JUNAOKISSEI

For me one of the most wonderful discoveries in Japanese hard rock scene!

BANDVIVIL, formed in 1993, is a three-piece outfit featuring Issei Takami, a great guitarist and the leader. The formation is indeed very simple, with a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. But their power should be bulky as of a big band, and their songs should be delightful as lots of attractions in an amusement park. We wonder how deep their inner space should be, and in spite of our wondering we can enjoy this album full of their magic.

Trust me the important point is - no suspicion that Issei's guitar is terrific - that the rhythm section, supporting the band basis, should be steady and secure. They cannot construct the eccentric but enjoyable music-style without Jun Isobe, a strict drummer, and Naoki Sawada, a funky bassist but a serious pacesetter. :-) You can do understand this fact as above mentioned by listening to their first full album. Please enjoy!

This album has two parts - one is named Vivid and another Evil. I feel the Vivid side is brighter and more pleasant than the Evil side - although I cannot say that in a wholesale.

At first...what a dramatic development and an impressive guitar play at the injection of Jemah & She! We can be very surprised and shocked with finding their unity in their variety of sound & style. Be careful not to be crushed by their madness, eccentricity and variation. Afro has a lot of varied rhythms and phrases - with lyrical guitar and elusive drum & bass sounds. Well I guess - sorry I'm not a specialist of musical theory - it might be so difficult for them to mix both sounds as above. So amazed they can do that easily and naturally. We can mention that Issei's one-man show is the next track Eat Triplet. Based on the hard, rigid, and simply-held bass & percussion, his guitar can dance and twist with flexibility. With the heavy guitar sounds he can let us palpitate wonderfully. W.P. is a spacey and gentle tune with Issei's graceful guitarsynth. And a real rock shot with wow-wow guitar and streaming rhythm section is To King Rush. All instruments can run and jump right and left, up and down. Get Up may be a loud and cool alarm clock for us...by this track we should be burned away before getting up hahhaha. The heaviest guitar sounds are in the song E.G.F. that we always wonder the title be the abbreviation of what. Whatever, how hard the song is! But be relaxed...the last track in the side Chili Mens Ballade is very smart and soft, can let us cool and melt down. Wait, Chili Mens I suggest should mean 'crepe paper' or 'boiled and dried baby sardines' ??? So, it may be enjoyable for us. :-)

Well another side of the band - it's called Evil. Seven Spices is, as the name itself says, very dry and spicy. In Japan, we cannot live without a Shichimi-Tohgarashi (seven spices), with very hot and tongueache taste and flavour. (Of course, just kidding.) In the simple rock song Abraham Bee we can realize the Oriental (not Japanese but Indo-) flavour. Issei's guitar can shout high-tone and solemn words with various looks. In the middle part, Jun's drum can get exploded violently. Cool! San-Byou-Shi is a trad song for BANDVIVIL. Going with a swing and with a laidback style, this song should have strong passion of three talented men and previous members. We can feel not an atmosphere of Evil but of 'Will' from the song. Complex guitarsynth sounds can be around the track Hane, maybe meaning wings. Like wings of a bird, this let us fly in the sky. Comfortable stuff. A short but very avantgarde tune Strange Smoke may express an eccentric rise of smoke with the ascending current. Zoo Zoo Da Juju pushes us with its repetitive phrase of guitars and percussion. They can play so freely but so seriously...it's their attractant, like a cannabis or a morphine, not an apomorphine (a nauseous stuff). Again Issei's speedy play we can enjoy in Shuffle De Go. And keep in our mind...without such a strict rhythm section, he cannot play well at all! So understand the outfit should be the 'one'. All members let us enjoy fantastically, I wanna say. The last song Zoo Zoo Da Juju (Slight Return) is also druggie...

From start to end, we can be pleased with many delights in the toy box named BANDVIVIL! Ultraremarkably recommended.

The fan with the impression called the band with the element of symphonic is a main current exists in Prog Rock of Japan. It is guessed that it corresponds as the reason at time when Prog Rock of Europe took root to some degree in Japan as a result.

However, music is an expansion of the market by the spread and the re-sale of CD. Or, there might be an influence by the strategy of the company to which the band belongs, too. The musician who was able to find the method of the expression by an original interpretation by absorbing some material and the influence from another country for circumstances of the music of Japan in recent years guesses that it is possible to advance to groping and the announcement of a high-quality music character as a result.

Japan..item..locate..band..some..exist..this..band..derive..Music..still..Japan..special..class..ent er.It might be music that can be taken no notice if it considers it from the point of the acknowledgment level including them. However, it is true to connect Prod Rock of Japan with revitalization by their existence.

It feels it in these albums of them announced in 2004 including power and an intellectual part. Recently, the technology of the performance has improved to Prog Rock of Japan compared with before. It is thought one of the bands that can tell the possibility as Trio enough with some technology and knowledge.

The band is performed by organizing the guitar, Bass, and the drum. Guitar that loves Jimi Hendrix. And, Bass that loves Percy Jones. And, it drums by love of Vinnie Colaiuta. These elements unite indeed splendidly and expand the possibility as Trio further. It is understood that the root of their music appears remarkably in this work. The listener might imagine the music of "Karizma" and Jimi in the item of Jazz Rock/Fusion if it thinks from other respects. However, the impression that shows deference to Life Time of Tony Williams by using the play of the word of "Emergency" , for example, "Jemah&She" of the first title is given to the listener. The entire composition has finished ..Music being done for devise do not end because of a simple lock though it has the flow of the blues-rock and Jazz Rock...

Japanese heavy-fusion rockers Bandvivil present a large number of ideas in their only (so far at least) two-part album Junaokissei of 2004. In total, we deal with almost 70 minutes of music based clearly on improvisation, laid through 16 tracks - which gives an average duration of less than 4.5 minutes; not bad for those looking for multiple expressions of jazz/fusion rock.

With two 'sides' (''Vivid'' and ''Evil'') but no specific change in 'concept', the 16 instrumental tracks tend to be based on a main theme which then gets stretched and elongated via continuous improvisation. A good description of their sound could be a type of free jazz-fusion tuned to heavy progressive forms for the majority of the album. There are exceptions here where they base their main ideas either on purely blues (Eat Triplet) or jazz-blues (San-Byou-Shi). Dominant is the use of semi-distorted guitars with harmonies and methodologies reminding strongly of Rush (not surprisingly, there is a track called To King Rush); this, with the addition of rocking rhythms constitute a considerable percentage of the tracks here, which, nevertheless, maintain a strong heavy fusion character, rightly put into this sub-genre of Progarchives.

The band does not lack ideas and technical prowess but the relentless improvisation along with the very long duration of the album does not give justice to their efforts and may tire the demanding listener, rendering this a good album with some exciting highlights, rather than a cohesive all-around top-level result. For those who like their jazz-rock fusion extended, full of experimentation and certainly on heavy rock/heavy prog foundations, then Junaokissei is for you - as a guide I would suggest the highlights Afro, Seven Spices and Zoo Zoo Da Juju.