Formed in ’79 in Osaka, they rapidly built a following due to the overwhelmingly physical intensity of their live performances, often involving destructive onstage rituals of vomit, urine, mangled guitars and ear shredding volume.

There’s only so long you can go on vomiting on stage, though, and as audiences started to expect spectacle of the band, Hijokaidan ratcheted up the musical focus and developed into one of the most uncompromisingly dense and emotionally expressive noise acts. Many first wave noise artists found inspiration in 70’s metal and outsider rock-brut, but it’s with Hijokaidan that the rock form has been most passionately devoured in a compacted layering of high-end volume and movement; the recent addition of a drummer to the core line-up giving their sound, already full of frenetic guitar, electronic-overload and wordless vocal-screech an even more direct and elemental power. One of the most exhilarating live acts you’re likely to see, this is the first time they’ve played outside Japan.