Japanese rock music seems to be invading the UK with full steam in 2009 what with Dir En Grey, An Cafe, Electric Eel Shock and Melt-Banana gracing our shores and getting recognition in recent months. FACT are the latest band to cross the oceanic divide and gain a plethora of fans.

The FACT guys have a particular gimmick while playing live in that they wear identical masks that fans can also buy at gigs [some people are going to say they are similar to Hollywood undead in that regard but the guys in FACT keep their masks on all the time even in the media].

Musically FACT remind me of Yellowcard and Hawthorne Heights which I don't think is a bad thing as, to be fair, both bands are pretty mainstream in the UK and US so being the 'mainstream' Japanese rock band could work well for FACT and is probably what Vagrant records have in mind (to me Dir En Grey still have that out there part with the vocals).

The self titled album manages to hit the right places: crowds can get into the songs easy and the instrumental breaks don't signify a lull in the album, purely the opposite. The same goes for them going from singing to auto-tune to growling. Japanese-Hardcore Pop Rock if you will, that is if such a thing exists!

Lyrically the topics on display on the self titled debut album are diverse, one song being about snow [of all things] all the way to LA. Each track has that anthemic quality about it particularly songs such as 'Rise', 'Purple Eyes' and 'Why'.

With this self titled debut album by FACT I expect them to quickly gather a cult following with the potential to grab their slice of the emo rock mainstream. They have a UK tour in September so I will be there to see!