Some Japanese bands build a following at home and then look abroad. KRUELTY did it almost the other way round. Its albums came out on a Canadian label, and it has spent a good part of its life on tour overseas.
The Idea
KRUELTY formed in Tokyo in the summer of 2017. The founding idea is easy to state. Take the slow, heavy end of hardcore, the style known as beatdown, and join it to the death metal and doom metal of the 1990s, American and Scandinavian.
The two styles have a lot in common: low tunings, slow tempos, weight over speed. KRUELTY’s label has described the band as the best-known act working where they meet.
The Albums
The first album, A Dying Truth, came out in 2020. The second, Untopia, followed in March 2023. Both were released by Profound Lore Records, the Canadian label known for extreme metal.
Untopia took the band around the world in a single year. In 2023 KRUELTY toured New Zealand and Australia, then Europe, then North America with the American death metal band Sanguisugabogg.
The Change
The next record came with a change at the front. The vocalist on the albums, Tatami, left the band, and the guitarist Zuma took over lead vocals.
The first release with that arrangement was the EP Profane Usurpation, released on 22 November 2024 by Closed Casket Activities. It has four songs and was recorded with Taylor Young, who had worked with the band before. Zuma described it as death metal, grindcore, hardcore and punk existing on one record.
The band was on the road in North America that autumn as well, with Undeath. Visa problems delayed the start, and KRUELTY joined the tour partway through.
At Home
In Japan, KRUELTY played the 2024 edition of FRONTLINE FESTIVAL at Club Citta, on the same bill as Unearth, Bleeding Through and Crystal Lake.
Why It Matters
Japanese hardcore has been exported before, but mostly as a cult taste. KRUELTY is on the labels and tours that fans of the style abroad already follow, as one of the bands, not as a visitor.
Start with Untopia, then Profane Usurpation.
