. HD are clearly madly in love with speed, especially the Japanese scene in the ‘80s. They’re poking a little fun at the style and still falling prostrate at the altar of FASSSSTERRRRRRRRRR!!!! An homage without being “retro,” fun without being a joke, Hayaino Daisuki are utterly one-of-a-kind and any speedfreak needs to hear HD slay.
The Emperor wishes they would cut a few notes.
-Lord Mokrap
