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A Great Year in Metal MusicDate: 12/31/07Writer: NickBlaze Another year in JM Ignited, another year of great Japanese music. While some years may, overall, have been better for metal, this year was still strong in every regard to the name. Certain name bands made another appearance and graced us with their international supremacy, while other lesser known bands made powerful advents that secured their musical talents in the history of time, and of course within this site’s archives. We shall start in an orderly fashion, starting with black metal, going then to power, thrash, doom, heavy, death, and then ending with grind.
In the heavy metal section, we have Blood IV and their release "Warning", deserving mention. While I haven’t stumbled upon many heavy metal releases in the Japanese world this year, with last year being for more renowned, if not only for Bow Wow’s release, this year focuses on a rather new release by a band I hadn’t heard of before. Solid riffs, solid drumming, solid vocals, though overall nothing spectacular, it wouldn’t be frowned upon in the metal community.
Last on the agenda is grind which in itself isn’t metal, but Swarrrm is, clearly. While we may have classified Gallhammer as grind because of their almost indescribable nature, Swarrrm leads the Japanese grind scene of the modern world and Japan has a large scene, without a doubt. Their release "Black Bong" is heavy, loud, and obnoxious. It’s the epitome of insufferable music. That said, it’s also quite amazing. How does that work, you ask? You’d certainly have to have an ear for death, black, or doom metal to understand; or just good music overall. It certainly has its black metal influences as well as some good black metal vocals, some crazy moments and other moments of even more chaos than found in brutal death metal, and yet it creates an oddly pleasing sound to the year and a good release to end JM Ignited’s 2007 End of the Year Articles. Until 2008, folks! JMIgnited.com is not affiliated with the artists presented on this website or their representatives. All images are the property of their respective copyright owners. Images are displayed for educational and decorative purposes only under the "fair use" clause. |
When one thinks of Japanese black metal, one tends to think of Sigh. Without a doubt, they’re one of the most renown black metal bands internationally; their originality and interesting compositions always create a new and unique experience. Sigh’s latest album "Hangman’s Hymn" came out this year and is probably the most eminent and illustrious album released in the world of Japanese metal. While it’s not entirely correct to simply label Sigh as black metal, their mix of avant-garde, Mirai’s vocals and keyboard talents, as well as somewhat thrashy riffs, have a very black and thrash metal feel. It certainly wasn’t as progressive as, say, "Imaginary Sonicscape" it was, though, one of their third best albums overall. After their last release, "Gallows Gallery" which featured slow power metal and also clean vocals all around, it was a nice change back to their norm by the time Hangman’s Hymn came out. The only other black metal release worth mentioning is Arkha Sva’s "Gloria Satanae". Arkha Sva’s a unique band in itself, mostly for their vocals. The music’s usually just solid black metal: lots of tremolo picking and blast beats, and though solid, that alone isn’t enough to set them apart from the rest. The vocals do, however, feature great black metal shrieks and low, gutteral death metal, as well as some power metal wails and almost inhuman vocals, even for harsh vocals. Some would say the vocals are a hit-or-miss, but I haven’t heard of a single person who didn’t enjoy them yet.
Power metal came with one notorious band this year: Galneryus, and included Prophesia, Hizaki Grace Project, and Double Dealer. Heading the helm for power metal releases, Galneryus had a single and an album released. The single, "Everlasting", brought the realization that Galneryus had left neo-classical and have settled for simple power metal. While it had some new features usually unheard of with the band, such as songs in Japanese, it left something to be desired. Worse, their album left a lot more to be desired. "One For All, All For One" is easily their worst album, and the song "Everlasting" is one of the best tracks. While it may not be Galneryus’ best work, it is still solid power metal overall. Prophesia features the man Akira, who we had the honor of interviewing not too long ago in this year. Their album, "Eye of the Storm" features melodies like one couldn’t believe, and perhaps even so much that anyone without a sweet tooth would be sickened to the stomach. Akira’s good, high-pitched vocals, keyboards and melodious guitar work frame a great first release. Hizaki Grace Project may be visual kei, but they also play metal, so I figured I’d give them a mention regardless. They play power metal, feature the usual generic visual kei vocals (which some of you may argue over) and obviously feature Hizaki himself. While I don’t like visual kei vocals, some people adore them; so whether you like it or not may be based upon that alone. The guitar work is solid, but it often seems to steal riffs from various bands, as well as some solos from classical music. Though, I enjoy when Vintersorg covers classical with their songs, Hizaki leaves much more to the imagination. Moving on to Double Dealer’s release "Desert of Lost Souls", I was, of course, very impressed. Double Dealer’s known for their thrashy power metal with a very good and talented nasal-prominent 80’s vocalist. Simply put a great release that bests none of their others, but doesn’t fall short in the least. Blood Stain Child released their album "Mosaiq", which, though more original than their earliest albums, it doesn’t stand out when compared to their last. To leave off on a better note is Takayoshi Ohmura’s "Power of Reality", which is progressive metal and often simply neo-classical. While quite boring, save two songs, the album will easily be a memorable one and something for those aspiring shredders to look up to.
In the world of thrash, we start with Hard Gear’s "Muddy Black", their first release in many a year. Being a somewhat older band, this release came as a shock to me and certainly worth the money paid. The drumming always leaves something out, but it does its job leaving a beat for the great riffs to override. While for some, the vocalist’s high pitched, nasal-driven voice may turn them off, I tend to only find it enjoyable in every respect, though sometimes it seems to be out-of-place with the heavy guitar work. Bereaved released the album "The Spirit Driven by Hate". The thrash riffs are great, but in my opinion, the vocalist is pretty terrible. Regardless, it’s worth a listen to and a great work of thrash. Blasdead and their album "Ground Flare" left a sweet taste in my mouth. Strong, deep, great clean vocals mixed with strong, great guitar works, good English lyrics and the spirit of metal driving them.
Gallhammer dominates the doom metal section, while their music borders on crust, sludge, and every heavy and abominable grunge possible, their music is always pleasing to the ear. Sometimes calming in a very odd way, this group of women release strong albums almost unheard of in the Japanese music. Their two albums released this year end read "victory" in every manner: "The Dawn Of.." and "Ill, Innocence". The former a best of, while the latter a new, fresh yet nice return to their heavy and demonic nature.
Death metal also hasn’t been touched upon much this year. For starters, Infernal Revulsion’s album "Devastate Under Hallucination" brings back some good memories. The vocalist is great, deep, and sounds like a mix of Demilich’s and Wormed’s. The vocals are solid in every manner, with some great solos and overall perfect death metal riffs, while the drumming also holds up its end without any faults. An amazing release overall and one of my favorites for this year. The only other release known to me is from a completely unknown band, Gorevent and their "Endless Human Hunting". Heavy, as death metal should be and often is, with a slower death metal vocalist than most. Sometimes it borders on doom metal, though it is without a doubt death. Unfortunately, the riffs are rather boring and though the drumming is great and the bass is also great, they still have some work to do; all in all, however, a solid debut, if this is their debut.
