Z Press

“Originally issued in Japan in 2006 on their own Grok Plastique imprint, Z’s Mikabe finally gets a European release. Founded by drummer brothers Jun and Ayumu Nemoto and guitarist Kei Uozu, the trio recruited bassist Takahiro Yamada in 2003. Meanwhile Jun’s decision to switch from playing drums to blowing saxophone gives the unit another direction, where the US hardcore blast of yore gets caught up in a powerful free jazz vibe. Z are defiantly rock, but it is hard not to imagine the ghosts of Kaoru Abe and Masayuki Takayanagi slowly nodding their heads in approval”.
The Wire

“Mikabe’ at times comes close to being truly astonishing. It broods malevolently, sometimes enigmatically before exploding into cascades of precise noise. It is cutting, ethereal, occasionally brutal and maybe even beautiful. The most immediate track ‘Ikusa’ is almost a summary of the Z style. An edgy opening featuring Jun’s screeching atonal saxophone playing builds into an intense hardcore punk rock breakdown. Sweep The Leg Johnny did something similar back at the turn of the new century. Sweep were undoubtedly punk rock, Z blur the boundaries somewhat more. Z are passionate and intelligent. What they aren’t is easy listening. They don’t give us the easy option, we have to work for our reward. The reward though is more than bountiful for those with open ears and minds”
New-Noise

“This former punk band from Japan has undergone a full-scale reinvention, remaking itself as a muscular post-rock/free jazz amalgam, expanding into areas that were once the preserve of underrated groups like A Minor Forest and Sweep The Leg Johnny. Their assured combination of sinuous rock and penetrating jazz textures is evident in the prowling rhythms of ‘Mugen’ and the desolate tones of ‘Ikusa’. Jun Nemoto’s catalytic work on various saxophones and hectoring vocals provide tremendous warmth set against the cooler, introspective timbres of later tracks; at other times the brittle, cyclical guitars of ‘Gohyaku Manyen’ evoke the motorik power of the great Finnish group Circle. A predatory, downbeat feel has been effortlessly achieved with expert musicianship and compositional skill, making Mikabe a wholly assured and involving debut release”.
Rock-a-Rolla

“The album is comprised of six songs, four of which are over nine minutes long, which is relatively easy listening in improv terms. That said, it is an album firmly rooted in the improv avant-garde, a melange of dissonant layers of shifting, tension-laden sounds. Insistent, pulsing rhythms that never dramatically change in pace throb remorselessly throughout Mikabe, but this firm, solid foundation provides a kind of tabula rasa over which the guitars and saxophone are allowed play freeform patterns and shape-shift. The protagonists never allow things to get into a groove for too long though, preferring to put their faith in the unpredictable and ensure that repetition is avoided. A kind of relief comes in the shortest track, “Zushiki Man”, which is a whirlwind mix of unified saxophone and heavy metal that is given greater sonic emphasis given the fluid disunity of its lengthier neighbours. Overall, Mikabe’s a fine effort within the improv avant-garde tradition, capturing the duelling, mind-expanding work of sonic experts in their field.”
Lost At Sea

“intensely challenging…influences of punk blend well with progressive chord voicing, arpeggios, and rhythms”
Fake Jazz

“Cool jazz rock!”
Ptolemaic Terrascope

“Japan offers rich pickings to those looking for cutting edge metal. From Strawberry Path in 1971 to Acid Mothers Temple today, the Japanese possess a creativity which often escapes the genre elsewhere. Z can now be added to that list thanks to their startling debut Mikabe. Somehow this album manages to combine Gothic indie-metal with free jazz. Think John Coltraine on Nirvana’s In Utero and you come close. ‘Gohyaku Manyen’ opens with long blasts of asthmatic, squawking, saxophones, before the slashing, growing metal guitars kick in, over which vocalist Jun Nemoto screams, rants, and rages in Japanese. Instrumental tracks like ‘Mugen’ and ‘Ikusa’, see free form jazz and eerie grunge guitar morph into a blissful seductive interplay. Mikabe is an acquired taste, but for those who get in on it, it’s addictive.”
Galway Advertiser

“‘Mikabe’ is blessed with a palpable nervous energy, stricken with stress lines and angst…You’ve got to listen to ‘Mikabe’ just for the third track, ‘Zushiki Man’. After a minute-long blustering sax solo, an unexpected blast ensues, and the band follow a steadfast and sublimely grinding motif. It’s addictive”
Diskant

“indispensable”
Les Choses

“striking originality and vision”
Keikaku

“try to imagine the metronomic sounds of Shellac blended with the sharp blasts of sax from the likes of US Maple, its intense and highly original stuff”
Road Records 

“chaotic distortion, abrasive jazz fusions, and improvisations that are more daring than most experimental bands would gladly tackle. Centered around saxophone, drums, bass, and guitar, “Mikabe” is free-form jazz with caustic interpretations”.
Smother

“a brilliant, vital fusion of free jazz and abrasive, discordant punk…bewilderingly beautiful”
Subba-Cultcha

“It’s the music of fits and starts: a grunt, a strum, a scream, a honk, a hoot, an eruption into noise, a retreat into guitar-whine. The artistic fruit of an apparently unwavering feeling of frustration, Mikabe is going to seem either exhilarating or puzzling, depending on your point of view”
Pop Matters 

“barely controlled sonic lethality, the vox doing a male version of a full-flow Yoko breakdown…the guitars are sub-fucking-lime, rhythm section that Jimi hendrix would have died for”
Unpeeled

“Direct and primal”
Vital Weekly

“Mikabe” review at Presto! (French)
“Mikabe” review at Rock My Days (French)
“Mikabe” review at Webzinenameless (French)
“Mikabe” review at Shoot Me Again (French)
“Mikabe” review at Intro (German)
“Mikabe” review at Comunicazione Interna (Italian) 
“Mikabe” review at Sodapop (Italian)