Coaltar of the Deepers is an alternative rock and shoegazing band from Japan. They were formed in May 1991. Although still keeping a shoegaze sound, they also explored different genres throughout their career (from death metal to techno) and have a very important fanbase.
In spring 1991, the group was formed in Tokyo by the leader: Narasaki. Meanwhile, they record demos of which some songs are taken to give birth to their first EP. Towards the end of the year, the EP in question (White EP) released under the label Strange Records. The composition of the band was then from Watanabe to singing while Narasaki took care of the guitars. The band remains musically silent until the end of 1992 when they release Queen's Park all you change their second EP on the label Stomly Records. Thanks to this release they gain some recognition that allows them to make a third EP a month later: Sinking Slowly.
The band is again absent until the appearance of their first album The Visitors From Deepspace in 1994 again on a new label: Victor Records. It was not until 1997 to hear them again with an EP released on ZK Records, named Cat EP. It was in 1998 that the band released Submerge (an album composed of remixes, new and rare songs) and their best-of Breastroke. At the end of 1999 fans are entitled to the Dog EP, as an appetizer before the album that comes out a few months later. The latter is called Come Over to The Deepend (certainly a pun on the initials of the group: COTD). This album will show a certain interest of the group for the English language.
Following the style they had given with the previous album, they released the EP Robot as a prologue to the very popular album No Thank You. The album sells very well and marks for the group the entry into a new, more experimental phase. Indeed, they give more importance to strange noises and electronic sounds. In 2002 the album Newave comes out and shows the group in perpetual evolution since they now include exotic sounds in many of their compositions. In 2003 the group performs a mini tour in the United States that will influence many Narasaki. Thus the releases of 2004 that are Mouse EP and Penguin EP clearly show a much more brutal sound and American metal. Indeed we find characteristic elements such as ultra-distortion of guitars and growls; however the shoegazing base of the group remains obvious.
