Anime slam is slowly but surely infiltrating the general metal public. Much like anime itself, with Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon becoming norms on Western TVs 30 years ago, bands like Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship are becoming part of regular metal discourse in 2024. Long Island, New York’s anime slam duo Hentai Holocaust join the illustrious list of illustration-aided metal bands, launching in 2022 with a four-track demo released in 2023. Although their musical output at this point is slim, the band have been staying in the limelight and gaining fans daily by using social media to their advantage – establishing a look, aesthetic and personality which invites all listeners to laugh, enjoy the memes and join the holocaust. Members Michael and Jay speak about the demo, weeb culture and misconceptions about anime-infused metal genres.
How did this Holocaust begin?
Michael: The band was spawned from a new yet burgeoning friendship between myself and Jay. To use the proper palette to paint the scene, we must start with the base coat. Jay and I met through his job at a retro video game store in our area. Walking in with my nose held high (certain they wouldn’t have what I was in search of) I was greeted by a long haired, Inuyasha shirt-wearing, Sephiroth-looking guy and thought “This is going to be a waste of time of an interaction.” So I asked in a boastful tone, “I’m sure you guys don’t have Brave Fencer Musashi on PlayStation one, right?” Jay says, “We do, actually” and that’s how a friendship came to be.
The band’s inception came to after Jay had performed with his other band, Stiff-Necked. I had nothing to do on a Friday night. Seeing as I had made a new friend in a life which I have few, I decided to drive out to the dive bar unannounced to see him play. I was in awe. After congratulatory hugs were passed around, we found ourselves in the pizza parlor next door. It started as a joke, something akin to “Hey, it would be funny if we…” The name came to fold within the same breath. Cannibal Holocaust is a staple movie in my opinion, so we replaced “Cannibal” with “Hentai” and voila.
What is your personal history with the elements that make up this genre – anime and slam?
Michael: Until meeting Jay, I had zero interest in slam. I thought it was too, well, dumb for my tastes. Too slow, the vocals didn’t appeal to me, and the guitars weren’t technical enough for me. I have always been one of those black metal heshers in the background wearing their battle jacket and a signature scowl. I also really love math rock.
But Jay showed me a band called Waifu Annihilator and then Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship… I was like, “Oh crap, this is up my alley.” It’s because it didn’t take itself seriously, (but not in the perverse way that pornogrind does) and it had an allure that the genre hadn’t given off before, to me at least. It led me to believe that maybe we could do this too. With our conjoined love for anime, it seemed like a natural combination. I’ve watched anime since I was three, starting with the original Dragon Ball. I’m 30 now and am covered from the neck down in Dragon Ball tattoos (and The Black Dahlia Murder ones), but to say that anime had an impact on my life is an understatement. To combine anime and extreme metal never occurred to me until Jay’s introduction.
Jay: My personal history with getting into slam music would be from bands like Waking the Cadaver, Visceral Disgorge, Abominable Putridity and Dysentery just to name a few. I remember hearing those bands as well as many others and just falling in love with the sheer brutality, ignorance and groove that the genre has to offer. I’ve always had a love for anime as well throughout my life, and finding bands like DIW later on down the road just showed me how you can combine two wonderful things together no matter how far apart on the spectrum they may be. Ever since then I’ve always been drawn into the anime slam genre as a whole due to the wonderful bands and overall aesthetic of the genre itself.
I feel that anime slam is turning into a worldwide genre – we have Jig Ai, Go-Zen, Human Instrumentality Project, Schoolgirl Upon Thy Corpse to name a few. These bands all hail from different countries, though they all come together under one umbrella. Hentai Holocaust brings an American POV to this genre – what is it?
Michael: I guess our point of view is to take those under the anime slam/weeb grind umbrella and offer shelter from the rain. It’s a niche micro genre, we understand. With that being said, it’s the unification and solidarity through community, like mindedness, kinship, music and all around smiles that we’d want to convey. We kind of want to make things into like an anime streaming service. You have a show (style or type of anime slam) that can fit your mood and satiate your appetite until you’re hungry for more.
Jay: Being an American anime slam band is something that is different, but not entirely mold breaking. Bands like YCRF, UwU and Bubblegum Chainsaw all stand for the thing as we do. We just try and be the most ourselves we can be.
The demo cover art brings to mind the somewhat iconic Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship album art. I imagine they are an inspiration? Who did the artwork and what guidance did you give them?
Michael – DIW and Kiryu Zhang inspired us through sound, aesthetic and approach to the concept. The elusive artist, @Nanjijun had done work for DIW and Ghostslug and some others in the scene. I have many of their flags covering my apartment. I stare at them daily, so probably through subconscious osmosis the idea behind the cover artwork arrived.
We must first give all credit regarding our original character/cover art to the artist @Aeyochi ! She is, in my opinion the one that I felt was able to take the idea of what we were looking for and make it a reality. We sent her three references, two from DIW and one from Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. We gave two instructions: that the design be a mixture of a magical girl, my addition and a Vocaloid, being Jay’s flavor to create a “Magicaloid” and that this character splayed out their entrails to spell “Demo 2023.” @Aeyochi aka Ayana, really did more than words could express on the character. We love the character so much, as a means to show appreciation, we dubbed her “Magicaloid Ayana” out of respect to the artist.
Bands like Human Instrumentality Project are evolving the genre musically, but it helps that they have a certain theme to write around (Neon Genesis Evangelion). Is there a particular theme you are going for in your writing?
Jay: At the end of the day, we want to show our love and appreciation for the anime that we love and have inspired us through the years. We want to pay homage to basically everything we hold dear. In our eyes, we want to write cool shit about the stuff we like. You can see in the demo, each song is based off a different anime and concept. Each song paints a different picture.
Michael: The themes will always vary within our writing. What won’t change is the way we tackle the writing. We want the intricacies through lyricism and the sound of the music to unfold a different world behind each track. Granted, we will always, you can quote us on this, always, be goofballs. I think that being witty and silly with a dash of intellect can separate each song to allow each to have their own theme. If we focused on one anime, we wouldn’t be able to show our love for everything else we owe credit to!
I always struggle with the term weeb. What is your perception of the word and describing this type of music as weeb metal?
Michael: Weeb. Definition: a slang term used to refer to someone who is obsessed with Japanese culture. As a whole, a take it at surface level, base value and nothing else. I’m obsessed with Japanese culture, fact. It’s used derogatorily, yes, but in recent years, there has been somewhat of a reclamation of the word, an acceptance of it and a popularization behind it. I don’t see it as being an entirely bad thing. Yeah, when someone says weeb, they envision a bloke who is unemployed, living in their parent’s basement, along with bad hygiene, poor social skills, a penchant for masturbation and a desire to feast upon the highest of calories. I mean, that’s an extreme stereotype that I don’t see many adhering to. I think weeb culture has evolved from something that was to be kept in the shadows. Years ago, I was embarrassed to show and express my love for anime. Once I hit high school, I began reading more manga, fell headfirst into the culture and began to wear anime-related apparel and really didn’t think to much about it. I wanted to show my love for what I am passionate about. It’s been over a decade since and I become more of a “weeb” with each passing day.
What do you believe are the misconceptions about the genre that keep some metal fans from getting into it?
Michael: What may keep hardcore slammers and fellow metal heads away from genre could be the aesthetic, the lack of medical terminology and the openness behind the embracing of a more light-hearted, maybe even whimsical, side of things. They may also find the samples that are used as cringe. These are educated guesses.
Jay: The thing that keeps people away, I think, is the aesthetic and the “at-first-glance” thought process that is not going beyond the cover of a closed book. It’s entirely a mixed bag. People could look at our image and artwork, and think, “Childish, girlfriendless trash.” But then there are others who can see things for what they are and jam alongside us.
As for marketing – music videos, lyric videos and photos of attractive girls wearing merch I’ve found are good ways to get noticed with some extreme bands. What do you have up your sleeves regarding this element?
Jay: In terms of lyric videos, music videos and merch, things are soon to come. Keeping everyone in the loop will be the biggest importance in all of this.
Michael: When it comes to marketing, we want to be as do-it-yourself as possible (not at the exclusion of friends and homies though). Lyric videos are expensive, understandably. I’d rather spend it on a cool new piece of art for people to enjoy. Merch is a tough one. We’re a small outfit and from my understanding, these merch companies are even smaller. Many being one man operations in charge of it all. We can’t imagine the stress of doing new merch for a no name anime slam band and then the fear of it not selling or even making the pre-order quota. It’s a lot on them, we understand. When the time comes for merch, it will happen organically. The use of girls as a thirst trap for purchasing merch is a cheap ploy – and underhanded tactic at getting peoples support. We want people to show up because of our music, not because some e-girl or pinup chick wore our shirt. Screw that… We also make as many memes and posts as possible on our Instagram @h3ntaixh0locaust . They are pretty silly and are made with the hopes of provoking some laughs.
You currently have a demo out now. What elements will be changed or added for your full length release?
Jay: In terms of next release, we still want to keep the same song writing process, but expand into other styles of slam. Experimenting with different riffs, rhythms and song structures. Drawing influence more from what I have been listening to that is non slam and making it into something that slams.
Hentai Holocaust (@h3ntaixh0locaust) • Instagram photos and videos
