Zero Vision

Zero Vision formed in 1998 with guitarists Tomohisa Morita and Junzo Komori. They spent years playing Japan's underground venues, developing a sound that pulled from thrash and death metal without settling neatly into either category. Their debut album 'Acrid Taste' came out in 2005, and the title track became something of a calling card for the band.

The lineup stabilized around Morita and Komori on guitars, Yuuka Matsushita on vocals, Yuta Shimizu on bass, and Masaki Nakazato on drums. Matsushita's delivery, part scream, part raw expression, gave their music its immediate character. Songs like 'Blind The Eyes' and 'Growing Anguish' carried that intensity forward, built on Nakazato's precise drumming and the twin-guitar work of the founders.

Their lyrics often dealt with bleak themes, which sometimes drew criticism, but Zero Vision mostly kept working. They put out music that felt like their own thing, neither purely aggressive nor deliberately experimental, just what came from that particular group of players in those rooms.