Wolfsbane / Massive Noise Injection

A writer said "Listening to this (New millennium Iron Maiden with Bruce again), no one will defence Blaze Bailey". Sorry, you're wrong. I will be on the Blaze's side and continue to defend him. Maybe I'm so bizarre, or maybe I'm just healthy.

Well, as for Blaze Maiden I still have some questions such as "Why they continued to play 'The Evil That Men Do' etc. which Blaze cannot sing well?" "Why they didn't play 'Virus' on their show at all" and so on. And another question is "Why Blaze had such a distasteful MC on Maiden show?". I saw both show they had in Tokyo during "Virtual XI" tour. And disappointingly enough Blaze's MC was almost exactly same in both show.

Moreover much disappointingly I find that a part from his MC on Maiden show is almost exactly same as what he said in this live album of Wofsbane. To make matters worse, evidently he is far much more vivid in this album than any Maiden bootleg I have.

Anyway, he already left Maiden and sings much strongly in his new band. Maybe I have to agree to an opinion "Maiden was too heavy for him". However, at the same time I think it would be much more heavy for Doggy White.

Ancient / Essaying Paradise etc.

Songs I downloaded from mp3.com. I don't know virtually anything except that they are doom/gothic act from Calgary.

Before going down to them, let me complain about recent situation of mp3.com. I think it was so good a site almost as if a dream. Formerly, especially before rental record services appeared in Japan, we had to pay a lot of money in order to listen to new music. Then, with mp3.com one don't have to pay any money at all unless he or she buy extra staffs like DAM CDs available there. Without a mean for the high speed connections, downloading still takes a lot of times, but formerly it was just matter of time. However, recently downloading from mp3.com requires us a lot of endurance as well. Sometimes downloading process is forced to quit, sometimes some songs cannot be downloaded anyway. I thought "So cheep, so bad" is a japanese proverb. Am I wrong?

Then, returning to Ancient, their most evident characteristic is classical overtone. Actually I found them in the metal section, however some of their songs lack ordinary rock instruments at all. Formerly, only few rich and talented musician could use big orchestra. But nowadays, owing the great development of gears for DTM, almost everyone can afford such gears and experiment orchestration so easily, of course without any annoiance from members of orchestra who in general look down popular music. Then, although naturally such a happysituation can create a sad situation that there are so many easy and crappy things, certainly this is still a good situation for talented musicians like Ancient guys.

Iron Maiden / Best of the Beast
Iron Maiden / The Wicker Man

Tone deaf and long side beard and man on the edge. Was Blaze-Maiden a dark period of Iron Maiden?

Today I put the same song - 'Man on the Edge' - into my mp3 player both in the Blaze version and the Bruce version in order to compare them. Results? I like both. The end of the paragraph.

Sorry I was half jesting. Seriously, I cannot think there is so vast difference between them. Of course I don't dare to say the Blaze version is better than Bruce one. However I don't think either that the former is much worse then the latter. I have to admit that if I do the same thing on some other songs like 'The Evil That Men Do' 'Heaven Can Wait' etc. Blaze cannot win anything. But I cannot agree at all to opinions like "an just on the average song turns into a masterpiece". That's not more than a tricky rhetric. They should say "I hate Blaze!" instead of "He is an inappropriate singer for Maiden because blah blah blah". Whatever. At least they should stop blaming him consealing their personal taste and vicious intention. Especially, Japanese and Canadian! (oh my...)

Dio / Sacred Heart

As the second low of the thermodynamics tells, the nature prefers diffusion to concentration.

Likewise in the metal scene, the origins of metal music among which no doubt Dio must be included has been diffused from gore grind to anachronistic so-called power metal (personally I think this is a wrong name because many power metal bands have no such power at all. I think they should be called something like "Retro Metal" or "Soap Opera Metal") or stoner rock.

Taking up death metal and power metal as two example, it is certain that both movements have their origin in Dio at least in some respects. Then question comes: which is the right evolution?, which is more healthy response to originators? There is no doubt at all that it's death metal. In both field we can so easily find so many scum bands and crappy music. However, generally speaking, clearly there are more sincere bands in death metal rather than powerless power metal. The former is creatively futile and never forget to explore new things, but never loose respects to predecessors. On the other hand in the genre of power metal, I think I don't have to mention anything. It's just borrowing, stealing and tasteless reproduction.

Pantera / Reinventing the Steel

Some situations force us to invent Nu words, and some results are weird.

When I heard the word "Modern Heaviness" for the first time I couldn't understand what it is (for reader's convenience, in Japan the music like Pantera, Prong, Machine Head etc. is sometimes called "Modern Heaviness", that is, "new type of heavy metal after the grange movement". Some people abbreviate it into "Modahebi"). Putting aside so-called "Bounce Metal", "ADIDAS Rock" (what's silly name ...), "Metal Rap" etc., in north America these musicians seem to be categorized under the name of "Nu metal" (of course I thought it was "Gary Numan Metal" when I found this word in a magazine). But this name embraces totally different bands from Slipknot, Kitty etc. to Deftones, Tool etc.

Whatever. I cannot find anything new or special in this album. All I find is just a very standard type of metal thing. It seems that many people loves "much ado about Nu metal".

Horde of Worms / Wormageddon

Their third release which consists of four tracks + something.

Well, some non electronica acts use drum machine instead of live battery. Some of them use it just as a inferior substitute for live one, however some others think it much positively and do what only machine can do (moreover there are some bizarre bands try to imitate drum machine sound by live drums, or some others even use both).

Then, HOW has been used and still uses drum machine, and it seems that, as far as I suppose, they has been tried to make it closer to live battery but lately they abandon that desperate idea. Anyway, this EP sounds so heavy, fast and dark. And above all I feel their drum sound got much more thick. In future maybe they will welcome a drum player, maybe not. In either case, I assume they will do well. For even if the drummer is not good as they expected, only they have to do is to fire him.

Actually I heard many people complain about the inevitable poor impression of their show due to the absence of live battery. However, I have different opinions about it. That is because I know and like many japanese bands deliberately use drum machine such as Hikashu, Plastics, Auto-mod etc. Even in their show, they never failed to satisfy me. Nay rather it seemed to me that they made good use of the situation comes from the absence of drum kit (such as a vast space to use on the stage, easy setting and moving, freedom from some troubles). Certainly it is not logically correct that the absence of live drum makes the show miserable necessarily.

Karel Husa / Music for Prague 1968 (Husa (cond.), Temple University Wind Symphony (1997))
Karel Husa / Music for Prague 1968 (Kolman (cond.), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (1994))

It is not in metal scene that there is "big in Japan".

First of all, some genres of so called crassical music are big only in Japan. And wind orchestra is the most strange example, I think. To put it briefly, wind orchestra is so called full orchestra without violin, viola, cello and saxophone, euphonium and some very minor insruments added (such as alto clarinet). In Japan, so many people are involved in this field which is hard to be explained to western people, so many CDs we can easily get and even there are a few sprofessional wind orchestra. To explain all aspects of this genre requires very long article or even a book.

Well, many important repertories are famous pieces for full orchestra rearrenged into wind orchestra, say, Respighi's Roman Festival, Holst's The Planets and so on. Of course, results are sometimes good sometimes bizarre. However, there are few contrary cases among which this work by Karel Husa is included. That is to say, originally this work was compsed for wind orchestra, and later listening to the original version a conductor was so moved as to ask Husa to rearrange it into full orchestra.

Then, for the first time I listened to the full orchestra version. I think this is not too bad. Strings makes the overall sound very thick and subtle, however the recording quality is not the best regrettably. Although of course I have some complains about this CD, still it is quite certain that works like this can make better the relativery poor situation of wind orchestra outside Japan. I heard there is the full orchestra version of Reed's Armenian Dance, Whear's Stone Henge Symphony etc. I think much more works for wind orchestra should be rearranged into full orchestra version.

Michael Schenker / Adventures of the Imagination

Maturity and childishness can live together.

It is reported that he did IT again. When I go back to Tokyo, I can buy a bootleg of THAT show, I think (actually I have almost all bootlegs from his legendary infamous and controversial shows such as "Come on Jap F**k you" "Guitar Clash in Anger" etc.).

Personally, I think he is not a person who can do well in a band without difficulty. And also my personal opinion is that he should concentrate on solo works like this. For, this album shows without doubt some musical maturities. Sadly enough, however I agree that his basic personality and character will never change. So it is probably far better for him to quit a career as a talented but bizarre band-man and have a less successfull but much more stable and sober one.

Thou Shallt Suffer / Somnium

I didn't expect at all that Ihsahn would go to the almost same way as Mortiis.

For the first time I heard something about this project, I thought it was "Emperor without Samoth" (as you know, actually they came to Toronto without Samoth of course because he was refused to enter Canada by the government due to what he did in Norway). So after the first listening-through, I couldn't help my dissapointment and anger, just same as I happend to see Mortiis' show in Toronto.

That is because, as you imagine, I had too much an expectation on this work in vain and that preconception distorted my taste. For, unlike the case of Mortiis, now I can enjoy this work very much and even I think this is a good album though some sounds of instruments are somewhat cheep. Michael Camen should work with him rather than Metallica guys.

Iron Maiden / Brave New World

I still think the Blaze era was not so bad as many people say.

When this album was released, general opinions were split into two major parties, say, the first was "Maiden has returned to the front line of metal scene!" and the second "It is nothing but a nostalgia, just a cheep reproduction of their golden age". My opinion? "I like this" That's it. :-)

I can hear nothing but a standard Iron Maiden, no more nor less than that. I think at the time of the release there were at least two not quite good back influences, both of which have something to do with Judas Priest, that is, too long absence of Judas Priest on the one hand and the wonderful reincarnation of Rob Halford. Frankly speaking I hate the "Revive the Metal" slogan, but so many people have been crazy about this idea which I think not so cool. And I can easily imagine that this slogan and too much expectation distorted their evaluation.

I think professional musician should create what they want to create. We the listener can praise or complain the result, but we should not require anything. When did we become so audacious? I must complain that so many music critics or writers who are in their nature parasitic to works made by the musician behave as if they are boss or king or anything like that.

The Residents / Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses

Too much long a title!

Wherever it may be happened and whatever it may concern, changing one's impression (or prejudice) is a good thing. Until I bought this compilation and listened to it, The Residents has been the most weird group for me. Actually, when we still used analog vinyl records, I had their albums, that is, "Meet the Residents" "Not Available", and both album were as if nightmare in my early teenage. They sounded so weird that I thought I should break them apart and litter. Almost a decade later since then, I happened to listen to their live album since one of my friends of these days recommended it (I cannot remember it's title. It was certainly an 12 inch EP), and actually I could enjoy it, however it couldn't wipe my nightmare away. The first two album I had were so much weird.

So always it has been biggest an enigma for me why they can keep so high respect and so much fans. And things get revealed now. First, two albums I had previously were their most early works and their most eccentric album. Second, at that period gears for electric music and recording techniques were not enough improved as they can bring their ideas into real world through them. It is quite natural since I've never listened to even "The Commercial Album" nor "Eskimo", however it was pretty surprising that I can dig well this compilation. Then I ran to buy a ticket for their forthcoming show at Toronto.

Kovenant / Animatologic

Let me introduce a japanese pop group, "Shibugaki-tai" (one ward, standing for "The League of Cool Boys" also being a pun for "Bunch of Bitter Persimmon"). It was a group made from three promising young male singers (actually now, after the disbandment, each of them becomes a very important personality for the japanese pop culture), which had worked through eighties and acheved many hits. As the characteristics of their songs one can easily count, firstly, the half serious and half in jest atomosphere, and second, topics taken from the japanese traditional dandism (so naturally many of their song titles are hard to understand for western guys, I think). And musically, their songs were always well composed, up to the front line of the musical trend and sometimes even avant-garde.

Well, Kovenant's song 'Human Abstruct' never fails to reminds me "Shibugaki-tai", expecially one of their smash hit 'Sushi Kuinee!' ('Why don't you eat Suchi?'). That's the reason why I've mentioned to them.

As for the Kovenant, even in Japan some critics criticised this album much bitterly, saying like as "They're gone..." "Do they want to be another Manson, NIN things? Did they learn nothing from the failure of Rob Halford in Two?". However, I think such critics took this work too much seriously so that they failed to understand it (as the matter of fact, too much seriousness prevents one from enjoying comedy, and this failure itself becomes another comedy). I think those critics couldn't enjoy songs of Shibugaki-tai.

Foetus Interruptus / Thaw

First of all, for convenience to those who cannot read Japanese and wonder what is written on the back cover; first, horizontal japanese characters found on the top is simply "Thaw: Foetus Interruptus". Second, a circled chinese character found on the left low corner stands for "Melt". Third and last, a vertical sentence found on the left to the bar-code is supposed to be a commercial catch copy taken from somewhere, and it's completely out of context (I cannot understand what they want to say). It says "Here comes a marvellous lesson for synthesizer which enables you to play it as a professional player as soon as you get your machine".

Then, turning to the musical contents themselves, until now I had almost no information about them (except that they seem to be something like japanophile so that some of their artworks have japanese characters. So it was so easy to expect that they are probably bizarre guys:-)). As far as this album (of course the reason I picked up this album was it has most ridiculous and funny an artwork for japanese), Foetus Interruptus is something like a DJ team with industrial addiction rather than a pure industrial act. Generally speaking, I hate to go to so called 'Club' or 'Rave' and listen to DJ play, for most of them are just boring for me. However, as for FI, I love this kind of thing. I wish much more of DJ would play as this album.

Type O Negative / World Coming Down

It is said that TON is one of the artists which is most expected to come to Japan, however I've never met any japanese metal fan says so. Nay rather, I know not a few of them hate TON, saying "Is this any kind of metal?" "they are too fashonable". To take it briefly, it is guys from companies who want to invite TON to Japan, and not metal maniacs, even though probably girls are greatly different because for them the appearance of members is only matter. Frankly speaking, I was so bored because in almost every japanese music press TON is introduced virtually as "Peter Steele, Josh Silver and co." and Peter is always referred with cheep catch copy like "2 meter height guy" "an american gothic hero recently appeared on Playboy magazine".

Thus, although this album was welcomed by japanese music press quite warmly, I'm anxious about how many peoples could understand this album, and how many people are still constantly listening to this. For, I think I understand that to make oneself as the norm sometimes distorts one's evaluation, however I hated this album at the first listening and long time was needed for me to understand this too heavy and too dark album. Anyway, always for japanese guys in companies the only standard is 'how much moneys a work or a band would make for us'.

Covenant / In Times before the Light

Of course, this is the first album of Covenant (Norway) whose name was changed to Kovenant recently.

Except some enthusiastic metal maniacs who cannot help buying every metal staffs released all through the world, it is not unusual that japanese guys get staffs very late because sometimes items are released from the second album or even more later ones (for example, Cryptopsy staffs are released altogether at the time of the release of "Whisper Blasphemy" album, and first two items of Morbid Angel are not released yet in Japan). As for Covenant too, this album was released together with "Nexus Polaris" album, if my memory serves. And of course this band was introduced to japanese metalheads as "a side project of Nagash from Dimmu Borgir".

Well, generally speaking, most reviewers and many of my friend said something like this unanimously: "Covenant became great bands by their second album, and this album doesn't reach to such a level yet". However, confessing that I listen to this album for the first time and after listening to other staffs, I don't think this album sucks. Of course, I can understand that this album is not so good as later works (of course including "Animatologic" album, I love it) in comparison with latters. However, through what these "follow the reviewer" guys (or even "follow the Burrn!" guys?) said, I got an impression that this album is too bad to listen seriously. What really sucks is such a japanese climate.

Gary Numan / Metal Rhythm

Just few days before I bought it, for of course I already have old version of "New Anger" album.

Among several changes on this reissue, those which have some meaning are the order of songs and bonus trucks. That is to say, digital remastering has only slight meaning to me because the older version too already had a pretty good audio quality apart from that my untrained years failed to grasp the difference.

Well, as for the change of song order seems weird to me. Is it the order Gary himself wanted? If so, I have to judge Gary's sense was strange. To begin such a powerful album with a relatively calm tune doesn't seem attractive to me. And current order give me an impression that this album is a 'slow starter', comparing it to other albums like "Berserker" and even "Exile". So still it's not so much a damage, however I prefer the song order of the older version.

As for the bonus trucks (and 2 songs were not included in the older japanese version, that is, 'Hunger' and 'Young Heart'), it's great pleasure to listen to previously inaccessible songs. And those contained in this reissue are all typical Gary Numan songs. There is no great surprise among them, but I enjoyed them very much.

Anyway, these quibbles are nothing more than parasitic comments on this masterpiece.

Type O Negative / Bloody Kisses

Who can teach me the definition of 'gothic'?

Putting this album between their first album and the next one to this album, I feel something like a vertigo because in this album so many types of music are mixed together. I was introduced to these guys by "World Coming Down" album and then listened their works chronologically backward. So actually I got no trouble to listen to this album. However, if I had happened to listen to this album alone without any foreknowledge, I would have been pretty confused at what these guys wanted to express. I think this album requires some

Kittie / Spit

Preparation for the Fear Factory show I'm going to see tomorrow, for which they will do an opening act.

After an pretty long interval I listened to this album, maybe since their last show with Disturbed in Toronto I saw last September. My overall impression is totally different from before. Still I feel the younger sister Mercedes' drum on this album is weak. However, as for virtually every aspect of other instrument and vocals sound very well and still impressive for me. Now I begin to think this album is one of the masterpieces among so-called nu-metal staffs throughout.

Except a few songs still with a strong Limp Against Korn... overtone, their song are quite original. And as for the vocal style which is made from both pretty voices and horrible growing, I cannot find anything similar to this elsewhere. In fact I prefer this pretty and horrible style to the death-voice abuse style which the elder sister Morgan takes recently.

Nowadays, they succeeded to become rock-star and have been appearing so frequently everywhere such as Kerrang!, Terrorizer, Metal Maniax and even Burrn! (even though they failed to get much popularity in Japan as Donnas. Actually this is hard to understand. Anyway, always Japan is a bizarre country...). Tomorrow I want to see what kind of feed back they got from these enviously admirable success. To speak frankly, I'm afraid that this quick success would spoil them. If I'm wrong and they are still musically healthy, that's fine. However if I were right ...

Fear Factory / Soul of a New Machine

It can be easily imagined that I was invited to Fear Factory through their 'Cars' cover. And until that, I knew virtually nothing about them. Since their 'Cars' cover was very good (even Gary Numan himself praised that), I bought their recent items and loved them. But I didn't come to buy their first album. One of the reasons was that the cover of japanese version of this album said, I think it was something like this, this work is still rough and lacks refinement and originality.

Now I have to blame the writer who wrote the copy by saying that he or she is too much simple minded. Although in fact this album has rather poor audio quality, songs and performances still need some refinements and there is no industrial overtone yet, however even by this period they succeeded to get much intensity in their music and there much raw hardcore elements.

Above all, as a poor bassist, I like this album because I can hear a lot of basses. In their later works sometimes I have to complain "where is the bass gone?".

Fear Factory / Obsolete

Is so called "Industrial" music a revival of "Futurism"?

Ultil I listened to a japanese single of "Ressurection" which have "Cars" cover among coupling tracks, I had no idea about what kind of music they play. My first impression was that they are one of the most typical industrial act because the song 'Resurrection' is such a tune. Then, going through 'Cars' and listening to other couplings, I was kind of shocked. For, sometimes their sound sounds as if there is just a single instrument with vocals. That is to say, their combination of instruments and construction of riff is so tight that it sounds as if all instruments melt into a single train of sound. Of cource I never failed to find this is a marvellous innovation. It is possible to call this as the instrument 'Fear Factory'. And I happend to find a ghost of Futurism behind them.

Fear Factory / Demanufacture

In western world "Ho Ho..." reminds of Saint Clause, but in Japan it reminds of a famous FEMALE (strange? yes, she is a very tall woman with low voice) singer Akiko WADA. So naturally, a FF song 'Reprica' is sometimes called as 'Wada Akiko' in Japan.

Well, the same song has another aspect which got severely criticised, that is the singer's normal voice and it's powerlessness comparing to his death voice. However, I cannot agree them and rather I have to say they don't understand the concept of the song. For, in its chorus it reads "... life that's full of misery". So his less intence normal voice maches to the concept!

March 2001