BONDAGE FRUIT I

Sub-genre: Zeuhl (good fit)
For Fans of: Koenjihyakkei, Ruins, Magma
Vocal Style: Multiple female (occasional male), vocals as instruments rather than vocals as lyrics
Guitar Style: Varying styles from distorted electric to sweet, full sounding acoustic
Keyboard Style: none
Percussion Style: Dual percussion, standard rock set plus, vibes, glock, trap drum, and I am pretty sure they kick a garbage can or 2
Bass Style: upright electric picked and occasionally beaten
Other Instruments: Electric violin played with ethereal Eastern influenced overtones

Summary: This is the first of an outstanding career by Bondage Fruit. This band is so free in its evolution that one would not likely identify this album as being from the same band as their most recent 6th release. The obvious differences are the vocals, which are integral to the fabric of the first two albums and completely absent after that. In the debut, the vocals are more layered, but occasionally sound out of tune. The guitar sound is much more aggressive in the first 2 albums as well. It seems that Kido Natsuki has directed his more distorted playing that we find in this album toward his power trio, Korekyojin. The album also differs from the traditional Zeuhl sound in that it lacks the prevailing darkness heard in the likes of Magma, Ruins and Koenjihyakei. The 2nd album would display this darkness with a very punky flavor. This album is electric and modern with textures of Eastern and traditional Japanese music. The traditional Japanese influence is well demonstrated in the very percussive opener, Holy Roller. My personal favorite from the album, as well as one of my 5 favorite Bondage Fruit songs, is Kinzoku no Taiji. The song is a Progressive tour de force, with a smash mouth slamming intro and verse.

Final Score: This is an excellent album, highly recommended and essential to any prog collection. This is so close to being a 5 star album, but the band seems to yet have the swagger present in the follow-up, or any of their even numbered releases. 4.2 very big stars.

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