Eien No Ho Ga Saki Ni Te O Dashita No Sa (To Start With Let's Remove the Colour)

Where did they find this tape? Appearing out of nowhere in 2003, Eien No Ho Ga Saki Ni Te O Dashita No Sa was recorded back in 1978 by the first incarnation of Fushitsusha, Keiji Haino's main musical vehicle. The cover is typically blank and black, except for the name of the band and a small 1978 in silver characters. Despite the lack of any other information on the front and back covers, those four digits will send shivers down the spine of any Fushitsusha fan. Documentation of the group's early years is thin. Documentation of this lineup, with Haino on electric guitar and vocals, bassist Jun Hamano, and drummer Takashima, is nonexistent. The disc presents two tracks, roughly 15 and 35 minutes in duration respectively. Sound quality is fair considering the age of the tapes (there is some wear and tear that the mastering job was unable to get rid of at the beginning of the first track and five minutes before the end of the second one). What first strikes the ears is how mature and fully formed the group's sound was right from the start. The guitar is extremely noisy, shredded to pieces. The bass swings up and down, ignoring any form of rhythmic concept, while the enigmatic Takashima thrashes away. If Haino howls and growls in his own typical way, his singing lacks the unbearable pathos of later years. That reflects into the music. Instead of evoking a succession of conflicting emotions, the pieces here are cut from a single stone. They rage on, hardly evolving in the course of their duration, although track two stops for a few anguish-laden seconds of silence halfway through and track one features a powerful crescendo in its last three minutes.