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Judgement is my favorite Japanese hardcore band. They ain’t the most obscure, or the oldest, but for my money, they’ve got everything I’m looking for. Powerful growling vocals, huge choruses with Iron Maiden style melodies, and bulldozing double speed Discharge parts. I mean really this is the formula for hundreds of straight ahead hardcore bands from Japan. It’s an institution there. Judgement just has superior song craft to at least 90% of the competition. It’s not something you can really break down beyond that. It’s like… why is Neil Young better than a thousand and one other folky rockers that came out in the 60’s? Because he just is. He has an intangible something. He always plays the right thing at the right time (okay his mid-era lps notwithstanding). Judgement ALWAYS played the right thing at the right time.

The A-side and title track to this single, Process, has a little clean picked guitar part to prefigure the mid-paced main riff the song is built on. It’s the kind of thing that is worthy of AC/DC status; straight power through and through. So simple, so perfect. As soon as you hear it the blood in your veins starts flowing a little quicker. The searing leads that get cut over it hit all the sweetest notes while still managing to sound spontaneously delivered. It sounds like Adrian Smith shooting from the hip. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s a stone cold fact. The vocals pour out in desperation and ferocity every bit on par with singer Nori’s previous band, CRUCK, and the rhythm section is solid as a slab of granite. With basically only one riff, Process reaches the kind of heights that could rally a sports team or a battle field. It just surges with energy and power. If Hillary used this as a campaign song, she’d have got the nomination by now (just kidding we all know presidential elections are fixed). The flip side of the record, The Situation, is every bit as masterful as its counterpart. It kicks into thrash gear after a few seconds in the tradition of Deathside, Poison Arts, and so on. Guitar leads spin out of control over the chorus while back up vocals thicken up Nori’s already muscular delivery. It’s the ideal hardcore song, meeting and exceeding all of the archetypes that come with that. The tempo changes to mid paced before building up to a massive climax of angry shouts and chanting, and finally falling apart under the weight of it all. It feels over before it even started.

The problem with the Process single is its long out of print, and hard as hell to find, because it was a gig-only release. In other words, you could only purchase it at Judgement shows during the 90’s (they’re sadly defunct now). Only 1,000 or so were produced (although a lot of people think 500)  and not that many made it out of Japan for obvious reasons, making this the most desirable release by the band from a collectors standpoint. It also looks really nice with a high gloss pocket sleeve, full color art, and a cool insert with a drawing by Sugi. As a bonus this copy has a sticker of the insert art too (which my copy is unfortunately missing). Seriously, if you’ve ever been curious about Japanese hardcore, and want to know about the best, Judgement couldn’t be a finer place to start. If you’re into bands like Tragedy, this is where a lot of their sound comes from. I’m pretty sure all 4 of their 7″ singles (the other three are: No Reason Why, Haunt In The Dark, and Night Brings) are easily found on mp3 blogs, and they’re all great. They also a have 4 song, cd only EP (Just Be) that while, not quite as essential, is also excellent.