If one has never listened to or even heard of a band before, predetermined judgment is made when eyeing the title and, therefore, the prophecy the group will be making for itself. When I read about Vancouver-based trio Ninjaspy, I immediately thought this was a group of Star Wars and Ninja Turtle-loving, nerdy Metalhead boys who collected swords and other weapons, and collaboratively played theme songs in awesome renditions, like Powerglove. However, usually one is mislead by band names. This young band follow the ska, reggae, hardcore and Metal genres and combine them into a hybrid.


Their 2007 album, 'Pi Nature', produced by Garth Richardson and Ben Kaplan, was the group's introduction to the Canadian world and is still not well known in the rest of North America or across the rest of the world. Although they've appeared on The Warped Tour and at the Taste Of Chaos festivals, it sometimes takes a second or third album for a talented band to get the publicity they deserve, and this seems to be case with Ninjaspy.

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Four years later, bassist Tim Parent, drummer Adam Parent and guitarist/vocalist Joel Parent concocted the new EP and graphic novella 'No Kata', to be released this Fall.

After hearing former singles 'Circle Pity' and 'Evolution Of The Skid', a lot of focus was aimed toward the hardcore themes, when really their greatest strengths lie in deep death Metal growls and reggae, the side editions to their heterogeneous sound.

Ninjaspy's new single off 'No Kata', 'Skaingkh (The Skank)', glorifies these strengths and steers away from the screeching of hardcore. The tone of the song is brutal at the beginning and leads into steady, clean ska vocals by Joel Parent. Between 1:58 and 2:17 minutes, the track hits hard and is the best neckbreaking section in this song. The magical instrumental sound of this key section will adjoin the Metalhead brotherhood and sway new listeners to download this track.


Another instantaneous attraction to this track is the title. So many bands simply think of the most grotesque, outrageous and weirdest names for their songs, and write lyrics and instrumentals around them to add to the repulsive awesomeness (one of my personal favourites being Gorgasm's 'Charred Vaginal Effluence'!). Visualizing the skank in mind with societal slang imprinted in brains, maybe the band will be ridiculing promiscuous women, and yet this is another example of prejudgment title failure.

According to Ninjaspy's lyrics, and taking a note from Dictionary.com, 'the skaingkh, or skank, is a rhythmic dance performed to reggae or ska music, characterized by bending forward, raising the knees, and extending the hands'. A rather fitting description of the band itself, and an explanation for the unco-ordinated foot-skipping they habitually do during their performances, which you'll see if you YouTube them or witness them live. Ironically, a third phrase from Dictionary.com describes skank as 'disgusting or vulgar matter, filth'. Three words that deem honour and high praise in the realm of Metal and heavy music and are agreeably achieved in Ninjaspy's new release.

The Canadian 2011 tour for 'No Kata' ended on 8th October, leaving the world awaiting the release of the full album. Excluding the use of the sai blade to play guitar and the Madonna mic for vocal amplitude, this small and rather unknown trio has features for exploding success. However, keeping their hardcore influences in their music will doom them to the depths. Combining their conglomerate strengths into a bowl of music genii is a pressure all bands face, but not out of grasp for this band.



For the concrete release date, keep checking Ninjaspy's website: www.Ninjaspy.net