Impressive songs with emotional lyrics, powerful heavy riffs, excellent and technically flawless solos—all of these features make coldrain one of the most promising post-hardcore bands to come out of Japan.
coldrain was formed in 2007 in Nagoya, the city which seems to be the cradle of Japanese hard rock. When they began, they only performed in their hometown. After their performances at lives, they distributed their own homemade demo discs. Soon after, the band won the audience’s confidence and became recognized. The reason for that was not only in coldrain’s remarkable lives but also due to one of the band’s peculiar features: their lyrics are solely in English. Why is that so? The answer is obvious—Masato is half-American and English is his native language.
A year had barely passed and coldrain signed a major contract with VAP, a label known for its work with bands such as NIGHTMARE and MAXIMUM THE HORMONE. The band released its long-awaited debut maxi-single, Fiction, on November 5, 2008. They set off for the first national tour and played in 30 cities.
After performing a series of concerts, the musicians released another maxi-single, 8AM. The limited edition included a DVD which featured the PV of the title song and three live videos: Fiction, Painting and Come Awake. 8AM was also used as a theme song for the anime series “Hajime no Ippo New Challenger.” The summer of the same year saw them perform at the SUMMER SONIC festival. In October, they released their first album Finale Destination and started another national tour that was a total success, as all tickets were sold out.
The band released their mini album Nothing lasts forever on June 23, 2010. One of the songs, We’re not alone, was used as an opening theme of the anime series “RAINBOW nisharokubo no shichinin.” They ended the year with an unexpected announcement: they were going to participate in a KUROYUME tribute album.
FUCK THE BORDER LINE came out on February 9, 2011. A week later coldrain presented their second full-length release, The Enemy Inside. Despite a stream of shows, which were held to promote the album, the band also found time to play at one of the biggest Japanese festivals, the two-day Rock in Japan Festival 2011. The end of the year saw the release of their first live DVD, Three Days of Adrenaline.
2012 was full of live shows, and with that came the July-released mini-album, titled Through Clarity. One of its songs, No Escape, was used as a theme of the popular video game, “BIOHAZARD Operation Raccoon City.” In August it was announced that due to drummer Katsuma’s health problems, coldrain had to pause activities for a short while.
The fall was again full of live shows, both in Japan and overseas. In December Masato announced on his blog that the band had started preparations for a new album, THE REVELATION, which was released in April 2013.
Near the end of 2013, coldrain announced that they had signed a worldwide management deal with Raw Power Management, and this update was quickly followed by even bigger news; they would perform three headlining shows in the UK before heading out on an extensive European tour as a supporting act for Bullet for My Valentine. They will also return to the UK this summer to participate in the Download Festival.
As it has been hinted that plans for the rest of the world are in the works, fans old and new should definitely keep a close eye on coldrain in the future.
