26.12.08

Tsukasa Harakawa : God of Growling


I wouldn't claim to be a true fan of br000tal vokillers; I find most pure growlers & grunters somewhat monotonous, and the regurgitative and barnyard schools of vocalization do little for me, but there are a few definite exceptions, and for my money the above pictured Tsukasa Harakawa is the best death-style vocalist around, has been in several exceptional bands.

I like Harakawa so much because of the range in style and expression-especially on later stuff-of his semi-wordless roars, shrieks, occasional croons and howls(there are lyrics in English, but for the most part they only correspond roughly to the sounds produced), and because of his manic intensity, which is really something to see live.

Harakawa has been fairly prolific, performing in several different bands throughout his career but his first significant works came from his time in the superlative Hellchild. A death metal band which slowed down a bit later in their run, combining sludgy groove, technical skill, complex song structure and Harakawa's vocals into something pretty awesome.

Evidence:




Their best release(maybe):

Publish Post

Hellchild : Bareskin  1999

After Hellchild's breakup Harakawa, with Hellchild's bassist Yasu(rip 2005, replaced by benny of Multiplex fame), and a former Hellchild drummer, formed From Hell (a band which, thanks to a mediocre Johnny Depp adaption of an excellent Alan Moore comic gumming up the interwebs is difficult to find information on in English or Japanese): somewhat less metallic than Hellchild and without the groove/prog/tech tendencies of departed guitarist Suzuki, From Hell are as, if not more brilliant (recently I've been leaning towards more), heavy, intense and so on.

From Hell haven't released anything since this (which makes me wanna cry), but are still active.




From Hell : Empty Words 2004


Next, in a convergence of superiority like Conan the Barbarian and Mad Max joining forces to kill hippies, Harakawa became the new vocalist for Swarrrm:




Swarrm : Black Bong 2007

MORE STUFF:

More vids here.

Harakawa's single (I think) release as vocalist of Atomic Fireball at the redoubtable Cephalochromoscope , where you can also find Harakawa's grind project (w/ members of Hellchild & Multiplex): Force

4 comments:

Zmaj said...

Beautiful, beautiful post! I find Force pretty awesome too.

Thanks for the mention.

Chairmaker said...

Indeed, Force really deserves a link in this post.

HUANSOAHN said...

Awesome post man!didn`t know that he was in all this bands!but thanks to you I see teh resemblence!thanksruslu

Svvan Ronson said...

wow, awesome post.

Harakawa-san has been one of my favorite extreme metal vocalists for some time.

Hellchild are an underrated band, for sure.