Deathwish Inc. became one of the best-known hardcore labels in the world. Its catalogue starts at DWI01, and DWI01 is a split between Converge and a band from Tokyo: HELLCHILD.

The Record

Deeper the Wound was released in the United States on 23 April 2001. Each band has its own side.

Converge contributed “Thaw,” a song later re-recorded for Jane Doe, a Depeche Mode cover and three live tracks.

HELLCHILD’s side has one new song, a cover of “Insurrection of the Living Damned” by the Italian thrash band Bulldozer, and two live tracks, “In This Freezing Night” and “Without Any Answers.”

The two halves were made a continent apart. Converge recorded at GodCity in Salem, Massachusetts. HELLCHILD recorded at Sharkbite in Oakland, California, with Billy Anderson co-producing. The recordings were made between February and July 2000.

A Japanese edition followed in 2006 on Bastardize Records.

How HELLCHILD Got There

By 2001 HELLCHILD had been at it for fourteen years. The band formed in Tokyo in 1987 around the guitarist Eiichiro Suzuki and the drummer Satoru Naito. Tsukasa Harakawa sang from 1990 to 2001, and later joined SWARRRM.

The band built its overseas name the slow way:

  • 1994: a split with the American grind band Discordance Axis, and a support slot for Carcass in Japan
  • 1995: first shows in the United States, including CBGB
  • 1997: the album Circulating Contradiction, reissued in the US in 1999 by Howling Bull America
  • 1998: splits with Kilara and with Bongzilla
  • 1999 to 2001: the albums Bareskin and Wish (sources differ by a year on both)

Howling Bull was a Japanese label working abroad. We wrote about it here.

After the Wound

HELLCHILD split up in 2001, the same year the record came out. The drummer from the late 1990s to 2001, Junichi Harashima, went on to Sigh.

The band reunited in 2015, with Suzuki and Naito back and Kazuo on vocals and Kyo on bass. In May 2018 it supported At the Gates at TSUTAYA O-EAST in Shibuya, with the Japanese thrash band SURVIVE also on the bill. It is booked for KOSHIGAYA METAL BASH Vol.2 on 22 November 2026 and for MINOR LEAGUE’s thirtieth-anniversary show a week later.

Why It Matters

Labels tell you who they want to be with their first release. Deathwish chose to share its first catalogue number between Converge and a Japanese band, at a time when HELLCHILD had already played CBGB and opened for Carcass.

Play HELLCHILD’s side of Deeper the Wound first, then Circulating Contradiction.