The Blue Leeching Ambulance Songs / Buster - Early 2020 [2021]

It’s still pretty rare for Japanese screamo to drop straight onto streaming platforms. Even though you can find quite a few things on Spotify these days, it’s usually delayed or only finds it’s way up there once it’s released internationally. Bandcamp is the preferred digital medium for most underground Japanese bands. Most either don’t know how easy it is to get your music onto streaming platforms, or they’d prefer for it not to be there. The gap between the Japanese music scene and the American music scene is still there.

Enough about that. If you haven’t heard The Blue Leeching Ambulance Songs yet, here’s your chance. This is a split between two Sapporo bands, The Blue Leeching Ambulance Songs and Buster. Buster is pretty good, playing some real down-tuned hardcore that reminds me of Weekend Nachos or Nails. It’s cool.

Now, the main event. I’m gonna shorten their name. TBLAS is from Sapporo, home of some fabulous screamo groups like The Carnival Of Dark-Split, Black Film Dance, The Sun, Kiji, and so many more. And oh, wouldn’t you know. TBLAS features members from most of those bands! Takahiro Gotoh, formerly of The Carnival Of Dark-Split and The Sun, is on vocals & guitar. And man, you can really tell on tracks like Deteriorated Director, which straight-up would’ve been at home on an album from The Carnival Of Dark-Split. Then there’s Jinchi Takahashi on bass, formerly of Kiji. That influence really comes out in Oppression. The band lists 8cchi on guitar as ex-The Sun and Tak on drums, who also plays in Buster, but they must be newer members since they weren’t on the band’s earlier releases.

And what about the sound? It’s pure, early Japanese screamo. The depth of the songwriting is definitely updated to modern standards, and each song has a bit of a different sound. C and Illness remind me a lot of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. Their other two tracks have a bit of the aforementioned The Carnival Of Dark-Split and Kiji influences. I feel like their part of the split is a bit of grab bag, but I wouldn’t say the songs diverge to the point of putting off listeners. What I really get from it is a kind of 1st-wave Japanese screamo revival.

This brings to mind Undermark, who recently put out their first split on the excellent post-marked stamps series. Undermark is headed up by Tomo Sato, formerly of The Sun, End All, Anma, and a bunch more. They also have a sort of 1st-wave Japanese screamo revival sound. Similar to TBLAS, it’s an old-school dude heading up a group of younger guys. I’m here for it, though.