Japan's finest electro-metal warriors Crossfaith are going from strength to strength, especially with their most recent release Wipeout.
With synths that sound like guitars, guitars that sound like laser beams and bleeding-edge beats throughout, it’s the sound of a band who have carve out their own new identity with every release. We chat to frontman Kenta Koie in celebration of the release.
Hey thanks for speaking with Forté. You have very recently released your new EP ‘Wipeout’. How have you found the reception to be so far?
It’s actually 50/50, I don’t care too much about negative stuff because they all listened to our music at least. Also, we got a lot of new fans from this EP too. Our EPs after Xeno navigate us to the next record, which we’re working on now. I know that our fans want to listen to heavier stuff, and the new songs are very intense and aggressive, and at the same time they will give you feelings. Can’t wait to share them with everyone!
You are releasing three separate editions of ‘Wipeout’. What is the thinking behind that?
I’ve been talking about the inside since I’ve started writing lyrics and Wipeout is more about output from the inside. Don’t hesitate about the future because there’s no way to escape it. That’s the attitude of this song, and it’s our attitude for making music and playing music, hence this is EP number three of current of the series and it’s like the final stop to next album.
You guys have been going since 2006. What has changed and what has stayed the same since your early days in Osaka?
We’ve all moved and live separately in Tokyo now, actually. Living in Tokyo makes it hard to find the time to see each other. When we were in Osaka, it didn’t take more than five minutes to see each other. But we’ve been together for over 10 years now, so I know what everyone is the band is thinking without speaking to them. Our minds, attitude and stance are still on the same page, which is definitely the one thing stayed the same.
Crossfaith has been regularly releasing EP and LP features, is there a reason you prefer these smaller releases to full-sized albums?
Well, we wanted to keep releasing new music constantly. Even though we’re touring all over the world, it’s quite hard to play for all our fans in every city every year, so releasing several EPs instead of an album was our way to reach as many fans as possible whose cities we couldn’t get to.
Release: Wipeout is available now on all digital services.
