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Official repress of this not-so-known record but super classic of Japanese Hardcore. Led by Yoshihiro Hiraoka (Poison, Poison Arts) on vocals, this short time run project from 1992 includes the almighty Hiroyuki Kishida, best-known as Chelsea (Death Side, Paintbox, Poison Arts, The Execute) on guitar, Minoru (Lip Cream, The Comes, Colored Ricemen, EIEFITS) on bass and Eiji (Me♀ss) on drums. So you know what to expect, some super catchy melodic and metallic hardcore punk from some of the best punkers in the Burning Spirits scene. Originally released by Slice Records in 1992.
Our take: Vinyl release of this CD-only gem from 1992. This release features Yoshihiro Hiraoka (Poison, Poison Arts) on vocals, Chelsea (Death Side, Paintbox) on guitar, Minoru (Lip Cream, the Comes, Colored Ricemen) on bass, and Eiji (Me♀ss) on drums. I'm still not really sure exactly what the exact relationship between Poison, Poison Arts, and Human Arts is, but I do know that this record rips. Like many of us who became obsessed with Death Side at various points in our lives, I explored all of Chelsea's other releases that I could find, looking for that same sound that made Death Side so distinctive. While you can certainly hear traces of it in everything else that he did, this release from Human Arts is probably the closest in style to Death Side's best material; it's certainly just as raging and riff-heavy (well, aside from the two melodic songs), and also utilizes a lot of the same trademark harmonies that you hear on the classic Death Side releases. I hate to reduce this release just to the Chelsea connection because there's a lot to like here... Human Arts play a really cool, dense, and technical style of hardcore, but when you hear the sound of Chelsea doing his thing it's just so transcendental that it drags your attention away from anything else that might be going on. If, like me, Chelsea's guitar sound is as fundamentally pleasing as that of Greg Ginn in his prime, then you'll cherish any opportunity to hear it and, hence, this becomes a 100% mandatory purchase.