FORWARD
Ishiya's post-Death Side vehicle, carrying the Burning Spirits torch with zero compromise since 1996.
About
When Death Side called it quits in the mid-'90s, vocalist Ishiya and bassist You weren't about to stop. They pulled in Souichi from Insane Youth on guitar and members from KGS and started FORWARD in 1996 -- same ferocity, different chapter. Where Death Side had helped invent the Burning Spirits sound, FORWARD took that blueprint and ran it forward (yes, literally) into a new era of Tokyo hardcore punk that kept the metallic solos, the breathless drumming, and Ishiya's unmistakable vocal snarl fully intact. The band's discography is spread across labels that matter in the punk underground: H.G. Fact, Sorry State, Prank, Phobia Records. Just Go Forward to Death (2000) is the essential starting point -- a record that distills everything right about Japanese hardcore into a single slab of vinyl. They've kept releasing EPs and splits steadily through the 2020s, including a Live House Benefit release during COVID and Another Dimension on Phobia. Their records tend to stay on wax and off streaming platforms, which tells you something about their priorities. FORWARD have toured internationally and shared stages with Western bands like Tragedy and World Burns to Death who wear their Japanese HC influence on their sleeves. But the real action is still at home -- Ishiya remains one of the most respected figures in Tokyo punk, and a FORWARD set at a Tokyo livehouse is still one of the most intense things you can catch on any given weekend. His vocal style has been imitated by half the Burning Spirits revivalists worldwide, but nobody's matched the original.