Call me a racist, maar Japan is niet het eerste land waaraan ik denk als ik denk aan landen waar megavette metalcore vandaan komt. Het zou ook wel ’s gewoon niet racistisch kunnen zijn, maar meer met kortzichtigheid te maken hebben. Wat er ook allemaal van zij, één ding weet ik wel: Crossfaith komt uit Japan, bestaat nu zo’n 6 jaar en maakt heerlijke muziek!
De vijf mannen achter Crossfaith maken moddervette metalcore die ze combineren met elektronische elementen. Uitstekend voorbeeld daarvan is het nummer Endorphin dat begint met een fijne beat (waarbij de vergelijking met The Prodigy en The Chemical Brothers zich opdringt) die op een gemiddeld technofeest veel hoge ogen zou gooien. Vervolgens trekt zanger Kenta Koie zijn strot open waarna hij ook nog even laat horen dat-ie heel mooi, clean kan zingen.
Crossfaith heeft afgelopen vrijdag een EP uitgebracht, genaamd Species. Het is het vervolg op de full length die in 2018 uit kwam. Daarmee wordt eigenlijk ook meteen het enige negatieve van dit album gezegd: het is een EP. Vijf nummers die in totaal nog geen 18 minuten duren. Veel te kort! Wel weer fijn: je kunt ‘m in één uur drie keer in zijn geheel beluisteren, hetgeen alleszins de moeite waard is!
Releasedatum: 22 mei 2020
Luister
Lees
Osaka, Japan’s Crossfaith announced the release of a brand new EP on May 22nd through UNFD, titled ‘Species’, the five-track offering features recent single, ‘Endorphin’, as well as new track ‘Digital Parasite’.
The opening track ‘Digital Parasite’ sees the band getting “dirty and heavy. I felt an explosion from the song and I knew the lyrics should be aggressive and offensive” starts vocalist Kenta Koie as the band look at “people selling their soul to get fame. We need to be honest to the music, to ourselves and to our audience but some people are happy to start cheating and I don’t care for it”.
“Playing heavy music is how I feel alive. We want Crossfaith to be the band making music that no one has ever heard before”. And from the opening battle cry of ‘Digital Parasite’ through the unifying anthem of ‘Truth of Insanity’ to ‘Your Song’s glitching sorrow, their ‘SPECIES EP’ sees them breaking new ground.
The industrial rave of ‘Endorphin’ is about finding yourself in a world that makes you doubt everything and champions the idea of facing those questions head on while ‘Truth of Insanity’ is a call to arms. “In Japan, there are so many contradictions from the government. There will always be a minority of people who only think about themselves but we can fight. We can think. This song is a trigger to start a war against the world of contradiction".
Crossfaith have a history of working with their peers, Enter Shikari, Beartooth and Ho99o9 have all appeared on previous releases, but there are more new adventures to be had on ‘SPECIES EP’. ‘None of Your Business’ sees them team up with Jin Dogg, a rapper from their hometown of Osaka for an explosion meeting of minds. “That song’s about straight up anger. So many people are fuelled by jealousy and I know the most important thing is to push forward but those people bother me, so this song is about telling them to shut their fucking mouth. It’s very straight forward” he grins. “Plus you can learn Japanese from Jin Dogg’s verse”.
The closing track on the EP is ‘Your Song’. No, not an Elton John cover but “the most emotional Crossfaith song of all time. It’s about the emptiness and sorrow of a time that will not return,” whether that’s death or the loss of a friendship or a lover. “It’s about farewell. I feel sadness but those emotions make me strong and teach me to not take things for granted. It’s not a ballad but it is a very beautiful song. I think people will be surprised by it”.
And surprising people is exactly what Crossfaith want to do, even after eleven years of making music. “That’s the main role of the band” promises Ken. “I hope” he continues before deciding on a more forceful word “Actually, I believe this EP will set the course for the band for the next ten years. We’ve already started making more new music. We’re not going to stop”.
