VERDALACK – force from the grave – TAPE

Limited to only 100 copies on professionally manufactured cassettes.

HELLS HEADBANGERS is proud to present VERDALACK’s highly anticipated debut album, Force From the Grave, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

Hailing from Tokyo, VERDALACK’s roots go back to the preceding band Assault Attack, which included guitarists Vortex and Vandal and vocalist Villain. As Assault Attack, the trio played thrash metal until disbanding in 2018. Under the direction of Vortex, the band restarted in 2022 and changed their moniker to VERDALACK and stylistically converted to speed metal. A two-song demo tape was released in 2022, showing that VERDALACK were good on their word: new / huge influences ranged from mid ’80s speed metal, ancient US power metal, and classic Japanese hardcore-punk. With their expanded lineup consisting of members from Significant Point, Military Shadow, Bafomet, Disgunder, and Another Dimension, it can be said a newborn devil has arisen from incest within the modern Japanese underground metal scene.

Now, VERDALACK are prepared to take over the underground with violence and force: enter Force From the Grave, their full-length debut. Comprising eight hard-charging songs across a fun & frantic half-hour, Force From the Grave approximates its namesake through a laser-focused mindset and soundfield. All stylistic nuances of idiomatic speed metal are covered and then taken to overdriven, totally OTT levels – an idiosyncratic quirk of Japanese musicians when it comes to otherwise-Western music – much in the way that the cult Tokyo Yankees did with their own debut album, 1991’s classic Do the Dirty. As such, the album soon nods to Japan’s legendary Burning Spirits scene in its synthesis of teeth-gnashing intensity laced with extremely impeccable chops; just witness the myriad melodic leads across Force From the Grave and how crucial (and contagious) each one is. But, songwriting rules supreme with VERDALACK, and the quintet put those chops in service of locomotive propulsion that’s anthemic and interesting in equal measure. That the record features a production that’s got the right balance of grit and gleam only makes Force From the Grave that much more refreshing.

Classics-minded but exuding an authentically fresh approach, VERDALACK’s Force From the Grave will throttle maniacs of Jag Panzer to Japan’s Bastard, Exciter to GISM, and Piledriver to Deathside. The Tokyo Speed Metal Forces are on the attack!