FRIENDSHIP - I&II
1. Jerusalem
2. T.R.Ø.Y
3. Bill Evans
4. €ompton
5. Represent
6. Bottomless Pit
7. Abuse
8. SB
9. Hype
10. Slaughterhouse
11. Law
12. El Chapo
We are extremely proud and honored to announce the release of "I&II" - a full-length release from elusive and mysterious experimental powerviolence terrorists Friendship (also known as the Friendship Collective). "I&II" is a compilation of tracks previously self-released by the band as two separate EPs (the I EP and the II EP) now both condensed by Sentient Ruin into a single castigating long player of maximum auditive torture that will come to life as a cassette tape + digital release. The I&II compilation masterfully showcases the full extent of the band’s absurd formula: a maelstrom of bleak and punishing powerviolence/grind ferocity colliding with the suffocating weight of the most abject sludge-doom, and further enhanced by the iconic and completely mindless approach to extreme metal and punk which has always characterized Japanese bands as being the most absurd and unpredictable out there.
Hailing from the Chiba prefecture of western Japan, Friendship are one of the most vile, antagonist, and visionary grind/powerviolence acts to have ever emerged from The Land of the Rising Sun. Their absurdly devastating music comes together as a collapsing black hole that devours everything with maniacal ferocity, sparing nothing from the plain of existence. In perfect adherence to the tradition of Japanese extreme music where everything is always taken to ridiculous and mindless extremes, Friendship's music is like a chain reaction that can not be stopped - the devastating consequence of an uncontrolled nuclear fission of Japan's most praised and iconic musical extremities: the mindless chaos of bands like Endon and Zeni Geva, the pulverizing blunt force trauma of bands like Unholy Grave and Death Side, and the cataclysmic sludge-doom aberrance of bands like Corrupted and Congenital Hell. Of course this hell on earth envisioned by the band far from stops to their sole Japanese roots. Instead their sound goes beyond, encompassing and embracing the full scale auditive terror of legendary American powerviolence bands like Nails, Column of Heaven, Man Is The Bastard, Iron Lung, and Hatred Surge, and the tormented sludge dirges of masters like Swans, Godflesh, Noothgrush, and Dystopia.
To be released on February 17 2017 Friendship's I&II comprises of twelve tracks of absolutely unfathomable violence, that will plunge the listener nt an authentic plight for survival, as they desperately try to survive the utterly senseless chaos unleashed upon them by these Japanese masters of complete sonic terror.
No Clean Singing is now streaming the first song extrapolated from I&II called Bottomless Pit, saying that “what you’ll find on Friendship I & II is a combination of blighted, crushing, sludge-doom and vicious powerviolence and grind. It may sound like a schizophrenic combination, but you get the sense that Friendship have deployed these contrasting styles as one more particularly effective strategy in service of their main goal of unbalancing and terrorizing their listeners.” You can check out their feature and stream HERE. More track streams will soon follow at various other outlets.
Pre-orders for I&II cassettes and digital products are now live on our store and on our Bandcamp.