Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

Bassist Taiji Sawada can lay claim to having belonged to two of the most popular metal bands in Japanese history. From 1985–1992 he was an integral part of X – better known as X Japan after ’92 – recording three albums before musical differences led to him getting the boot. To date the band has sold well over 20 million records, all without record label support outside Japan. Following his dismissal he was snapped up by Loudness, long known the world over as Japan’s premiere metal act, recording one studio album and a live record before calling it quits in 1994 for personal reasons. Since then Sawada has made his mark with Dirty Trashroad (affectionately known as D.T.R.), Cloud Nine and assorted smaller projects, but his latest outing Taiji With Heaven’s stands to gain a serious large-scale following if it receives the proper push.

Taiji With Heaven’s has been Sawada’s pet project for the last several years, finally come to life with a five-and-a-half song self-titled EP. (continue reading…)