We have written before about what this band is like in a room. This piece is the other half: the dates.

1998: A Side Project

Loyal to the Grave began in Tokyo in the summer of 1998, as a side project of State Craft. Both of State Craft’s guitarists, Hiroyuki Kohama and Hiroyuki Shinohara, are members. In its early days the band looked to the hardcore of Syracuse, New York, and to groups such as Another Victim.

The Early 2000s: North Truth

The first release was a mini-album, North Truth, issued by the American label Devil’s Head Records at the start of the 2000s.

In 2003 the same label put the band on a split seven-inch with The Acacia Strain, as the third volume of a Slayer tribute series. State Craft had been on the first.

An EP, Indistinct, followed in 2004.

2006: The Second Album

Still Climbin’ Still Believin’ came out in 2006. It was six years before the next full-length.

2010: The Bassist Sings

In 2010 the singer left. The band did not look outside for a replacement. Koba, who had played bass since the first day, put the instrument down and took the microphone.

The first recordings with him at the front were demos, pressed onto a seven-inch as Never Take Us Down Demo 2010. Koba’s own story is here.

2012: Against the Odds

The third album, Against the Odds, was released on 30 April 2012 by Eulogy Recordings, an American label.

2017 to 2024: The Gap

The band was photographed at the Sound and Fury festival in California in 2017. Then, for seven years, it released nothing new.

2024: Rectitude

The return came on an American hardcore label with a strong reputation. Triple B Records, of Boston, released the EP Rectitude on 17 May 2024, with Retribute Records handling Japan. A first song, “Striving Higher,” had come out that April.

The credits are a small map of the scene. The EP was recorded with Gaku Taura, the drummer of Crystal Lake, among others. It was mixed by Taylor Young, who has also worked with KRUELTY.

Rectitude has five songs. By the label’s count it is the band’s fourteenth release.

Why It Matters

Twenty-six years, one change of singer, and a new record on a leading American hardcore label. Very few Japanese bands of any style have a timeline like it.

Start with Rectitude, then go back to Against the Odds.