Victor
2011
1. Shino butou ~ Deiesu Ire ~
2. Say Goodbye
3. Not Game!
4. Black Ruby
5. Dance With A Ghost
6. Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~
7. The Lost Fortress (Interlude)
8. Dorakurowa No Megami
9. Fly
10. Ballerina Symphony
11. Shizuka Na Kiseki
12. Inochi No Mori
13. Oboreru Ningyo
14. Amarantosu No Tsubasa
This one was a pretty random pick up for me, but I got bored and decided to try to search out some new blood one day. I do that every so often and cruise some preview songs on myspace, youtube, etc. It's not often I've heard good metal bands from Japan... Honestly, most of them I've heard have been pretty cheeseball, but the songs here caught my attention.
Upon listening to the album's first four tracks, they pretty much matched my expectations of a familiar style of female fronted symphonic metal. There are reminders of bands like Epica, Leaves Eyes, etc and even a bit of the epic neoclassical style of bands like Rhapsody in the guitar. Aside from the lyrics being sung in Japanese and the voice being a little dissimilar in sound, this vocalist slides into a traditional operatic stle similar to Tarja or Floor Jansen. The difference is the voice is higher and fairly soft and feminine sounding. There is a sort of Japanese touch to the take on symphonic stuff here. It's hard to put my finger on, but anyone who's watched Japanese Anime, etc knows what I'm talking about here probably. Sounds like it could be on some soundtrack at times.
Where the album takes a striking turn is with tracks like Dance With A Ghost and Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~. The first four tracks were solid in a traditional way, but these ones are very different. The chugga chugga riff in Dance With A Ghost reminds me a tad of Beautiful People by Marylin Manson or something similar. This is a bit of a culture shock, but honestly this song is catchy as hell and damned interesting. Probably not for the purist, but I can enjoy stuff like this and I love the way the vocals are delivered here with it's accents of wild high screams. Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~ is even less traditional, but I find myself liking it anyways. This song definitely draws from pop/dance with the distorted back vocals and dance beat, but there are also bursts of heaviness and guitar presence and operatic vocals. Damned different and yet really pretty good. I can imagine one of those old school underground US metal purists shitting his pants listening to this, but seriously I think it's a good song.
From here the album gets just a little more traditional, but not entirely. There are still some interesting moments with the blues rock tone to some riffs in Fly and Dorakurowa No Megamisome with it's Anime-esque Japanese atmosphere in it's backing piano. Also worth noting is the kind of Ballet tone to Ballerina Symphony which is a bit different from the kind of classical touch you typically here in metal. The closest comparison I can reach is Trans Siberian Orchestra. I won't go into total track by track from here, but this gives you an idea of the quirks of this album. The final track Amarantosu No Tsubasa does bring the album back into a traditional symphonic mold for a closer though.
Golden Moon is likely to end up in my top picks for the year in part because it is so different and refreshing. The Japanese singing works well and the varied styles are a bit of a trip, but good. Strangely, I kind of enjoy the mix of metal and a bit of Japanese pop culture here. I'm not even really a fan of Anime and that sort of crap either. If you're one of those Japanese culture geeks you'll probably eat this up. And to the bit more traditionally minded metalheads who like symphonic female fronted stuff... give it a shot. I found myself really digging this. PS If you ever wondered what Deep Purple's Child In Time would sound like as an epic metal song look up their cover of Deep Purple's Child In Time for an interesting take. I think I'm going to have to pursue this band more.
Highlights: Black Ruby, Say Goodbye, Dance With A Ghost, Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~
Rating - 4.0/5
2. Say Goodbye
3. Not Game!
4. Black Ruby
5. Dance With A Ghost
6. Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~
7. The Lost Fortress (Interlude)
8. Dorakurowa No Megami
9. Fly
10. Ballerina Symphony
11. Shizuka Na Kiseki
12. Inochi No Mori
13. Oboreru Ningyo
14. Amarantosu No Tsubasa
This one was a pretty random pick up for me, but I got bored and decided to try to search out some new blood one day. I do that every so often and cruise some preview songs on myspace, youtube, etc. It's not often I've heard good metal bands from Japan... Honestly, most of them I've heard have been pretty cheeseball, but the songs here caught my attention.
Upon listening to the album's first four tracks, they pretty much matched my expectations of a familiar style of female fronted symphonic metal. There are reminders of bands like Epica, Leaves Eyes, etc and even a bit of the epic neoclassical style of bands like Rhapsody in the guitar. Aside from the lyrics being sung in Japanese and the voice being a little dissimilar in sound, this vocalist slides into a traditional operatic stle similar to Tarja or Floor Jansen. The difference is the voice is higher and fairly soft and feminine sounding. There is a sort of Japanese touch to the take on symphonic stuff here. It's hard to put my finger on, but anyone who's watched Japanese Anime, etc knows what I'm talking about here probably. Sounds like it could be on some soundtrack at times.
Where the album takes a striking turn is with tracks like Dance With A Ghost and Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~. The first four tracks were solid in a traditional way, but these ones are very different. The chugga chugga riff in Dance With A Ghost reminds me a tad of Beautiful People by Marylin Manson or something similar. This is a bit of a culture shock, but honestly this song is catchy as hell and damned interesting. Probably not for the purist, but I can enjoy stuff like this and I love the way the vocals are delivered here with it's accents of wild high screams. Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~ is even less traditional, but I find myself liking it anyways. This song definitely draws from pop/dance with the distorted back vocals and dance beat, but there are also bursts of heaviness and guitar presence and operatic vocals. Damned different and yet really pretty good. I can imagine one of those old school underground US metal purists shitting his pants listening to this, but seriously I think it's a good song.
From here the album gets just a little more traditional, but not entirely. There are still some interesting moments with the blues rock tone to some riffs in Fly and Dorakurowa No Megamisome with it's Anime-esque Japanese atmosphere in it's backing piano. Also worth noting is the kind of Ballet tone to Ballerina Symphony which is a bit different from the kind of classical touch you typically here in metal. The closest comparison I can reach is Trans Siberian Orchestra. I won't go into total track by track from here, but this gives you an idea of the quirks of this album. The final track Amarantosu No Tsubasa does bring the album back into a traditional symphonic mold for a closer though.
Golden Moon is likely to end up in my top picks for the year in part because it is so different and refreshing. The Japanese singing works well and the varied styles are a bit of a trip, but good. Strangely, I kind of enjoy the mix of metal and a bit of Japanese pop culture here. I'm not even really a fan of Anime and that sort of crap either. If you're one of those Japanese culture geeks you'll probably eat this up. And to the bit more traditionally minded metalheads who like symphonic female fronted stuff... give it a shot. I found myself really digging this. PS If you ever wondered what Deep Purple's Child In Time would sound like as an epic metal song look up their cover of Deep Purple's Child In Time for an interesting take. I think I'm going to have to pursue this band more.
Highlights: Black Ruby, Say Goodbye, Dance With A Ghost, Yozakuran ~ Yozakura Arashi ~
Rating - 4.0/5
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