Matsumoto is a castle town in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture. It is not where you would look for heavy bands. It has produced at least two that are now based in Tokyo: C-GATE, and FALLING ASLEEP.
The Start
Guitarist Hiroki and vocalist Vincent met at high school in Nagano, where they played together in a cover band. That friendship is where FALLING ASLEEP began.
The band was founded in Matsumoto in 2015, as a group working across metalcore, melodic hardcore and post-hardcore. It did not stay in the mountains long. In April 2016 it moved its base to Tokyo.
The lineup is Vincent on vocals, Hiroki and Raita on guitar, and Taiju on drums.
The Sound
The band describes what it does as a fusion of rock, metal and electronic music, and says it does not want to be tied to a genre or a style. Its two albums are My Heart Still Goes On and Heavens Where Souls Belong.
LIES
On 26 February 2025 the band released an EP, LIES, with four songs. It was presented as the start of a new chapter.
The title track has a guest: PK, the vocalist of Prompts, who would become the singer of Crystal Lake the following year. The EP also includes a new recording of “DEPARTED,” a song from the first album, with a bigger arrangement.
Two days after the release, on 28 February 2025, the band held its own event, Romantic Dreams, at Shibuya CYCLONE. A single, “HAZE,” followed that July.
The Support Slots
One way to see how a band is regarded is to look at who it is asked to open for. FALLING ASLEEP has supported The Plot In You, Dayseeker and Holding Absence on their visits to Japan. Those are three well-known names in modern melodic post-hardcore, from the United States and Britain.
Why It Matters
Two schoolfriends from a mountain town started a cover band. Ten years later they were opening for touring bands from America and Britain.
Start with LIES.
