The backstory behind SORRY CHRIST INSTALLATION is not a comfortable one, and the music reflects that without apology. FUJIDEATHCULT formed when frontman Joel Goh arrived in Melbourne after five years in the UK, coming off the implosion of a previous project and the kind of emotional exhaustion that follows a serious breakup. At the same time, his long-time friend Kai Shia was rebuilding his life after escaping an abusive marriage that had cost him years of work in the tattoo industry. The two had first met during mandatory military service, and that bond, forged under pressure, proved durable enough to survive everything that came after it.
Locked inside Kai’s sharehouse in Melbourne, the pair started turning that shared wreckage into music. Over ten days they wrote two new songs and reworked three unreleased ideas. Then, in just seventeen hours, they captured all five tracks with help from friends and collaborators. The speed was intentional. The potency of what they were working through was not the kind of thing that survives too much time in post-production.
The result is a debut EP that exists in the overlap between destruction and rebuilding, channelling abused love, righteous anger, and religious trauma into something loud enough to contain all of it. Melbourne’s underground scene has been paying attention since the band’s 2024 debut single Feelings, and this EP makes clear why.
The Tracks
UP GOLGOTHA opens the record with fuzzy guitar layers and splashing drums driving forward beneath belted vocal leads, a punk-inflected rock anthem with slick lead guitar work and screaming vocalisations cutting through the noise. It is riveting from the first second and sets an uncompromising standard for everything that follows.
Juliet Iscariot starts with a spoken word intro before stacks of gritty guitars and punching drums take over, anchored by a commanding vocal performance with just enough melodic undertow to keep it from being pure aggression. It is one of the more memorable pieces of writing on the EP and a strong early indicator of what makes this band more than just loud.
Hearse is the pivot point and the track that earns the band the most trust. Clean guitar plucks and hushed vocal harmonies cast a genuinely dreamy soundscape, developing with laid back strums, impassioned vocals, and elegant string flutters. It is a moving piece of music and a deliberate demonstration that FUJIDEATHCULT understands dynamics rather than just volume. Coming in the middle of an otherwise ferocious record, it lands hard precisely because nothing around it prepared you for it.
Looking For Love brings the energy back up with jumpy drums, twanging guitars, and catchy vocal leads, leaning into a pop punk aesthetic while keeping the brash noise rock character intact. It is the most immediate track on the EP in terms of sheer listenability and a smart placement after the emotional weight of Hearse.
Poolcide closes things with mellow drums and woozy guitar tones met by softly delivered vocals before buzzing bursts of distortion surge through the arrangement in an epic finale that earns its runtime completely. It is the kind of closing track that makes the whole record feel like a single thought rather than five separate songs.
The Verdict
SORRY CHRIST INSTALLATION is a debut EP that sounds like people with something real to say who found the exact right way to say it under time pressure. The backstory informs the music without being worn as a badge, and the range across five tracks, from the controlled fury of UP GOLGOTHA to the unexpected delicacy of Hearse to the distorted calm of Poolcide, confirms this is a band with considerably more range than the genre tags might suggest.
Watch this band.
SORRY CHRIST INSTALLATION is out now. Follow FUJIDEATHCULT for new releases and upcoming Melbourne shows.
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