Loose Cannons

KNOCKED LOOSE and friends send Tokyo Bay loco at Japan’s BLOODAXE FESTIVAL…

- James Mackinnon

Were proof ever needed that hardcore’s initial shockwave rippled out far beyond the basements of Reagan-era America, then dive into a pit in Japan. For over a decade, Bloodaxe Festival has been bringing together local legends in Japan’s punk underground and the hottest American bands leading a new wave of hardcore. And with pit-hungry travellers from as far afield as Thailand and Austria descending upon Kawasaki’s cavernous Club Citta today to share blood, sweat, and bruises, this truly feels like a global gathering.

There are already a few limping participants by the time JESUS PIECE (KKKK) bound onstage. Not that the distinction between stage and pit means much today. Stage invaders flail around the Philly pulverisers like a deranged waltz during Punish, while frontman Aaron Heard is a lithe live-wire, peppering the front row with feral barks like buckshot as he goes.

Adding a touch of local noise, SAND’s (KKK) monstrous thrash attack stems as much from the gnarled aggression of New York hardcore as it does the gritty streets of their native Osaka. The March Of Cruelty is a nonstop assault of crunchy guitar and jackhammer double-kick rhythms that has Knocked Loose’s Isaac Hale air-drumming maniacally. CRYSTAL LAKE (KKKK)