Black Sanctuary

Shadow Kingdom Records is fast becoming one of my favorite record labels. Like Stormspell Records, Shadow Kingdom has a knack for finding obscure yet absolutely fucking incredible old-school metal, and Genocide (or Genocide Nippon if you will) is certainly no exception. While these guys (who have been around for over 30 years!) are probably the most polarizing of SK's reissues, I find this style of metal so absolutely killer. The reissue includes a new metal as FUCK album cover (with the original cover on the inside as well, so you can choose which you want), some cryptic, totally Engrish liner notes, and translations for the band's mostly Japanese lyrics. Additionally, you get a bonus disc with demos of most of the actual songs from the album, which is a very, very nice addition, but I will get to the "why" of that later. This is the band's only full length album, which is a shame, but on the other hand it is a style that takes quite a bit of getting used to. At their base level these guys are a slightly doomy old school heavy metal band with longish songs, heavy guitars, pounding drums, etc.

So what is it about these guys that makes them such a strange band? Well, within the first few seconds, you'll figure it out. Toshihiro's vocals are SO HIGH and SO LOUD. Rob Halford eat your heart out. Toshihiro's like an even more manic John Stewart (not the Daily Show guy, the Slauter Xstroyes guy). If you haven't heard of SX, which you probably haven't - shame on you - another, less obscure comparison is to imagine King Diamond on meth and very Japanese, and you're close. This guy is all over the place, and while it's very intense and well done, his piercing wails can be shrill and quite annoying if you're not used to this kind of stuff. He sounds very Japanese, as should probably be expected, with weird little inflections here and there and slight warbles accenting parts here and there. "A Bullet in the Wrong Heart" is pretty indicative of his accent, and is yet another reason why a lot of people will probably hate this.

Toshihiro's vocals overpower the mix when he kicks it into high gear, and he's fairly omnipresent except in solo sections, but the rest of the band is quite audible. "Doomsday" is probably the most overbearing of his vocal performances (with those repeated, super-high "whoooOOOOAAA" falsettos all over the damn place), but I still think he's very, very good. The guitars are heavy and crunchy, slightly doomy at times, and the drums are absolutely pummelling, though not very technically inclined. Yasushi goes more for feel than technical skill, hitting the drums hard and clinically, with a minimum of fills. Hell, even the bass gets a chance to shine through here, which is always a plus. The guitarists shred with wild abandon in the solos, almost Slayerish at times, other times super melodic but still shredtacular ("A Bullet in the Wrong Heart"), and always quite good. These guys have a knack for simple, anthemic metal riffs ("Last Confusion," probably the best song on the album; that riff is so fucking metal, as well as the title track, "Midnight (Come She Will), hell, all the pure metal tracks).

However, Toshihiro isn't the only weird aspect of this album. Acoustic guitars pop in and out seemingly randomly, with a couple strangesonic curveballs, like demonic spoken word parts, and almost New Age interludes (I know, what the hell?). The mostly acoustic ballad "Landscape of Life" is also pretty lame, though as usual the solos and accompanying melodic bridge is quite cool. Plus, it's followed by the thunderous opening of the title track, which is a nice contrast. The vocals and all the aforementioned weirdness is quite clearly why these cats never got big, but damn if I'm not glad SK re-released this.

And speaking of, back to the demo I mentioned earlier. Why is it so cool to get a bonus disc that's just demos of six of the songs on the full length? Well, first it cuts out the really weird tracks - the ballad and the New Agey interlude - and secondly, the production is very different, which adds a lot to the album. It's hard to tell which version I like more, actually. While the album is crisp, with very clear vocals, the demo is raw, dirty, and mixed more evenly, meaning the vocals don't outshine everything. The guitars crunch more, and the production gives it a raw, almost thrashy vibe that really brings out the riffs. Toshihiro's vocals are more restrained (though still over the top), and it sounds like a more "normal" metal band on the demo. It's fun to play the album followed immediately by the demo and pick out differences, and they're both great.

If you like your metal with really high pitched vocals, killer riffs and solos, and an undeniably old school aesthetic, you should definitely pick this up. It may be hard to get into, but it's quite the grower. If you have bought anything from Shadow Kingdom of Stormspell records, this album is perfect for you; it's exactly what you'd expect. I have yet to hear a bad reissue from either of these labels.