Outward Resonance

Twenty-five years ago, I went through a phase in which my metal listening habits followed a more stringent mindset. If a band's vocalist sang cleanly and skillfully and the man handling the percussion didn't treat his drumkit like a rocket-fueled Whack-A-Mole game, then they sucked. Also, if the album cover didn't resemble some image from AD&D's Tomb of Horrors module or a nightmare alien landscape, then I couldn't even be bothered to find out if they sucked or not. Now I'm about to heap generous portions of praise upon an album featuring a young anime girl dancing in the clouds alongside mechanical doves, and metal music that's so melodic and uplifting that I'm practically pissing rainbows after each listen. I feel like I should be gazing at the bathroom mirror and asking myself "what the fuck happened to me?"

Soaring, airy, metallic, energetic, pretty, kawaii and racing upwards, Octaviagrace match the cover illustration with an outstanding array of songs that equally impress melodically and on a technical level, assuming you dig happy shit sometimes in your life. The primary basis for these tracks is the Japanese pop melodies, sprightly and brimming with relentless consonance, but holy mother of Joseph does this band invigorate the framework like adorning a dinghy with a torpedo launcher. For starters, the complexity levels may not be immediately apparent due to the general exuberant vibes and earworm catchiness of just about every tune here, but listen for a bit and the technical insanity will eventually reveal itself. There's bass-work here that's so animated and elaborate that it could shame most guitar shredders, and yet it's never intrusive or slap-happy. Shit, Youske even gets to throw in some jaw-dropping bass solos on occasion that somehow fit perfectly within the tunes themselves, instead of being some sideshow irritant. The drumming is no joke either, as Ko-ichi follows the Christian Vander school of how to make a basic 4/4 time signature resound as unusually complex and abstruse. His deft touch and jazzy mastery can turn a straightforward double-bass speedy power metal tempo like that which dominates "リベリオン" into a rhythmic marvel with enough flair to incite even the most uptight and stuffy of Berklee professors to crack just a bit of an approving smile.

The only members who keep the difficulty level reigned in a bit are the keyboardist and singer, which is in a sense a plus since the songs are able to shine like pleasant gems rather than sugary garish madness that renders an over-the-top act like Cross Vein a challenge to the ears and teeth. There’s certainly some keyboard soloing to counteract the guitar shredding, but for the most part the guy doesn't try to overwhelm things with perpetual chiming wankery, allowing the songs to breathe while still spicing things up with an extra layer of beauty. Vocalist Mikity may not possess the seismic force of Light Bringer's wailer or the sensuous croon gracing Tears of Tragedy's frontwoman, but she charms well enough with a sweet-natured tone that's not too chirpy. If nothing else, she's a perfect match for the music in establishing a positive euphoric vibe without transforming the songs into fist-pumping battle-cries to engage in global warfare against everything in sight. Her performance is also a vast improvement from the band's debut EP which was hampered by her occasional off-putting bum notes.

Outward Resonance is rife with Jpop sensibilities enhanced by virtuosity exhibitions of prog, jazz and classical influences, but it's guitarist Hanako that provides the "metal", and fuck me she is unquestionably a lethal weapon. Man, can that woman shred, and yet it's her rhythm guitar workouts that blow my mind even more. The melodic interplay between her and the bassist fills out the band’s sound to dizzying degrees without sacrificing the sort of catchy hooks you would expect out of power-pop. The guitar tone is warm yet awash with crunchy distortion and the riffs she churns out over this landscape of optimistic pleasantry are as metal as a swarm of robotic birds clawing off the faces of the unbelievers with steel talons, or something like that. If it was the premature breakup of the all-girl band Albion that led her to Octaviagrace, then I can live with that since she's a damn queen of metal and deserves to be heard and hailed. I grovel before Her Highness.

The songs themselves provide a nice level of variety without ever slowing things down into power-ballad territory, with the progressive and jazzy twists adding to the scope of the album's vision. "Cope of Midnight" is a perfect example, as this song is full-on "swing-metal", jumping, jiving and wailing like it's 1998 and yet unlike all those cherry poppin' dumbfucks back then, this shit is actually really good! "Naked Bird", hopefully not a reference to the next chapter concerning the continuing saga on the cover sleeve, really brings out their progressive tendencies, reminding me a bit of Light Bringer during their Genesis era without aping it. There's also some prime speedsters to remind folks that this gang loves their metal despite not sounding like Regurgitated Assfuck or Iron Steel.

So yes, despite self-reflection and contemplation as to my evolving personal tastes in metal, I can't help but conclude that this is one of the best releases of 2016, as everything from the production to the songwriting is exactly what I was hoping for, and Octaviagrace delivered. It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that I'm smitten by this since I've been on the J-metal bandwagon for quite a while now, but this one really pushes all those buttons that detractors parrot on about, like all that kawaii overkill and the question as to whether metal can be pretty and cuddle-worthy, so I had to step back a bit and ponder. The more I thought about it though, I could see my much younger self not being turned off by a release like this since the insane level of musicianship involved alone might have won me over. Plus, you know, there's a couple of Japanese girls in the band. Yay for raging young hormones.