Scorn in Japan

If you're into hardcore or metal, the U.S. is probably not one of the best countries to be if you also like to see bands perform live. Why? Because bands from Europe or Asia come here far less frequently than bands from here go overseas. Now, I live in a big city, so I can hardly complain about a lack of shows to attend, but I can definitely think of a number of bands from other countries that I wish I would have had a chance to see play or that I would love to see again.

One of them is Hellchild from Japan. Okay, so I did actually see them once, at the 2000 Loud as Fuck at CB's, but as far as I know they broke up not too long after that. You probably know Hellchild from their split with Converge, but if you haven't heard them before, their two last full-length records, Circulating Contradiction and Bareskin (released in the U.S. by Ritual's Howling Bull imprint), on which they also recycled a number of songs from their EP releases, are a good place to start. I also remember seeing the split 7" with Bongzilla around in stores not too long ago, so you might still be able to find that and some of their other EPs at tolerable prices. Here is an overview of their releases, and this unofficial site has a fairly extensive bio and a short interview.

The three songs below are from the split 7" with Gomorrha (Per Koro/ Bastardizer) and the split 10" with Kilara (Rhetoric).

Hellchild - Soul of purity
Hellchild - Kill yourself
Hellchild - The change and the unchangeable

On a different note, I know the sound quality of some of the mp3s on here isn't particularly good. I've been using Final Vinyl to rip music, and it gets the job done, but if you have any recommendations of other programs to use or what else to watch out for, please let me know. I'm not much of a technophile, so I'd appreciate any advice.