S.H.I.

***死", or "Death", the game-changing debut album from Japanese experimental hardcore / metal / industrial supergroup collective S.H.I. (Struggling Harsh Immortals) finally finds a worldwide release via Sentient Ruin on the long out of print CD and cassette tape formats, a reissue aimed at rendering justice to one of the most visionary, devastating, and overlooked Japanese hardcore releases of the past decade. "死" was initially released back in 2015 as a full-length compilation of the band's first two EPs (2013's self-titled 7" and the 2014 followup "Lucifer Rising" 7", both released by Crust War in Japan) at first appearing on CD format in Japan through Black Lodge Records, then on tape in Australia in 2016 via NGM Records, and finally on picture disc vinyl in the US in 2022 on Anti Remorse. Masterminded by legendary vocalist and performance artist Katsunori "Cherry" Nishida of Japanese hardcore and heavy metal cults Zouo and Danse Macabre, and co-conspired with other long running members of the Japanese experimental punk and metal underground coming from bands like Nashi, Outo, Mobs, The Rude Boys, Gewalt and Rise from the Dead (among others) "死" sees S.H.I. construct a majestic syncretism of violence and experimentation by fusing hardcore punk, heavy metal, noise rock, industrial and psychedelia into an unseen demolition of reality. "死" and the subsequent 2021 Relapse Records-issued full-length followup "4 死 Death" (also now released by Sentient Ruin for the fist time ever on CD and tape formats) represent the transfiguration and perfect continuation of Nishida's enigmatic and uncompromising vision into the future, carrying Zouo's and Danse Macabre's bludgeoning and caustic torch into the experimental unknown as a violent and bleak means of transcendence. The two albums stand stark, enigmatic and imposing as a dark and death-scarred psychedelic trip into Japan's iconic and most deviant underground fringes of hardcore punk, metal, noise, and industrial, perfectly following in the steps of many legendary Japanese experimental violent acts like Zeni Geva, Crow, and G.I.S.M. as well as in those of iconic international acts like Killing Joke, Coil, Neurosis, Voivod, Amebix, SWANS and Discharge, who in the early 80's had laid the groundwork for visionary crossroads of aggression and experimentation through the hybridization of punk, metal, psychedelia and industrial to devastating, history-changing effects.