THE BEAST

At the dawn of the 90´s, Shibuya district, Tokyo, Japan.

The coins dropping and clinging into the arcade game machines, the lights of the pachinkos and the lively Tokyo district have fuelled the musical inspiration and visual universe of a dirty bunch of furyos, dunces to the core, who thrive on Shonen Manga.

The 5 band members have witnessed the golden age that has seen the birth and global expansion of American Hip-Hop, of Machine Head's and PANTERA's powerful groove metal, of New-York Hardcore, and of the catchy but uncompromising vibes of RATM, KORN or DEFTONES.

ROTN is the merger of those two worlds: the messages of hope, bravery, and revenge spread by classic 80's Manga characters such as Kenshiro, Seiya, or Kawato, are brought to the listener's face through deadly thrash riffing and a destructive flow of words.

After self-producing 4 music videos (counting tens of millions of views on Youtube), 2 critically acclaimed EPs (incl. a number 3 in the Amazon charts for "DMSS"), and countless shows in the underground, ROTN moves on to produce its debut record and starts its own label, Repression Records, to support the project. It is after the initiation of a full DIY campaign to release the album, and after taking its first steps into the metal mainstream with a successful summer festivals tour that Nuclear Blast, notices the band and offers them a global license deal.

From their first tour of Europe with MADBALL in 2015 to support their debut record, up until a mainstage show at Download Festival in 2017, The ‘Welcame’ cycle will have brought the band to the biggest European stages and to the Far East with 2 tours incorporating Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

2017: Back with experience from the battlefield under their belts, the Northstar retreats to write a new album, still sweating with teenage rage, still obsessed with the 90s metal and hip-hop grooves.

The Legacy Of Shi – ROTN’s sophomore album - is set to be released on October 19th 2018.

The writing sessions occurred during most of 2017 and the process took the band to reflect on how to take their concept forward, musically, lyrically, and visually. Enter Joe Duplantier (GOJIRA) to record and co-produce the album in his Brooklyn, NY based Silver Cord Studio. The result is a jaw crushing collection of songs, where the band’s own brew of metallic Hip-Hop and hardcore grooves (“Here Comes The Boom”, “This Is Crossover”, “Nekketsu”) meets with a darker, lower-toned heaviness (“Kozo”, “Cold Truth”, “Teenage Rage”), all brought to the listener by Joe’s thick organic production. Among the carefully scattered gems on this record, one that comes to mind is the occasional punchline in Vithia’s native tongue, French, adding yet another interesting ingredient to ROTN’s singularity.

While the record stays true to the band’s roots, bringing the listener to experience real life situations lyrically pictured by fictional references inspired by Japanese culture, it speaks about overcoming personal drama (“Step By Step”) and tells the story of the central character SHI. In tracks such as “The Awakening”, “Kozo”, and “All For One”, one follows the story of the multi centennial Samurai SHI, from his awakening to his evolution as a spirit who takes possession of a human host, bringing up the question of who would win the fight we lead within ourselves when trying to overcome our limits to reach our full potential.

Catch ROTN on the road soon and witness their post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo universe on stage

www.riseofthenorthstar.com
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www.nuclearblast.de/riseofthenorthstar