Time Tells No Lies / Over the Rainbow

If you listen to any Japanese metal band you ought to know of Sabbat, one of the country's longest standing band as well as most praised, achieving a cult status with some of the most devout die-hard fans around. And then you may also know of Gezol's Metalucifer, the heavy metal counterpart to Sabbat. But what you may not know, is about Gezol's brother Samm occupying the drumming duties since the first of the early eps to the last, The Seven Deadly Sins. And what you may know even less, is that after leaving his big brother's - only an almost implied assumption - band, he went on to join the very good thrash metal band Sacrifice. Upon leaving the band, he again went on to form his own, Magnesium, to play heavy metal - and pretty much went through all instruments - with the now new, since 2007, Sabbat guitarist, Satoshi Ishida, or better known as Ishidamien in his new other band. Magnesium released their only demo, Buried Alive, two years after their inception and then contributed two tracks for two splits - one track per split - the later 8 years after the former. So their most recent release - omitting the live albums - in their very small discography is their single Time tells no lies/Over the Rainbow which was released in 2006, 10 years after the big majority of their material saw the light of day.

Without any expectation and as only knowledge what has been passed unto you, I ended up owning their 7" single after being convinced by some friendly recommendation. Musically it's something rather mid-paced, not too dissimilar to what Judas Priest would write as far as rhythm riffs and occasional short leads go, the main ones having a more Maiden-y melodic quality but with a quite different emotion to them, something more nostalgic. Same thing for the solos, and frankly, these are pretty damn solid, with the guitars exchanging leads, their presence being as important as with Metalucifer. So side A is "Time tells no lies", and frankly, I was hooked the moment that super duper awesome catchy main lead started after a brief introducing lead. At some point I got it stuck in my head for days when I listened to the song an unhealthy amount of times. After some repetitions you notice the drums kick in for enough time before the verse starts to make you want to air-drum or headbang to that energic and enthusiastic cymbal/snare beat. The lively drumming continues with a different beat and you then immediately notice the strong Japanese accent of Samm himself. The vocals are your standard controlled, as in not high-pitched or particularly loud, heavy metal ones but with the particularity I just stated, no Rob Halford here but neither is this something that detracts from the songs, they're "interesting" but in a good way - satisfying. Then you may again notice once again Samm's great drumming when the main lead kicks back with his cool snare galloping trick, trrrlt - trrrlt, used only once or twice to great effect. And he knows how to play drum build-ups for leading and soloing middle-track parts too. He plays simple beats, but it's the spirit and effectiveness, simpler beats may be among the best out there too, that makes it so good. And about the build-up, there really is a tight relationship between the drums and guitars, it's as if they were written hand in hand. Side A is definitely the highlight for me, but "Over the Rainbow" is still not far under it with a bunchload of other exchanging leads and more melodic dual ones, but slower this time, there's nothing particularly worth of mention concerning both songs compared to each other except the main lead along the drumming accompanying it during "Time tells no lies" to be the best thing of this single.

So all in all it's a killer single, its biggest flaw being just that; it's only one of these shortass singles. And it's not like it's two tracks from an upcoming or already released album, this has been exclusive material to this 7" for 4 years and growing strong now, and their longest studio release beside their demo. Samm really rivals with Gezol as far as heavy metal goes and it's a shame he seems to live in his brother's shadow, strange thing as I'd expect him to get more exposure exactly because of his brother being a cult personality in metal circles. So here's hoping they actually get to record an album sometime as it would probably become as "modern" heavy metal classic, wait - Ishidamien's still touring with Sabbat and recording a new album. While I have nothing but respect for Sabbat's drummer Zorugelion, such killer release makes me wish both Tachi brothers would unite under the same logo once more and share songwriting duties.