Slang – Rest In Misery

Slang are a veteran hardcore punk band from Sapporo, Japan, formed back in 1988. They consistently released crushing material throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, and the band’s singer, Kø, has been a force of nature from the start. He was also, apparently, the first Japanese punk I ever befriended online.

Breathing and living with hardcore, Slang have always been about synthesis. You can hear the uplifting ferocity of Japanese hardcore bands like Bastard or Judgement, the classic ’80s attack of Why-era Discharge, the relentless thrashing of Crucifix, and the toughness of NYHC that has come to define hardcore in the collective psyche.

Rest In Misery is the band’s first album in a decade, originally released on CD through Kø’s own label Straight Up Records in 2024. The vinyl edition followed in October 2025 through Prank, a label that played a crucial role in introducing Japanese hardcore to audiences in the United States. Musically, the album doesn’t aim to reinvent the wheel. There are no surprises here. Instead, it doubles down on Slang’s established formula, delivered with full force. Raging hardcore driven by savage riffs and piercing leads, pushed forward by relentless, thrashing intensity.

The lyrics are primarily in Japanese, with strategic use of English for slogans and emphasis. Songs like “どうしようもないクズばかり” and “掃き溜め (Die, LDP Scum.)” target Japanese corruption, nationalism, and subservience to US and Israeli power, repeatedly framing the ruling class as parasites thriving on deception, exploitation, and war. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is directly referenced with its entrenched authoritarianism, militarism, and a direct continuation of Japanese post-war occupation and ongoing foreign policy alignment.

War and genocide are the album’s central reality. Tracks like “Stop Killing Children For Oil,” “Live or Die,” “人間狩り,” and “Why Is The World Silent” confront aerial bombardment, occupation, genocide, and the routine killing of civilians (especially children in Gaza), in the most direct and immediate way. To push their message even further, the band released shirts condemning Netanyahu in Japan. Racism and xenophobia are also central themes that must be fought against. On “Racism Must Die” and “Dirty Rotten LDP,” Slang attack police, media, celebrity culture, and nationalist rhetoric as a single apparatus that normalizes abuse and misery upon the people.

While Prank Records may not be as prolific as they once were, the label has stated that every record they release now is driven by resistance and outrage toward the world we’re living in. If they were only going to release two new records in 2025, this was the most urgent one. For me, Rest In Misery sits right next to Kaleidoscope’s latest, Cities of Fear. It’s an urgent record the hardcore punk world needs to hear right now.