IS 'KAMIKAZE' REALLY THE WORD YOU'RE LOOKING FOR?

Japan kinda comes off as Metal's Special Olympics but good shit happens there. Let's see. Everybody's depressed sister likes Dir en grey; Taiho, Hellchild, and S.O.B all made at least one classic; shit even the hyper-emo Envy rocks pretty hard. The not unintentionally hilarious J-metal band exists somewhere in time and space. Not this space, though. Nor this time. From a press release with flashes of unfortunate word choice (via Blabbermouth):

Grief Of War's kamikaze brand of thrash first made an international splash with their 2005 debut, A Mounting Crisis ... As Their Fury Got Released (reissued by Prosthetic in 2008). July 7's Worship features Korn lead guitarist Shane Gibson, who performs a blistering solo on the song "Into The Void." 

Vocalist/bassist/lyricist Manabu Hirose explains: "Since Ken (Sato, lead guitarist) likes shredding guitarists, and he knew Shane would come to Japan while we were recording, he made contact with Shane and asked him to play on the album. We sent him the demo of 'Into The Void', he liked the song and we welcomed him to the studio when he visited Japan."

OK wow. First of all, that's a whole paragraph detailing what amounts to GOW's buying a solo off the sometime replacement guy in Korn. The negotiations must have been hilarious. 'Yo man, some Japanese guy is on the phone, saying he manages Gob Of Flour or Queef O'Wad or something and they offer ten thousand yen for a quick guest spot! 10 Gs duuude!' 

And points go to GOW's succinct singer-bassist Hirose, who, in a scintillating quote after claiming like seven credits on the album (edited the fuck out), explains how they got hooked up with the guy who plays behind a curtain or in the basement while Korn is onstage. It's a timeless story with a universal moral: guy likes shredding, label wants guest, band sends demo to guy with Jonathan Davis stamped on his paychecks, guy who travels in a bus smaller than Fieldy's goes to Japan, plays guitar, spends his earnings on a watermelon. Did the band know they weren't getting Munky or even the Jesus freak one? Clint Lowery?

That's the big stuff anyway. A few songs stream here, where you'll discover both that they don't need any fucking guest solos and that their name is written grief of WAR. I'm gonna say it that way. Like all whispery then holler WAR!!