Brian Connelly takes a look at the Japanese music scene in our regular feature.

Title: No Borders: A Collection Of Japanese  & American Hardcore

By: Various Artists

Released: N/A

Label: Red I and Suburban Home

No Borders is a joint effort between the Japanese and American hardcore scenes, intertwining the two beautifully to illustrate the time told adage: music knows no boundaries.  I have to admit, I was (discriminatingly, I confess) surprised to see just how smoothly Eastern-style hard-edged punk juxtaposed itself to good ole American hardcore.  This disc blew away my preconceived notions that the �hardcore� element in music was something that was innately American; the revolutionary ideals, the aggression, the pure display of emotion.  Boy, was I wrong.

Deadfall, in my eyes the most prominent effort this side of the Pacific, essentially pulverized any preconception of mine that these little Asian people could not possibly rock as hard as my American brethren.  �Past Chains� is chock-full of downright ballistic breakdowns and chord progressions, completely relentless.  X-Floors takes a more Earth Crisis approach, and just shoots for as brutal and heavy and dark as humanly possible, and makes a pretty impress show of it.  Aggressive Dogs turns it all upside down with their straight 4/4 beats and vocal pounding, fully living up to their names.  A sense of pseudo-pop, or even hip-hop, grooviness abounds with Stompede�s �Electrical Soda.�

Oriental music has been known to, at its most creative junctures, have something of a quirkiness to it (Hi-Standard, Melt Banana, Masonna), and this disc is no exception.  The Abnormals add an unattractive but intriguing rockabilly twist, something like Elvis Presley backing Avail.  Trailing the pack is Stab4Reason, a hectic mix of System of a Down, Mr. Bungle and Bad Religion.  The music skips between grooving and pounding, the vocals hitting bizarre screeches and bass warbling.

Of course, there are the prerequisite blue-blooded exemplary American bands (Snapcase, Sick of it All, 88 Fingers Louie), but these are coupled and developed by other lesser-known bands, like the forthright and beautifully intense Indecision, the sporadically energetic Kid Dynamite and Shutdown and the gorgeously tough but melodic Fury 66.

Diversity is the high point here, and unlike the Spawn soundtrack, No Borders is evidence that a cornucopia of styles can merge together as seamlessly as anything else.  From the slowly-paced melody of Grey Area to the utter brutality of Deadfall, this disc is a pure and global force with the solid intent of making hardcore not only an acceptable form of music, but an acceptable form of international expression.

Brian Connelly