Mostly for fun, I chose to listen to this album today randomly, and well write on it as well. Running by the moniker "Guerrilla Incendiary Sabotage Mutineer" for this album or perhaps "Gnostic Idiosyncracy Sonic Militant" which appears in the liner notes (though I think my favorite was the "God In the Schizoid Mind" which may have been around the M.A.N. album era, maybe earlier), G.I.S.M spewed out a collection of songs that fall somewhere between their earlier Detestation material and the Military Affairs Neurotic or M.A.N. stuff. The band is composed of Sakevi Yokoyama on vocals, Randy Uchida on guitar, Kiichi on bass, and Ironfist Tatsushima on drums. The songs on his album span a ten year period and sounds like the type of work that would have laid the bridgework between the aforementioned two albums. It's a much better produced than Detestation but keeps the same hardcore and violent sound of the band that had been somewhat abandoned for a pure metal sound on the M.A.N. album. If you are not familiar with the band or their cult-like rise since the years have passed, I will first refer you to the G.I.S.M. Punks is Hippies/Global Darkness site that does an excellent job of providing info while maintaining the proper mystique or feel for a concept that is always just out of reach.
G.I.S.M. was a Japanese hardcore-punk-metal band that existed as early as 1980, forming in Tokyo. The band broke up in 2001 following the death of guitarist Randy Uchida to cancer, not long after the release of SoniCRIME TheRapy. So this album represents the last works of the band. The music on this album as mentioned above, falls somewhere between their two earlier releases. There is definitely metal within the guitar writing, and the drumming carriers a heavy hardcore style with it. Lead singer, and possibly the most important member to the band in regard to creating their unique sound, Sakevi Yokoyama's vocals are at their best sounding, in part due to the better overall record production, but also in part to just shear intensity. The songs on this album mirror the M.A.N. album material in length and structure, not overly long, but four minutes is a minimum predominantly with a few songs going over five minutes in length. But apart from the length, it's also the repeated riffs, the variations, etc, that remind me of the M.A.N. album songwriting the most. I don't think this album is necessarily as solid from start to finish as either of the other two albums, but the "hits" are well worth the few "misses" that present themselves. And the Sakevi's collage artwork is perfect as usual.
G.I.S.M. - "KI-1"
With the exception of the first and last songs on the album, the remaining songs are named through a shorthand of who wrote the song (either guitarist RU for Randy Uchida, KI for bass player Kiichi, etc.). The guitars are loud, dry, and crunchy as hell. The vocals as always, are great, and sickly dark. The main riff in this song is repeated over and over, with Saveki's vocals moving within its own pace, slithering over the top and through the music. The guitar solo at 1:57 is reminiscent of the work on the M.A.N. album, but with the surrounding hardcore riffs, stands out in contrast and really adds variety. Upon first listen, it's kind of amazing how often Uchida runs away and then returns to that main riff, finally finishing up the song with a dart and some Saveki cackles. Above all, a good example of the violent sound that makes up G.I.S.M.
The album artwork as mentioned above is excellent. The cd comes with a fold-out booklet that opens up to a Sakevi collage work, while under the cd tray lies the picture that appears to the right here. The cd comes in a small box that also contains a band sticker (the anarchy "A" and machine gun picture) and is overall presented very well. Good luck finding this thing. I happened to catch it on ebay for a "decent" sum, and purchased it from one "dwid hellion" who happened to be selling it and I'm pretty sure is the dwid hellion of Integrity since he was selling it from Belgium at the time (where dwid was rumored to be living at the time). I haven't seen too many pop up on their since. Of course bootlegs are out there and many people would be lucky to have found any of those to grasp band's music (though I'm guessing nowadays you can probably find someone posting a torrent of this stuff). In any case, the search for any information on the band, the stories surrounding the violence that would happen at their shows, and god willing a piece of merchandise or original recording is part of the fun of appreciating this band.
I Like It
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