Band: Intestine Baalism

In 1991, INTESTINE BAALISM was formed by Seiji Kakuzaki (Vocals / Guitars), Takeshi Ohkouchi (Drums) and other unknown local musicians. They played Thrash Metal in the early days, but after Katsumasa Yoshida (Bass) joined in 1992, they changed their music style into true Death Metal and started to play at clubs in Tokyo. INTESTINE BAALISM's first milestone was the recording of the official demo titled "The Energumenus", which was released in 1994 and sold more than 500 copies in a very short term. Being encouraged by the reputation of the demo, they began to find a label that was able to spread out their music worldwidely. Finally, INTESTINE BAALISM decided to sign with Repulse Records, and their 1st full-length album, "An Anatomy of the Beast", was released in 1997. "An Anatomy of the Beast" was highly appreciated by underground metalheads in the world. However, soon after the release, they unfortunately had to stop activities due to several unexpected troubles. The pause was too long, and in the meantime, Takeshi, one of the founding members, left the band. Two remaining members, Seiji and Katsumasa, continued just writing music and rehearsing, while they were seeking full-time members who were able to dedicate themselves by 100% into the band. Although the line-up was still not fixed, in 1997, Seiji and Katsumasa started recording, because they had already written many materials by that time. The recording was done quite slowly and intermittently with supports by their friends. At last, in 2000, Seiji and Katsumasa succeeded in recruiting reliable full-time members, Jiro Ito (Guitars) and Hisao Hashimoto (Drums), then, under this line-up, they completed the recording of the 2nd album, "Banquet in the Darkness" by the end of 2000. After well preparation, in April, 2003, "Banquet in the Darkness" was released by Blackend Records, a division of Plastic Head, U.K.; one of the biggest record firms for underground music. People welcomed INTESTINE BAALISM's returning to the world underground Metal scene after 6 years, and "Banquet in the Darkness" got ranked high in many reviews of magazines / zines including such famous commercial magazines as Rockhard, Legacy, etc. Following, in May of the same year, the 1st album "An Anatomy of the Beast", which had been out-of-print, was re-released by Blackend Records. With fully-equipped conditions, they played many gigs in Japan, and knocked out audiences with their technical, emotional and intense performance. However, at the end of 2003, Katsumasa Yoshida departed from the band. As his successor, Kenji Minagawa, who had once participated in the recording of one track from "Banquet in the Darkness" album, took the role. In the beginning of year 2004, INTESTINE BAALISM commenced the recording of the forthcoming 3rd album. You will hear this masterpiece sometime late this year...!!!