“Shibuya Cyclone”, a small and tight venue underground, hosts tonight 7 Japanese bands ranging from screamo / hardcore to heavy J-Rock, much like the previous live in Antiknock, with Fear From the Hate. Ashley Scared The Sky, young post hardcore band that I really enjoyed that day is also playing tonight.
The “Cyclone” is very small but warm and intimate. While we are waiting before and between each transition, a DJ warms up the atmosphere with some videos projected on a large screen, also hiding the stage while everything is set up.

Lost in Reverie is a very young band, formed only last year, with 6 members (2 guitars and one keyboard). They start the show with a soft introduction on keyboards, while only 15 people are present. Very happy to open tonight lives and to have been invited by Four Degrees Celsius, they do their best to break the ice. They still lack the ability to cheer up the small crowd, and the atmosphere is still quite cold.
Junjun, the vocalist, alternates growls and clear voice, and soft passages break the heavy tempo. Miho, the girl, brings some more melody to their compositions, thanks to her keyboards and her backing voice. After only a few tracks, they leave the stage, cheered up by their early fans.

It’s already the time for Ashley Scared the Sky to come on stage. Certainly the band I enjoyed the most at the Antiknock, they seem to gather a lot of fans as the small venue gets suddenly crowded, with approximately 50 people attending their show. Ashley still don’t disappoint us despite coming in second position tonight : its extreme, very energetic and blast us all once again with their posthardcore with electro elements. They also know how to lead the crowd and cheer them up, encouraging them to mosh and even … do some push ups, like last time, to accentuate the slow and doom passage.
Again, Ashley did an amazing performance, and deserve all the more praise since they played in second and lacked their usual bassist.

The Twisted Harbor Town has the difficult role to … play after Ashley Scared the Sky ! But they are one of the bands I was expecting the most. Formed 2 years ago, they only released one demo and one EP (last month), but are already very promising. After a several minutes of introduction on a fairy atmosphere followed by “this is Halloween”, the band gest on stage and finally liberate their rage on stage. Certainly as extreme and violent as their predecessor, they have no difficulties to thrill the crowd. An excellent discovery ! It’s worth checking their upcoming releases and lives if you’re into violent and technical hardcore.

The venue is surprisingly less crowded when The Otherside of Urge gets on stage. Not as brutal as the previous hardcore bands, they are closer to Japanese Rock than hardcore. This explains the crowd suddenly colds down, despite the band good technical skills and compositions.
Very good friends of Four Degrees Celsius, the band came all the way by car from Fukuoka Prefecture (more than 1000 km away from Tokyo), they joke about their lack of knowledge of the capital, or about the fact that in their town there are more cars than people (in contrast to Tokyo where it’s almost impossible to drive due to the incredible population density).

Remembering Sensation (abbreviated “Reme Sen” in Japanese to avoid the pain to remember all the new names tonight, as the frontman said) is another huge blast in the face. They serve us a powerful and violent metalcore, embellished with technical soli. The guitarist is very skilled, and the frontman is a real demon. Going like crazy, he bursts out and completely goes berserk on stage. Very charismatic, he also knows how to cheer up the crowd, (even if they are still more static than on Ashley Scared the Sky), and tells us they are touched by the fact of finally being 5 members and able to play live in front of us all. Very “emo”, he also asks for us to be moved, so that they can be moved.
And they did very well, as their performance is one of the best tonight.

Surprisingly, among the several hundreds of bands that we reviewed on Metalship, tonight was the first time we were not given the authorization to take pictures of a specific band. Sorry then for the readers. It’s a shame, as they really deserved some free promotion, considering their skills.
Originating from Tokyo, they were formed in 2002, and are by far the oldest band playing tonight. Thanks to their decade of experience, they sound much more professional than their comrades. Their compositions are well balanced, alternating between loud and heavy riffs, technical soli, and soft passages to release the pressure. And the overall gives some very good metalcore.

Now is the turn for Four Degrees Celsius to end tonight fury on a softer tone. Even if they play emo / screamo, they are much softer than the previous bands and are as close to rock as to metal. The cute female vocalist sings with a clear and soft voice, and then suddenly screams violently in her mic. The other members also unleash their rage and emotions and are pretty energetic. The audience is unfortunately less active than on the previous hardcore bands, certainly tired of this long metal night, but even if there is no mosh, they still are very appreciative.
The band then leaves the stage, and comes back a few moments after for the “encore”, cheered up by the crowd.

Tonight live displayed several very interesting bands, ranging from the most brutal and violent post-hardcore to Japanese emo and screamo, some of them having already toured for more than 5 years, while the youngest have only 1 year of activity. We wish them all good luck and, thank them for their simplicity and their obvious pleasure to play in front of us.
My preference tonight goes to the three post-hardcore beasts : Ashley Scared The Sky, Remembering Sensation and The Twisted Harbor Town, but the others did also a very good impression on the audience.