In January, 1997, four guys came together in what was to become the band Bereaved. Tetsu Haramura, Bill Jokela, Alex Amedy, and Shige Kamazawa were brought together by Dan Montgomery from Ritual Carnage. His intent was to start another band but never had the time as Ritual Carnage was his primary interest. Bill and Alex had already played in an embryonic version of Ritual Carnage and soon Alex and Shige left to join Dan while Tetsu and Bill carried on with Bereaved.
The band continued as a trio with the addition of Takeru Suzuki on drums. They played their first show in Sangenjaya (Tokyo) in September of 1998. Suzuki’s stay with the band was short, however, and he left in early 1999 to attend college in Kyoto.
With the addition of guitarist Taka Itagaki, Tetsu gave up playing guitar and devoted all of his energies to vocals. Itagaki had been a member of the local band Crypt and was a friend of both Bill and Tetsu. Ken Kubo also started his long association with the band by joining as a part time member on lead guitar. In 2000, Bereaved played a couple of high profile shows for which they recruited Keisuke Tsuboi of Vomit Remnants to assist on drums. In March, the band hit the road and headlined a show inNagoya then in April, the band opened for Ritual Carnage and Krabathor in Takadanobaba (Tokyo).
Unfortunately, the band was unable to capitalize on the momentum as Itagaki left the band to pursue another opportunity. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as his spot was taken by Norikazu “Tahke” Takenaka. Ken and Tahke were longtime friends and when Tahke joined, Ken committed to being a full member. Tahke’s skills enabled the band to play more complex material and the new songwriting reflected that. Bereaved entered the studio in the Spring of 2001 to record their first demo, Reclaim. Naoya Hamaii from Ritual Carnage agreed to record the drums for the five song effort.
Reclaim garnered the band its first international recognition as the French magazine Metallian selected Bereaved to compete in its Best Unsigned Band competition. In the fall of 2001, Leone Wakiya joined the band, giving the band its first full-time drummer since Amedy left in 1997. Leone proved to be a capable drummer and worked hard to improve his skills to meet the requirements of the music. In the Fall of 2003, Bereaved began the process of recording the next CD, which was finally released in June, 2004. The CD, What the Wolf Brings, was released by Frantic Blade Productions, the band’s own label and brought much stronger reaction from labels than Reclaim had.
What the Wolf Brings also scored the band its first contract, signed with Deadsun Records in France. Bereaved is currently recording its first release for worldwide release.
