Style: J-Rock/Death (Mixed vocals)
Review by: Chris
Country: Japan
Release date: 03-08-2020
Do you like wacky left field offerings? Do you like fun? Have you ever wondered what Death or Metallica would sound like if they happened to enjoy J-Rock? If you said yes to any or none of that, The Azukiwashers new album Sirarponcaca is waiting for you to behold it. Taking a look at their bio, they proclaim to be a roller-coaster of history through the heavy metal genre museum, which is not a terrible description of their sound. Honestly, I’ve been diving more and more into J-rock lately thanks to a friend of mine. I feel like if I had not already done that dive I would have written this off immediately, but I would ask no one else do that, this album is definitely full of fun moments and highlights.
It does immediately stroke the two sides of the coin pretty immediately opening in “Chou-kyodai Kaisen Nabe 2” with a blasting frenzy for about, oh, 1 second before you find yourself in what sounds like a pretty good Anime opening. It goes between this J-rock chorus and verse before finally giving you a taste of the real Death roots about 2 minutes in with the low growls and quick old-style riffing. Of course, like all good J-rock, it ends in the culmination of all the previous pieces meeting in one last chorus and outro trashcan riffing. Honestly I feel like the linked video below should tell you everything you need to know about this album, its presentation and its level of performance.
I do find most of the performances pretty good, with the clean vocals being pretty fun and the guitars and drums being pretty competently played. The bass has some really good lines that I felt sad were buried at some points. The songs where the bass wasn’t disappearing behind the blanket of distortion really showed some fun work. The production does feel a bit like a more modern approach to grabbing those Death and older thrash albums flair, though the album does have some volume inconsistencies throughout its run and if you aren’t into that older style tone of guitars it may rub you the wrong way. The J-Rock parts are nice and upbeat pretty much every time they happen which helps give the album a fair contrast between the two moods.
I do want to note that back to their assertion of being a historical roller-coaster, you will feel a good amount of the post flying at you throughout, from the aforementioned Death and Metallica to some flairs of mid-era Iron Maiden and Cannibal Corpse. It’s a pretty fun time yo-yoing between the past influences and the natural J-Rock flair they are bringing. And I cannot say enough that this album is just fun to listen to for the absurdity of it all that has found a way to land itself pretty decently. Have a fun time and spin this wacky fun J-Death (can I call it that) album.
Recommended tracks: Chou-kyodai Kaisen Nabe 2, Nakaochi Robo, Majigire Circus
Recommended for fans of: J-Rock in general, (early) Death, Metallica, Cannibal Corpse, fun times
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook
Label: Independent
The Azukiwashers are:
Yu Sawada (Vocals, Guitars)
Guitars: Kenta Mizutani (Guitars)
Shun Nakata (Bass)
Keita Shinbo (Drums)
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