UK Mathcore band KAKIHARA present their newest EP here titled "Love Songs Part II." I wasn't able to find out much information on them, and we all know The Metal Archives is prejudiced against any band with "core" at the end, so we are going to have to let the music do the talking here. The album has five songs. "I Just Want to Forget" is first. It's dreadfully heavy, almost like  beat down from a gang of six MMA fighters when you are already down for the count. You can tell the band has talent, as evidenced by them hitting each passing note with deadly accuracy and timing. "Nothing Else to Say" is just over one minute in length, but when you consider the density of their sound, that's totally enough. If it lingered, you may be in danger of going insane. It's very heavy once again, bordering on torture even.

"Death Grip" is another intense song that lasts only one minute, but it feels like you went 16 rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime. Coming out the other end, you are bloody, bruised, battered, and near dead. "Calamari" is two minutes, so double the beating time. It's the kind of song you body tells you to turn off but then you leave on anyway just to find out what comes next…a sort of morbid curiosity. If you have a hankering for something heavier than a black hole, put on this banger. "It's Going To Be Okay" is the final song on the EP, and it's slower and even more crushing. Each note in the guitars sounds like if you unwound it, you would get miles of notes. There is dissonance, raging screams, and Djenty effects.

There's brutal music, and then there's KAKIHARA. By the end of the short 10-ish minute run time, you are so exhausted, you feel like you ran an ultra-marathon. They are indeed talented, and each note is in its proper place. For as punishing as their brand of music is, they also seem genuinely attracted to the lighter and more fun side of the industry, and that just makes me like them even more.