腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座

Imperial Circus Dead Decadence is quite a band alright, quite a band indeed. I first found them in 2019, back when I didn't like metal. So of course ICDD is the band that got me into metal, and of course that means I have a lot of love for this band. The track I originally heard was called "黄泉より聴こゆ、皇国の燈と焔の少女" (Rolls right off the tongue indeed!). After hearing that I had to check out more of their work, and of COURSE it was amazing.

Alright do like Fleshgod Apocalypse? Undead Corporation Doujin Works? Well if you said to yes to either of those questions, then I’ve got some news. ICDD is basically the perfect fusion of those two bands. Like I’ve never seen such a perfect combination of symphonic elements and melody. The only time I’ve ever seen it be done better is on ICDD’s other albums. They are literally the only ones that can outdo themselves.

When it comes to the symphonic elements, they are perfect. Everything about them is so well written and I genuinely cannot think of a single thing to add to them. There’s a point in the song “ 腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座。” that has a slow depressive piano, mixed with the choir in the background, and it’s so perfect. Everything about it is so damn amazing and I love it so much. My favorite track “ 精神ノ乖離ノ、叫ビト嘆キ。” has some of the coolest violin playing I’ve ever heard in a metal track (Also, I know metal archives says this track is a cover of a song by “L.G.C.”, but I tried my hardest and I literally could not find the original song so I’m treating as an original song purely because I can’t find whatever song this is a cover of). Also, there is this slow EDM part halfway through the song, and it is so damn cool. I’m sure it would be way cooler if I could understand Japanese, but this review is already an 100% so it doesn’t even matter!

The vocals on this EP are so crazy. Like literally Will Ramos level shit. The clean vocals are also insane as well. The crazy vocals bullshit right before the clean singing chorus on “ 嚮導 Bring + 瞳 Eyes = 死 Death + 齎 Invite” are so awesome. The only thing cooler then the vocals are the guitarists, and they can shred alright. But this album isn’t nothing but shredding, it’s got a lot of melody paired with the speed. Like the chorus on “ 精神ノ乖離ノ、叫ビト嘆キ。” had me googling guitar tabs so I could dissect all the bullshit they were doing on their instruments.

Overall, I’d like melodic death metal or symphonic death metal, you HAVE to check out this EP it’s so amazing and if I were to buy together a list of the top 30 greatest metal EPs of all time, there is no doubt in my mind that I would include this EP. I mean It’s just so good. But like all music, you’re gonna need to hear it first before you can truly appreciate it. So I’d highly recommend checking out this EP and all of ICDD’s other works!

Rating: 100%

Favorite track: 精神ノ乖離ノ、叫ビト嘆キ。

For those who are unfamiliar, Imperial Circus Dead Decadence are a seven-piece symphonic melodic death metal band from Fukuoka, Japan that gained quite a bit of fame back in 2011 with the release of their second full-length album which expertly combined melodic death metal along with a variety of other genres including power, black, and symphonic metal. Due to this, the album became somewhat of a modern classic in the Japanese extreme metal scene. Aside from a short EP released in 2014, ICDD haven’t been up to too much and, as a result, many people were eagerly awaiting a follow up to their second full length. Luckily for us, the band ended up releasing 腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座。 on December 31st, 2016. This ended up being an EP with a very similar to the sound of the second album that shows the band progressing their sound even further into theatrical anime themed melodic death metal that they have already mastered.

While the EP technically has five tracks, the last two are just symphonic variants of two of the tracks present on the album and, as a result, I will not be mentioning them again in the review. They are just a cool bonus at the end of the EP and nothing more. As a result, the EP is really only 17 minutes long. Despite this, 腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座。 is a clear example of quality over quantity.

As the first track, “腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座。” begins, the trademark ICDD sound can be heard as an exceptional melodic tremolo picked riff plays alongside epic sounding synths before the song flies into rapid fire blast beats. It is at this point that vocalist Rib:y(uhki) lets out an excellent shriek followed by spoken word narration and an absolutely superb melodic death metal riff similar to something At the Gates would play. As the song continues, Rib:y(uhki) alternates rapidly between death growls, high pitched shrieks, and clean singing similar to that of a power metal band as the guitarists alternate between superb melodic death and black metal riffs in the background. While all this is occurring, the riffs are backed up by melodic symphonic keyboards. This seven minute album opener perfectly sets the tone for the two tracks to follow and shows that ICDD are still a force to be reckoned with in the Japanese metal scene.

As one could guess by that description, ICDD have exceptional musicianship across the board. As I mentioned in the beginning, the band is currently made up of seven members. Rib:y(uhki) handles most of the vocals including the choirs and narration, along with the bass and some of the guitars on the album. His vocals, in my opinion, are some of the best in the extreme metal genre. He has a tendency to alternate between high pitched shrieks and devastating low growls that complement the rest of the music perfectly. His clean singing is also absolutely stellar, sounding like a cross between a power metal vocalist and a vocalist in an energetic anime opening song. While I have no idea what he is saying, his narration also adds a lot of character to the music and builds its theatrical atmosphere. The other vocals on the album are handled by Kimi from the Japanese metalcore band Bridear who, obviously, handles all of the female cleans on the album. A new member by the name of Hellnear is said to have performed some of the vocals on the album, but no other information is given. Kimi’s vocals, like with the past two ICDD releases are superb and also give off a similar power metal/anime vibe akin to Rib:y(uhki)’s vocals, adding character to the music. If I was to guess about Hellnear, I would say he is likely responsible for the pig squeal type vocals that briefly show up a few times on the album to add to the rapidly alternating vocals of Rib:y(uhki). For fans of these kinds of vocals they sound great and add to the fun, but for people that think they are annoying, don’t worry, they are not used very much at all.

As far as instrumentation goes, there are actually four guitarists credited on 腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座。, but based on the fact that only two can be heard at one time and that Hull is also the keyboardist while Rib:y(uhki) is the vocalist, it is obviously an album written for two guitarists. These two guitarists are Kim and 飯塚悠人, who is a new member. All of the guitar work on the album is absolutely stellar and incorporates a variety of different metal subgenres. Most of the riffs walk the line between melodic death metal and melodic black metal like I mentioned before, but there are also several riffs that incorporate traditional death metal and even a little bit of metalcore/deathcore at a few points. While there is a bass on the album, it is buried so deep in the dense theatrical sound that it is not worth talking about. Lastly, there is the drumming which is all you would want in an extreme metal album. The drumming is handled by yet another new member, 修平, who excellently performs blast beats and double bass the entire album.

It may seem a bit absurd to go on and on about an EP with three songs, but the music on 腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座。 is just that good. This is a release for just about any metal fan due to the wide array of genres incorporated into this bands sound. I would highly recommend this EP along with the band’s second full length to any metal fans into melodic death, power, or symphonic metal.

Originally written for www.sputnikmusic.com under my alternate username.

Have you ever come across a combination that seems too surreal to actually be true, that seems too perfect to actually exist? Well, that is my thought on the band known as "Imperial Circus Dead Decadence," (ICDD for short) the only combination of symphonic death metal and Japanese lyrics found in the Metal Archives and one of the most amazing things I have had the pleasure to witness.

This EP is very much like the previous one both in musical and structural style, containing three songs and the orchestral version of two of them. The songs themselves are incredibly varied in style and extremely energetic, swiftly changing from one musical style to the other without feeling forced and still ticking many boxes: Gothic metal, power metal, death metal, even some brutal death metal and all that with symphonic backing creating a full, almost overwhelming sound.

A key element of ICDD's style are the different vocal styles. There is growling, screaming, some brutal death metal style pig squeals, "normal" singing, narration and even a short rap part on the third track. As mentioned before, the lyrics are entirely in Japanese which might put off some diehard metal fans who are used to English lyrics, however, in the musical context of this band it only feels natural, especially since a lot of metal lyrics nowadays do not rhyme, which just so happens to be common in Japanese poetry which is more about rhythmic language. What I want to say is: It doesn't feel as strange as you might think it would.

As is common with symphonic metal, there is an abundance of instruments besides the guitars, bass, and drums. The symphonic tracks use trombones, trumpets (maybe also horns, I'm no expert), strings, choirs, a piano and a variety of timpani. These are, of course, mostly synthesized, however, that is only really noticeable with the trumpets. Especially when listening to the standard version of the song and not the orchestral version it does not sound too different from an actual orchestra.

For as bombastic as the orchestral support is the guitar riffs are rather unspectacular, as in no technical death metal levels of complexity, and they play second fiddle to the vocals most of the time. That doesn't make the songs any less exciting as they live from the combination of symphonic and metal instruments and not the isolation of either. On the other hand, there are some cool solos.

The drumming has been described by a friend of mine as "a little too mechanical." Personally, I am more impressed how perfectly the high-speed drumming is matched with the other instruments. Most of it is done in blast beats making it feel a bit more like death metal than power metal even in the parts with clean vocals. It is, like with the guitars, by far not the most spectacular or mindblowing demonstration of skill I have ever seen but it fits just perfectly into the composition. It never feels off.

In conclusion, the best word to describe this EP and this band, in general, is "Japanese." For me, as a fan of Anime and Japanese culture, it is the perfect merge with metal. For a more conventional metalhead than I, it will most likely be way too exotic.