I just saw this band last night at Koiwa Death Fest. I'd been waiting this whole year living in Tokyo for a chance to catch them live and they did not disappoint. Intestine Baalism are a melodic death metal band from Tokyo. I've been following them for some years now and even though they are pretty obscure, I came across them long before other better known Japanese bands like Gauze or Disclose. Melodic death metal is a hard sell to most, and to be honest my first impression of them was death metal meets DanceDance Revolution. But that's just what happens when you have such an original amalgamation of sound- you struggle to equate it to something familiar which it is not. On the other hand, they're not the typical weird for weird's sake Japanese band.
Although they didn't have shirts or patches at the merch table, I got my hands on a limited press (300 copies) LP of Ultimate Instinct. "Banquet In The Darkness" was the first album I heard from them and it was a favorite for a long time, but I have to say they really perfected their craft on this release. The album shreds from start to finish- the riffs are very memorable and overall the songwriting is really solid. I got to meet the brains behind the madness, Seiji Kakuzaki after the show. Speaking with him gave me a sense for why this band is so hard to see or get information. He was very modest and reserved. The slow output and obscurity has nothing to do with elitism or trying to be cool and underground, but everything to do with his humble sensibilities. Anyways, check out the album, and try to see them or support them however you can.
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