Coward

I cannot claim to be as seasoned an expert as many on the subject of Japanese hardcore, though I would consider myself a huge fan. There is certainly no shortage of great blogs on the subject of hardcore and more specifically, international hardcore. Many of these blogs already make the classics of the genre available. It's fairly common to see releases by Confuse, Gai, and G.I.S.M. made available, and rightly so, all 3 bands are amazing and probably are the most definitive of the Japanese hardcore aesthetic. Eventually I will join the fold and post some music by them, but for now I believe that there are better, more informed blogs that already have done a fine job in paying tribute (http://damagingnoise.blogspot.com comes to mind). I do, however, have plans to do a Gai tribute post at some point. Interestingly enough, when the subject of great Japanese punk bands comes up, few ever mention Osaka's Coward. Perhaps because this little red 7" was their only proper release. Recently the great MCR Company released a split cd with some unheard Coward and fellow countrymen, Gasmask. Pick it up!!! But what of this ep? I have seen it titled "Voice" before, but there is nothing on the sleeve, that I can tell, to suggest such a claim. What you get is 3 raw tracks of fast fuzzy hardcore. I guess that one of the members is still playing music and is in a band called Cutie. Like I said, I am hardly an expert, so if anyone can fill in any details about Coward I welcome it.

Get it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7FRB2YJO