(Girugamesh~ apparently the guests of the event but rather they headlined it and had an encore.

So why not just call them headliners?)

The Loud Core Monsters War tour was pretty much as the name suggests: loud. Hot, heavy and screamy. Ordinarily I am more of a melodic band fan but occasionally I like to indulge in a bit of pure heaviness, so the triple billing of Girugamesh, Deathgaze and RENTRER EN SOI lured me out into the rain to Shibuya O-West. It turned out to be a rather good evening with all four bands that I saw turning in tight performances. At events the atmosphere between crowd and band is a little lacking when compared to one mans but I thought both DEATHGAZE and Girugamesh in particular tried their best to play up to the crowd.

My evening began with Black:List. This quartet had a few problems over the New Year period and restarted activities with a new vocalist. For a small indies group I thought they had promise and while their vocalist lacked full richness in his voice the guitarist in particular showed prowess. I think they spotted me as a couple of times, the vocalist, looked me straight in the eyes and made motions at me to dance. After five songs, Black:List left the stage and it was time for the big names of the night.

Up first was RENTRER EN SOI. I have a bit of history with RENTRER EN SOI, as in I turned away from their releases for the best part of a year. PROTOPLASM brought a new RES with echoes of Dir en Grey rather than the beautiful visual kei band of before. Satsuki’s voice is stunning and it pained me to see him waste it on screaming and their music to simple thundering guitars. I listened to a couple of releases and was largely disheartened by the experience, until Stigmata this year, that is. I fell in love with Stigmata; it bore similarity to RENTRER EN SOI of old while maintaining this new, heavier sound and suddenly I found myself able to accept their new direction. I listened to their album, RENTRER EN SOI and discovered I had been unjustifiably prejudiced. Yes, RES were heavy with a keen Dir en Grey ring to them but they were still Renter en Soi too as ethereal string and piano melodies lurking beneath the screams occasionally floated to the surface to lend the Satsuki’s voice the beautiful music it deserved.

Such was my RENTRER EN SOI u-turn that I even gave them my ticket stub last night! Back to that evening; compared to either DEATHGAZE or Girugamesh, RES were a little stilted. They were largely motionless on stage, except Satsuki who put some real passion into his performance. In their five song set they included Stigmata, which was a joy live. Managing each high note deftly, Satsuki’s vocals soared over the complex melody that Takumi and Shiun’s twin guitars played around with and off each other.

RES left without much fanfare, unlike the following DEATHGAZE who, collectively walked on stage with a confident swagger. DEATHGAZE are my weakness, they are so brutally heavy and unlike any other band in the scene. To think too that this stalwart of Nagoya kei almost disbanded for good until a new vocalist was found this year – after holding auditions they decided on bassist, Ai. They hammered through their six tracks with a couple of MCs thrown in for good measure: essentially Ai wandering around railing the girls with heavily accented Japanese. They refrained from playing any quieter songs tonight, and instead it was thirty minutes of solid headbanging turning O-West into a hot, humid pit of thrashing hair.

Of the setlist, CHAOS was particularly fun although every song was played well and Ai’s vocals deep and rich vocals, much like Otogi of Awoi or Tatsuro of MUCC complemented the powerful metal riffs of the music beautifully. disease and venom, too, with thumping drumming and allowed Ai to show off his impressive death voice. I think the richness of the vocals are why I appreciated DEATHGAZE. Unlike Dir en Grey for Kyo’s hoarser vocals do not provide as aurally pleasing an accompaniment to the crunchy guitars.

Finally it was time for Girugamesh. Apparently Girugamesh were just ‘guests’ but this also meant they did the longest set and had an encore! Not that I minded much because they were seriously impressive. Satoshi knew how to work a crowd, as did NI on his guitar parading around the stage. It was almost half a full concert but you could tell they were having a lot of fun. In between the headbanging stupid, Volcano and Omae ni (the finale song of the main set) they had a couple of more traditional furitsuke songs like the funky Kotoware sareta tsukue and CRAZY FLAG. This latter song, varied from melodic to punchier raw verses all connected by a syncopated drum machine and neat bass led bridges from Shuu. The crowd heaved themselves forward to the heavy basslines and Ryo’s drums that powerfully stood out above the melee of music.

freesia meanwhile provided a quiet moment for O-West to cool down a bit and allowed Satoshi to show off the power of his vocals. After the wild activity that preceded it, it was a little strange to see O-West silent. I can’t say I am not used to the silent crowd during ballads but on this evening it was a little strange. Along with shining (that filled O-West with a sudden feel of electronica) and the furi numbers this gave the performance a nice variety. I have to add a note for Dance Rockers Night too. It was again so different with a lighter character to both vocals and a melody that was, by Girugamesh standards playful with some swirly riffs and flourishes in the guitars. Overall it was a great set; Girugamesh hardly put a foot wrong and they left the O-West crowd quite sweaty and breathless. The queue for the drinks line was longer than normal. I can’t say I was surprised.

(Despa tomorrow!)

I have been meaning to write a little about Deluhi for a while, since I saw them at Zeal Link a month ago. They were the opening act and on closer inspection of the flyer package we were given at the door, my friend and I discovered they had attached a free sampler CD to their flyer. How kind!

The foursome started out initially as GRAVE SEED until 25th February 2008. GRAVE SEED, who, according to the Grass Thread VK list, did not release anything until they became DELUHI. Under this new name, the four released ‘Surveillance’, a 5 track mini album at the end of March. It is also interesting to note that guitarist, Leda is also a member of Galneryus, providing bass for that famous metal band and so that DELUHI were an impressive opening act is not surprising.

At Zeal Link, Deluhi arrived on stage in the visual style that can be seen on the opening of their website – ominous black cloaks/ hessian sacks with hoods and that white emblem painted on the long sleeves. Despite resembling something rather cultish or, to my mind, the monks from Monty Python and the Holy Grail I really like these outfits. They provided an atmospheric opening to their set too as the band stood silently on a moodily lit stage with the accompaniment of dark cybergothic sounds. The shed the cloaks for their first energetic songs though to reveal a band attired in black with a style somewhere between the aforementioned cybergoth and classic metaller. They had fun with the crowd too, working them to grab the girls’ collective attention.

Enough about the style though, what about the music? They are typically heavy metal visual but tightly produced with some interesting guitar embellishments and funky basslines. They keep use of the synth effects to a happy minimum too. Each of the four members was highly skilled though and even put the later LiZ to shame. The vocalist was adept at screaming and as for the more melodic moments his voice was smooth and rich. The presence of the Galyneryus bassist in the band merely affirms that these guys are not mere newbies. Deluhi deserve to and should go far in the heavy hardcore side of the visual kei scene.

They have had a mini album out since March 26, Surveillance:

1. 〜Surveillance〜
2. Two Hurt
3. Vivid Place
4. 黄泉の譲り葉
5. Recall

If you asked me, prior to coming to Japan, something I would never have imagined doing then spending one hour in a queue to buy doughnuts would be a pretty good example of that something. This however is Japan so normal rules do not apply.

When my friend told me about Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Tokyo I refused to believe her. My experience was of small outlets such as the one in Waterloo station, London where you have to wait maybe two minutes to receive sugary goodness. In Tokyo though, the (until recently) sole Shinjuku branch has proved so popular that folks are willing to wait a long time. An hour in fact and until said friend convinced me it was a good idea to go I would only have willingly stood in such a queue for a rollercoaster or the like. On Saturday we decided to brave the Tokyo Krispy Kreme experience joining a queue that started on the rail bridge before winding in a concertina fashion in front of the store. Krispy Kreme did not make the wait too unpleasant though. People are shepherded in blocks to the bunched up queue area from the rail bridge where, in close proximity to the aroma of warm baking doughnuts, Krispy Kreme dole out free and freshly glazed offerings accompanied by numerous murmurs of ‘umaiii….oishiii’.

As you draw closer you are given menus to choose in advance because inside it is hectic as patrons hurriedly order to then thrust their cash guiltily to the smiling assistant and then shuffle out with a big box of calories in a clear plastic bag that shows your shame for all the world to see. It just screams ‘Look at me! I waited an hour to buy food that’s going to make me fat’. Back on the train, half the looks are in envy and the other half make appalled faces. Biting into one later though, as you may expect made the wait oh so worth it and it is another ‘idiot’ thing I can say I have done. Yeahhh~

Golden Week brought a short welcome relief for me as, like many Japanese, I was given the sudden freedom to explore the country a little bit. Together with a friend we headed North, to the dark corners of Iwate prefecture in search of green world far removed from Tokyo. It seemed to be such a dark, wild corner of Japan that every mention of ‘We are going to Iwate-ken’ was greeted with confused looks from friends. ‘Why are you going there?’ they asked. ‘Why aren’t you going to Kyoto?’
I suppose it is natural to be confused why two foreigners may go to such an unusual place, I however was entranced by the untamed North, especially by the stories of a small town called Tono nestled in a valley shrouded in myth and legend. Rob, my friend was simply in the mood for some travelling and so together we went to Tohoku, catching a late bus to Sendai.

Tono is indeed as atmospheric as the books describe and it is easy to see how both Lafcadio Hearn was so mesmerised by the valley. The approach on the rickety ‘wanman’ train wound through mountainous terrain with steep forested slopes on either side, at the foot of which occasionally a house would sit, a surprising interruption to the wilderness feel. Tono itself was a fairly large town although sleepy nonetheless. We were staying in a ryokan owned by an incredibly friendly lady with whom Rob and I felt rather awkward to say goodbye to. Her level of concern was often embarrassingly high. While aspects of the corridors could have been kept better the room itself was a delight from the wooden lattice sliding door for our private genkan to the two large tatami rooms that we could spread ourselves out in. It had that simple understated elegance that Japanese Inns manage so well; maintaining a raw natural feel to the decor while also being quite refined. Meanwhile my body thanked me for once again finding an ofuro.

That first night we ate a traditional meal at our Inn that challenged the tastebuds; the mountain vegetable pickles were fine, as was the tempura that again used seasonal plants and was quite different from the typical Tokyo fare but the horse was a bit of a jolt. The owner brought out two dishes of sashimi; dark red meat lay beautifully presented on top of each other as Rob looked at it quizzically with a face that said ‘this isn’t tuna’. She explained to me with a nervous giggle that it was in fact horse sashimi and out of politeness I ate it. Rob was curious anyway and decided he rather liked his horse. It caused such a stir to our cautious Western ways that the rest of our meal was occupied with a discussion of the strangest things we have ever eaten.

Tono, as I partially mentioned earlier, is a land of myths and stories of demons and ghosts and strange occurrences. These stories have been told amongst the inhabitants since the days of Edo until the early 20th century when an encounter between scholar, Yanagita Kunio and local academic, Kizen Sasaki led to the publication of these folk tales as the Tono Monogatari in 1912.

As we toured the area it was not hard to understand why Tono had this reputation. We rented bikes that allowed us to get close to small unsigned sights dotted around the valley, sites with a definite spooky atmosphere. Our first stop was the site of a former castle. There was little fanfare, merely a plain sign with kanji printed upon it that pointed into the woods. With a little trepidation, Rob and I climbed up the steps deep into the trees. We climbed for a while going deeper into the forest and were finally confronted by a small, dilapidated wooden building. The dingy interior revealed nothing more than some faded strip of material and a rusting tin and we pondered on their purpose. They did not seem so old and we toyed with the idea that it was either a small shrine or a dwelling place. Tono is apparently teeming with mysterious lodges hidden in the woods that house ‘mountain men’. This latter thought started to make my skin crawl as a distinct Blair Witch feeling came over us. We agreed that come twilight it would be one very creepy place to be.

One of Tono’s more famous myths concerns such a hidden house or ‘magoiya’. A farmer’s wife was out hunting for butterbur one day when she came across a grand gate in the deep forest. Upon entering the gate she discovered a garden full of red and white flowers and then further a great house. The house was filled with expensive lacquerware goods that took the poor woman’s breath away. Considering though that this could be the abode of a mountain man she became suddenly afraid and took flight without removing anything from the house. Her good behaviour was rewarded when, as she washed by the river one day, a lacquer rice bowl came floating towards her. She fished it out and her family decided to use the bowl to measure rice. This rice was to never decrease in volume and as thus the family became the richest in the valley.

Meanwhile, Rob and I continued our cycling heading out 15km to the Furusato Mura. While the Furusato Mura bore no more spooky stories it was an interesting insight into the farming life of old Japan. A number of Magariya (L Shaped) farmhouses from the Edo and Meiji periods had been moved to the site for visitors to wander around and experience a small slice of how life felt 200 years ago. Similarly Fukusen-ji, with a grand Kannon Bosatsu was more of the sightseeing and a fun hike up a hill.

Jouken-ji however took us back into this mythological world and introduced us to the kappa. The kappa is a mischevious aquatic creature resembling a the bastard offspring of a frog and a duck with long skinny limbs and a beak. Kind creatures these are not as Japanese folklore tells of their child-eating exploits and habits of stealing horses. Tono has a few ‘kappa pools’ where supposedly these creatures reside, one of these being at Jokenji temple. The kappa here though was helpful and a story tells of it putting out a fire at the temple. Of course, this being Japan, the Kappa has been thoroughly reinvented as a cute mascot or, as a wooden sculpture resembling the gnorcs in Spyro the Dragon.

Although Fukusen-ji and the Furusato mura were indeed interesting places it was still the hidden secret sites dotted around Tono that were the most magical. 500 Buddhas that lay hidden in a forest of moss-covered granite rocks only revealed themselves upon gazing on the rocks for a period and an old wooden torii protecting a simple shrine was overgrown with ivy and creepers that wound sinisterly over the structure. It was truly haunting and a world away from Tokyo although after a week in the styx I did at least feel ready to come back and the brief stop in Morioka for catching our bus felt like coming back to civilization once more. Just a shame that all that excitement gave me the flu, really!