Author Topic: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal  (Read 1108 times)

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fistfulofmetal

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Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« on: October 05, 2013, 10:35:00 AM »
Last week something happened to me. An innocuous GAF thread caught my attention.

Included in this thread was a single link and an image of a group of asian women in costumes. Going in I figured this was likely some sort of joke video. I've seen my fair share of silly ass japanese music videos so I blindly clicked.




Pretty quickly I knew something was off here. You have the group of asian women in cliched attire, but there's a full band set. Drums, guitar, bass, keyboard. In addition, the tone isn't right. Everything seems to be played as a joke so far, the clothes, the way the lead singer is talking, the sound effects, the audience. Then the camera cuts to a completely different set with a completely different look and feel. Then the lead singer picks up the mic.

It's at this moment I'm completely taken aback. The first 10 seconds of the song reveal the true nature of what's going on here. This is Power Metal.

It's not traditional Power Metal, by any means. There's clearly many aspects of J-Pop mixed in but for the most part, this is Power Metal. And it's not half bad.


The journey begins there. Over the last week I've listened to pretty much nothing but this bands album. The band is called DOLL$BOXX. My last.fm page, which tracks music I listen to from my car, shows 87 listens in the last 7 days. At first I had a hard time listening to this band. You see I' fairly narrow minded in my musical taste. For the most part really don't like many other genres, but I will admit purposefully will not listen to something if I feel it isn't the kind of music I generally would listen to. It took a lot of willpower to get over that and just listen to this. After a week I've grown to really really enjoy this album. It's got good melodies, it's mad catchy, the lead singer is impressive, the drummer chick is really talented (she does backing vocals). There's talent all around in this band. I originally was not sure if I liked it for the novelty or the gimmick. I figured I would get bored after a few days. But that didn't happen, instead I grew to appreciate it more and I thing I genuinely like it.

One thing that I was surprised is that the track that got me into the band ended up not even being my favorite track on the album. These are:




Now let's take a moment. I've done a bit of research on this band. I've found that it's a "supergroup" of sorts. The drummer, bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist are all from another band called Gacharic Spin. The lead singer is from a band called Light Bringer.

Light Bringer appears to be a more traditional POWER METAL band.



I've listened to two albums from them, Midnight Circus and Scenes from Infinity. Both are pretty good as well. The singer manages to pull off a lot of impressive soaring vocals. The melodies aren't as catchy but there's plenty of driving double bass and the guitar work is just as wanky as you expect.


Gacharic Spin is a bit different. They appear to only have one full album, Delicious. They look to be a more modern rock band with a lot of J-POP influences.



Listening to their album, there's definitely tracks on it that I straight up don't like. These tracks typically devolve into annoying pop bullshit with synth beats, or electronic stuff... I can't explain it tbh. The good stuff are the ones that sway more closer to the rock side of things. You got a focus on the actual instruments and the singer. I was surprised because the drummer, Hana, is the lead singer and she pulls of some impressive vocals. In some aspects I prefer her to the singer that leads DOLL$BOXX/Light Bringer.


When you look at both of these bands separately and then look at the band created when they combine, you can clearly see what elements they pulled from both. You have the general tone and emphasis on power vocals and the Metal influence from Light Bringer. From Gacharic Spin you have the strong melodies and catchy lyrics. Together they make a fairly strong combination.


So there you have it. This has been my week. I'm not sure where I'll go from here. I'm not sure if I'll get into any other bands. I don't even know how to properly find more bands like these. It's the specific ingredients that I'm enjoying and I don't think I would enjoy anything else.

If you have any recommendations please by all means.


Thanks for reading if you did.

nat

chronovore

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2013, 10:37:26 AM »
So, you guys are all going to let me make the first "Fistfull likes bands full of young-looking girls" joke?

Thanks a bunch!

BTW, you want to check out SCANDAL as well, Fist-chan.

Himu

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2013, 01:26:08 PM »
Good luck on your journey.
IYKYK

fistfulofmetal

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2013, 05:53:43 PM »
The most difficult part of this is that it's really hard to find albums from these kind of bands. They're rarely on torrent sites and all the blogs are in moon language so I can barely figure out where the download links are.

I managed to find Temptation Box from Scandal. I'll listen to it later tonight.
nat

Joe Molotov

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2013, 08:02:10 PM »
Buy Hatsune Miku for the PS3.
©@©™

Himu

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2013, 08:03:56 PM »
The most difficult part of this is that it's really hard to find albums from these kind of bands. They're rarely on torrent sites and all the blogs are in moon language so I can barely figure out where the download links are.

I managed to find Temptation Box from Scandal. I'll listen to it later tonight.

Check out iTunes. You'll have to change region, probably. Maybe not but check it out. If you need help guiding itunes in Japanese we have folks who can help.
IYKYK

fistfulofmetal

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2013, 12:07:01 AM »
Listened to two bands today.

Scandal. two albums. Temptation Box and Baby Action.

There's some good tracks throughout. However I can't get over how cutesie a lot of it is. Probably because of one of the singers... It also feels a bit more "produced" than I like. There's not a lot of genuine emotion out of the songs... feels somewhat hollow.

Cyntia. one album so far, Lady Made. This is a power metal band.

I was impressed by this band. it has good vocals, guitar work and riffs. I will definitely track down some of their other work.


To put it in perspective. When I mean "genuine" i look at something like this:



and think... "yeah, this is a band really into doing this". I don't get that from Scandal.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2013, 12:13:44 AM by fistfulofmetal »
nat

Diunx

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2013, 12:47:49 AM »
MODS HALP!!
Drunk

fistfulofmetal

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2013, 06:47:37 PM »
So far the best thing to come out of this venture is finding Gacharic Spin. I find them pretty incredible. Talent across the board, amazing stage presence and energetic performances. That drummer  :heartbeat :heartbeat

nat

chronovore

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2013, 06:53:53 PM »
Yeah, Scandal is the only girl-idol-metal band I had heard of, and it wasn't on your initial list, so I threw it out there. I'm not into them, and they are definitely a heavily produced band.

fistfulofmetal

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2013, 08:48:23 PM »
The more I listen to the better informed I'll be so any recommendations are welcome!
nat

Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2013, 09:13:59 PM »
Amazon Japan is your new friend, I guess. You can do searches in English and it will typically find what you want, even if the band's name is in Japanese.

Also, if you have access to a Kinokuniya, they have a good selection of Japanese CDs.
野球

fistfulofmetal

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Re: Let's discuss my descent into J-Pop-Rock-Girlband-Power-Metal
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2013, 07:31:21 PM »
i've been trying to find one of Gacharic Spin's singles, Nudirhythm for the last hour and straight up cannot find it anywhere. Finally just broke down and bought a physical cd copy off Amazon

can't find any blogs hosting it
it's not on itunes japan
no streaming services

 :fbm
nat