knivesunderthepillow(abbreviated "kutp.") is a "pissed off queer emoviolence" duo from Japan, as it says on their Bandcamp page. One of their tags is "blackened screamo", which I say describes the sound of this wild ride of an EP "苦しみの4章"(it just says '4' in the Bandcamp URL so we'll just call it that for now) to a tee!
It's like screamo without the polish, the production sounds as raw as the emotions portrayed throughout, definitely a similar sonic philosophy to grindcore. While I thought the screams were initially indecipherable, turns out it's actually just in 3 different languages(Japanese, English, and Spanish) which is another thing that took me by surprise.
I'm going to be completely honest and admit I can't say this is for the weak, but there's only 4 tracks with an under 15 minute runtime, you could give this a listen on a lunch break. The last track "枕姫"('--3' in its URL) is the obvious standout, the first 3 feel like an emotional blur of extreme sadness and anger leading into the hopeful melancholy of the last. It's definitely the "most accessible" as far as sound.
I would totally recommend this to any fan of the heavier emo genres, "苦しみの4章" just takes that one step further.
