Hellchild

Emerging onto Japan's death metal landscape in 1987, Hellchild issued two demos and performed multiple modest local concerts despite frequent personnel shifts, gradually building a dedicated audience. A stable configuration finally coalesced by 1993, when the quartet—founding members Eiichiro Suzuki on guitar and Satoru Naitoh on drums, joined by vocalist Tsukasa Harakawa and bassist Matsunaga—issued a four-song EP through Ritual Records and followed it with their debut full-length, Where the Conflict Reaches, on the same label. The following year brought a split EP alongside U.S. outfit Discordance Axis plus the four-track Gleam in the Gloom, while the band also supported Carcass across Japan. Their initial American trek arrived in 1995, covering the East Coast and featuring an appearance at the storied CBGB's; immediately afterward they hosted Cannibal Corpse on a Japanese run. Clockwork Toy marked their first domestic U.S. release in 1996, and Ritual issued Circulating Contradiction domestically the next year. Nearing the close of the decade, drummer Junichi Harashima replaced Naitoh, after which the group shared a bill with Slayer at the Live Undead metal festival in Japan. In 1999 Howling Bull America signed Hellchild, reissuing Circulating Contradiction stateside and introducing the new album Bareskin.