HAKOOTOKO

Japanese band Kinzokuebisu was formed in mid-90'd by high school students guitarist/keyboardist/singer Daichi Takagi and drummer Kenta Asanuma, forming a stable line-up with Takehiro Kojima on bass and keyboardist/singer Makiko Kusunoki.They performed live in a very theatrical way inspired by GENESIS and released their debut ''Hakootoko'' independently in 2002,based on a fantasy novel written by Kobe Aba.The band split up soon afterwards but the album was re-issued the next year by Vital Records, a sub-label of Japanese label Poseidon.

The album features two long tracks simply entitled ''Hakootoko pt.1'' (31 min.) and ''Hakootoko pt.2'' (23 min.), divided in 8 and 6 movements respectively.The style of the band is quite retro-sounding with a strong vintage breeze, led by influences drawn out of GENESIS' and KING CRIMSON's music.The musicianship is based on heavy Japanese vocals, melodic moog/minimoog solos, powerful guitar lines and an overdose of Mellotron in a dark mood, not unlike ANEKDOTEN.The Classical inspirations meet the KING CRIMSON-ian dissonances in a very demanding style, where atmosphere and complexity play equal roles.The vocals though are a bit of a failure with the singers trying to be too expressive, but ending up to be closer to hilarious.Fortunately the arrangements are great and overcome the lyrical moments of the album, with the band alternating from dark disharmonic explorations with trully heavy bass lines, mellotron/piano on the forefront and FRIPP-ian guitars to sensitive Symphonic Rock with fantastic work on keyboards and guitars.

The combination of the two styles is not always conveincing, but ''Hakootoko'' has its good moments, especially in the longer movements, and comes recommended to all fans of Retro-Prog or Classic 70's Progressive Rock.