Posted on: March 22, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0


YAKUZA front man Bruce Lamont recently joined Denver’s Cephalic Carnage Sunday Feb. 24  at Reggie’s Rock Club in his hometown of Chicago to join up and perform two cuts – the first being “Observer To The Obliteration Of Planet Earth” from Cephalic Carnage’s 2002 album ‘Exploiting Disfunction’ and “Global Overhaul Device” from 2007’s ‘Xeonsapien.’ Lamont guests on the recording of the later, and the recent collaboration marks the first time “Global Overhaul Device” has been played live. Cephalic Carnage is currently on tour with Darkest Hour, Emmure, and Whitechapel. Photos are available here (http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhotos&albumID=1943257&MyToken=3f98ac30-a62b-402b-a20c-51904d486c77).

 

Meanwhile, YAKUZA hits the road March 9, which includes appearances at South By Southwest, including a showcase alongside Serj Tankian. YAKUZA continues to support the critically-acclaimed ‘Transmutations,’ which saw a summer 2007 release through Prosthetic Records. The follow-up to ‘Samsara,’ ‘Transmutations’ was recorded with producer and multi-instrumentalist Sanford Parker (Rwake, Pelican, Minsk) in Chicago and has spawned a video for the track “Black Market Liver” which was directed by Sara Jean and is available online here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptPLaObjGO8).

YAKUZA on tour

3/27 Vancouver, BC – The Cobalt (with Unexpect)

3/29 Calgary, Alberta – The Underground

4/02 Winnipeg, Manitoba – The Royal Albert

 

 

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“…foaming at the mouth musical delivery is complemented by some of the raddest and most cohesively efficient song structures out there.”  -  Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles

 

        “…a stupefying collision of lumbering, fuzzed-up riffs, prog-jazz oddness and warped psychedelia, played with enough shamanistic force to make the sky collapse itself.”  -  Kerrang

 

“The Chicago quartet’s newest nose-bleeding excursions, free-jazz workouts and tribal-drum barrages thrust thrash, hardcore, noise and prog elements into a food processor, the songs eradicating conventions as they bound between harsh heaviness and wander-through-the-desert calmness.”  -  Chicago Tribune

 

“If anything, Yakuza’s the extreme music equivalent of a fleet-fingered DJ with a bottomless crate of…7-inches-ones that soothe and sear, massage and mutilate.”  -  Decibel

 

   “This is extremity as art, uncompromising, dynamic, and unforgiving as an avalanche of bricks. Hopefully, the rest of the metal world can catch up to these cats in time to give “Samsara” the recognition it deserves.”  – Blabbermouth

 

“It’s a fair assumption that Transmutation will make its way onto many top 10 albums of 2007 lists.” – Jambase

 

“Dreary art-sludge – instrumental stoner funk – reverb and acid-glurp – weirdly sparse. These guys also sound like death metal sometimes. 8/10” -  Paperthinwalls.com

 

“Though the group has a vocalist, Bruce Lamont, who doubles on reeds,  and though it has the clout to snag legendary free-jazz percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang, it still loads Transmutations with atmospheres that are neither jazz nor psychedelia nor Neurosis-esque post-metal, but a cataclysmic collision of all three.” – The Onion AV Club

 

“Listening to a Yakuza album with full attention is likely to take you places other albums rarely go.” – Lambgoat

 

“An inspired, diverse, invigorating piece of work that will leave listeners wondering just what this highly talented band is capable of accomplishing next.” – PopMatters.com

 

         “It’d be easy to tag Yakuza as a prog-metal band and be done with it, but that would somehow be selling its range and versatility (not to mention its creativity) short. This is progressive only in the sense that it is attempting to take the genre forward. But make no mistake: This is a metal album, and a damn fine one at that.”  -  Chord

 

“So scary, we think you’ll crap your pants…This could be the next step on for heavy music.”  -  Metal Hammer

 

“Yakuza no longer have to whip out every trick in their book on every track; they’re now making music that, like the best jazz and rock, develops organically as it goes along.”  -  Alternative Press

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