Band : Endzweck

Album title : The Grapes Of Wrath

Label : I For Us Records

Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous (Hard Life Promotion)

Release date : 27/02/2008

Release : CD

Through clever tactics and good music, Endzweck have evolved from an interesting entity to one of the most, if not thé most, appreciated and respected Japanese Hardcore bands!

It all started in 1998, when five musicians (singer Takashi Uesugi , guitarists Hirohisa Yamaguchi & Atsuki Oku , bassist Yoshinori Yamaguchi , and drummer Akifumi Mochizuki ) get together under a different bandname, delivering two demos in that same year. 1999 not only sees a name change to Endzweck , but also the release of the band's debut mini-album We Are Not Pessimistic on the Japanese market. In the two years following the band tours Japan and Korea relentlessly, which sees 'em share stages with such renowned acts like Grade and Reprisal , including songs to a variety of compilation albums, and the continuous build-up of a frenetic fanbase. The guys also get out on a US tour during 2001, but that is severaly cut short due to the psychotic American reactions to the 9/11 tragedy in New York City!

In 2002, the band release their second mini-album A Farewell To Arms (again a Japan-only affair), as well as two split-CDs (one of which with the American band Fordirelifesake ). Having taken up the business of organizing tours in the Far-East for well-known "foreign" bands, and expanding their gigging territory beyond Japan, Korea, and China, the band end up touring with the likes of Reach The Sky , Shai Hulud , Bane , Silent Drive , Give Up The Ghost , Sub Zero nd The Hope Conspiracy in the period 2003-2004. Then, in September 2004, Belgian Hardcore label Goodlife releases Strangelove Or How Those Learned To Stop Warring And Love The Bomb (titled after the movie with Peter Sellers ), a compilation album of rare and hard to find tracks (originally recorded between 2001 and 2004). During 2005 the band continues to tour as much as they can, sharing stages with Against Me , Arkangel , Heaven Shall Burn , The Promise , Satanic Surfers , and The Red Chord .They Also venture back out to the US for a second tour with Comadre ...and the tour becomes a total success.

Now we come to the point which is extremely relevant to current-day events, because in April 2006 the band issues The Grapes Of Wrath on Japanese label Cosmicnote . They followed that up, of course, with continued touring, this time playing with Alkaline Trio , Daitro , H2O , Maroon , These Arms Are Snakes , and the no longer existing Modern Life Is War . Meanwhile, "recorded" history has even progressed, because in December 2007 the band issued their brandnew album The Naked And The Dead on Japanese label Step Up.

Of course I For Us Records will be releasing that album on the European market too, but meanwhile we've still got The Grapes Of Wrath to enjoy first! And, released on a limited rotation of 1,000 copies, I'm affraid you'll have to hurry to get your own copy, because this band's albums is gonna sell like sweet pastry! At the moment, the band is still somewhat of an inside tip, but this Summer should see 'em grace the stages of the famous Ieperfest and the first I For Us Records festival (August 17 th ), and I can asure you that whatever copies the label míght have at that moment will be sold out completely. What particularly tickled my fancy about this band, is the fact that they used several movie samples in between the 12 tracks (totalling only just over 21 minutes), and that the vocals are so un-typically Japanese. Huh? Yeah man, for once you get a Japanese band with vocals that can compete any on the international market, and without àny accents what)so-ever! On top, the guitarists frequently display some truly interesting twin guitar parts without ever falling outside the Hardcore genre (it's so easy to put in a somewhat Metal-ic touch, you know!). Take a whiff of Endzweck 's excellent Screamo Hardcore (with sóme Metal influences nevertheless) by surfing to myspace.com/endzweck (only the one track off that The Grapes Of Wrath album, but also one off the upcomining one, plus one track off each of the mini-albums, and a total of 3 videos, including that for "Sounds Of Military Boots" , which comes as multi-media track on The Grapes... ).

98/100

Tony.