FACT

FACT were a Japanese post-hardcore band formed in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1999. With Hiro on vocals, Kazuki and Takahiro on guitars, Tomohiro on bass, and Eiji on drums, they came out of Japan’s hardcore underground with a sound that mixed melodic hardcore, metalcore, screamo, punk, and electronic music.

Early releases included the 2004 mini-album ‘The fine day never last’ and the 2006 debut album ‘Never turn out the light, to keep myself’. Even at that stage, FACT were looking beyond the domestic circuit, playing shows in the US and sharing Japanese stages with overseas acts such as Story of the Year and Strung Out.

Their breakthrough arrived in 2009 with the single ‘a fact of life’ and the self-titled album ‘FACT’, released through Vagrant Records in the US, Hassle Records in the UK, and maximum10 in Japan. The album entered the Oricon Weekly Album Chart at number 18, and that August FACT played SUMMER SONIC at home and the main stage at Sonisphere in the UK. During the album campaign the members hid their faces behind traditional Noh masks, a look that became closely tied to the band.

A North American tour in support of the album ended early when another car crossed the median outside Atlanta and hit the band’s van head-on, leaving Eiji with a broken arm. FACT were back within a year with ‘In the blink of an eye’, their heaviest record to that point, which debuted at number six on the Oricon chart in January 2010. On a return visit to the UK that year, they played their first UK headline show and recorded a session for BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show.

British guitarist Adam Graham, previously the band’s UK tour manager, joined as a third guitarist in 2012, the same year ‘burundanga’ matched that number six peak. FACT released ‘WITNESS’ as a six-piece in 2014, followed by ‘KTHEAT’ in 2015, and announced their disbandment two months later.

They played what was then their final show at their self-organised ROCK-O-RAMA 2015 event in Shibuya on November 20th 2015. Afterwards, Hiro, Kazuki, and Takahiro formed SHADOWS, while Adam, Tomohiro, and Eiji started Joy Opposites with former The Amity Affliction guitarist Imran Siddiqi.

FACT’s influence carried on after the split, particularly across Japan’s loud rock scene. Paledusk guitarist and producer DAIDAI has traced the roots of his sound back to FACT, and he played their music to Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes while co-writing ‘POST HUMAN: NeX GEn’. Japanese listeners picked up on that influence in the album’s ‘Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd’ when it arrived in 2024.

In October 2024, after two years of talks with REDLINE organiser Kentaro Suzuki, FACT announced their return at REDLINE ALL THE FINAL. The news sent ‘a fact of life’ to number three on Spotify Japan’s Daily Viral Songs chart, and on December 8th 2024 the band took the stage at Makuhari Messe for their first show in nine years.

Every date of the six-show FACT IS LIFE TOUR 2025 sold out, and FACT disbanded for good after closing their own ROCK-O-RAMA-THE END festival at Makuhari Messe on October 5th 2025. The documentary FACT THE END follows that final run from the REDLINE comeback to the last ROCK-O-RAMA set, and screened once in Tokyo in December 2025 before arriving on YouTube in January 2026.