Review by Daniel for Hayaino Daisuki - The Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, or Did You Mean Hawaii Daisuki? (2010)

When I returned to metal following a decade of electronic music indulgence in 2009, I went on somewhat of an extreme metal marathon in order to catch up on everything I’d missed since leaving the scene behind back in 1998. Death metal, black metal, extreme doom metal, thrash metal & grindcore received my full attention & while undertaking that process I came across a deceptively-titled & little-known US side project called Hayaino Daisuki which included vocalist Jon Chang (Discordance Axis/Gridlink/No One Knows What The Dead Think), guitarist Takafumi Matsubara (Gridlink/Takafumi Matsubara/Guilty Connector), bassist Teddy Patterson III (Burnt By The Sun/Gridlink/Human Remains) & drummer Eric Schnee. In classic grindcore fashion, Hayaino Daisuki released just the two short EP’s in their eight year existence in 2008’s debut effort “Headbanger’s Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire” & their 2010 sophomore record “The Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, or Did You Mean Hawaii Daisuki?” with the latter generally being the more highly regarded of the two. Neither received enough of my attention to warrant me attempting a review or even a rating at the time as my mission didn’t allow me to invest too much of my attention on a single release unless it was absolutely belting me but I do recall quite enjoying “The Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, or Did You Mean Hawaii Daisuki?” in particular so I thought it might be time to give it a return viewing.

Hayaino Daisuki’s second E.P. is the shorter of the two with its four tracks coming to a total run time of just 12 minutes so it doesn’t require an enormous investment of your time. None of the four tracks included really stand out from the other three as the quality is very consistent throughout but the band leaves no stone unturned in their efforts to pulverize the listener with a whirlwind of high-velocity activity. You shouldn’t expect a blastathon though as the blast-beats are used quite sparingly for a grind-related release & I do say "related" because Hayaino Daisuki are very hard to pin down into any one subgenre. Their sound seems to pull together over-the-top grindcore screaming with consistently up-tempo & thrashy riffage, the melodic focus of melodeath/meloblack & some very exciting & shreddy Slayer-style lead guitar work. This combination of different techniques works nicely too as all of those components are well integrated into a cohesive sound that doesn’t need to jump around too much in order to showcase all of the available elements.

The production job is very effective as it provides a good balance of raw intensity & clarity with each instrument being easily decipherable through the face-melting metal maelstrom. Perhaps the bass could have been a little higher in the mix but there’s not much to complain about really. The guitar solos I mentioned are the clear highlight for me personally with their tone being high in mid-range which enables them to comfortably pierce through & ride on top of the wall of sound. Jon Chang is a rabid, psychotic mad dog of a front man & you suspect that the short run time has allowed him to simply go for broke without the fear of blowing his voice out through over-exertion. If I’m being honest, it’s the more melodic material that keeps Hayaino Daisuki from breeching my bank of higher scores though as I’m not the biggest fan of an overtly melodic focus in my extreme metal & there's a surprising amount of that on offer for a grind record.

At the end of the day, “The Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, or Did You Mean Hawaii Daisuki?” is an enjoyable blast of fun that’s probably unlikely to change many lives but will no doubt enhance some for short periods. It serves its purpose nicely as I can definitely see a few people throwing themselves around their bedrooms while playing air guitar frenetically & screaming violently. I’d suggest that its consistency is also it weakness though as it's lacking the one or two highlight tracks required to stop it from flying past in somewhat of a blur, an entertaining blur it has to be said but a blur none the less.