解剖室 - 邪

Artist: 解剖室 (Kaiboushitsu, Autopsy Room)
Title: 邪 (Yokoshi, Wicked)
Release: 2010
Label: H.G.Fact

1. 夜ニ狂ヘ (Yoru Ni Kyou He, Two Crazy Nights)
2. 谺 (Kodama, Tree Spirit)
3. 寄生蟲 (Kiseichuu, Parasite)
4. 傷 (Kizu, Wound)
5. 邪 (Yokoshi, Wicked)
6. 口 (Kuchi, Mouth)
7. 霊柩車 (Reikyuusha, Hearse)
8. 髪 (Kami, Hair)

I recently dropped a silly amount of money on records from Punk Alive Records (and you should to!). As I was browsing Matt's wares I came across this LP. I'm not exactly literate in Japanese so the only clue as to what it was was the H.G.Fact logo on the back. I tried to look it up but my 3G wasn't working at a reasonable speed so I decided to take a chance and buy it without knowing what I was getting. Not that it was a risky bet or anything, I can't think of a single release on H.G.Fact that I've heard and haven't at least liked a fair amount.

Now, I had a sneaking suspicion based on the artwork that it might be something Crow related. Some Crow records share the distinctively creepy style of line art found on the cover (I really wish I had a scanner big enough to do LP covers). Turns out I sorta was right, it's not a Crow record, but it is a Crow side-project. Kaiboushitsu means either Autopsy Room or Dissecting Room. I think Autopsy Room sounds cooler and Google image search turns up plenty of pictures of morgues and autopsy rooms so I think that's probably the more accurate translation. Google also turned up this blog post with a link to their first record. As luck would have it, this thing is super limited, 700 copies with no plans for a CD release!

So what does it sound like? Well, it kinda reminds me of Paintbox combined with Crow's other side-project Death Comes Along. Wailing vocals that sometimes border on carrying a tune but mostly sound like a agonized ghostly howl. The music walks a very fine line between being just downright gloomy and being standard Japanese punk from the 80's. The songs range from barely a minute to 16 and a half, with tempos to match. I think my favorite track is "谺", it's fast and is surprisingly catchy given the overall vibe of the rest of the record.

Here's a video of Kaiboushitsu playing this last December:



Download: 解剖室 - 邪 (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire