Metal Underground.com

If you have followed grindcore in the last fifteen years, you’re probably already familiar with the work of Jon Chang. The New Jersey native fronted the sorely-missed Discordance Axis, which also included blast beat god Dave Witte on drums. Chang’s high-pitched screams had more in common with the sound of a cat being thrown into a blender than they did with anything remotely human. If it weren’t for Discordance Axis, its doubtful bands like Pig Destroyer would sound the way they do. The front-man is currently in a band called Gridlink that will be releasing its debut album this year through Hydra Head Records. In the meantime, Chang has teamed with Takafumi Matsubara of Japanese grinders, Mortalized on guitar and drummer Eric Schnee to form the awkwardly named Hayaino Daisuki. The name translates to “I love speed” in Japanese, so it makes perfect sense that Hayaino Daisuki rip and tear at frenetic tempos on their debut EP, "Headbanger’s Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire."

The album finds the band melding their grind with elements of Motorhead’s rock classicism and early death metal’s unhinged guitar style. Hayaino Daisuki also includes whammy bar-assisted solos that remind me of Larry LaLonde’s work in the mighty Possessed. The genre boundary-pushing doesn’t end there. They even go over the standard 45 second time limit for their songs with one almost reaching the 5 minute mark. Chang sounds as tortured as ever on these songs but with the wider space provided, he doesn’t scream on top of everything this time. With material this strong, hopefully this east-meets-west monster goes on to record a full length album.