Saturday, March 21, 2009

日本の音楽 Week 9: 五人一首

Ahh - the weekend, the second day of spring and I'm feelin' like a new man. Could there possibly be a better time and place for some Japanese progressive death metal? That's right.

They just don't make too many bands like 五人一首(ごにんいっしゅ, commonly romanized as Gonin-ish). Forced to draw a comparison between 五人一首 and any other band, in a situation of life and death, I'd have no choice but to take a bullet between the eyes. (Cynic or Unexpect would be a stretch, but the closest comparisons I can think of)

Best described as progressive death metal, 五人一首 plays a chaotic, yet melodic and poetic form of music that takes inspiration from a plethora of sources, including progressive rock and metal, death metal and even anime soundtracks. Anoji, the adorably terrifying bleached-blonde frontwoman whose cryptic lyrics are heavily inspired by classical Japanese literature, switches up between a traditional Japanese vocal style to a raspy death scream at the drop of a hat. Due to the nature of the band's lyrics, archaic language is quite common, making 五人一首 a challengingly difficult band to interpret - but that's part of the fun, isn't it?

Man, I love this band.


五人一首 - 無碍の人

Recommended albums:
  • 内視鏡世界 (Naishikyou-sekai)
  • 五人一首 (Gonin-Ish)

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