Here's a new one from TM Revolution! And boy, no expense was spared on this one. Uh, yeah. I'm mean that pool of water must have been pretty pricey. And not one, but two drums! Hmm...well OK, there are some cool CG effects, but other than that, it's really just a lot of black and Mr. TM waving his arms around in front of his face a lot. I'm not even sure the song is all that hot. Definitely fast and full of energy, but not super catchy. Aw well, just sit back and gaze upon his splendor, I guess?
It's been a long wait for fans of the newly formed Abingdon Boys School. The first ABS release was the opening song to the D.Gray-Man anime series in late 2006. They released a series of singles that were also featured in a number of television shows and movies. Their live appearances have been even more few and far between, with only two of note, their debut in November 2005, and again at Live Earth in 2007.
It's been almost two years since the world first heard of the band formed by formerly solo act Takanori Nishikawa (aka TM Revolution.) The album is finally here. Was it worth that wait?
The easy answer is yes, absolutely.
It might be easy for a music elitist (*ahem*) to look at the band as just another boy-band tarted up in heavy makeup and pretty clothes, propped up in front of fake instruments and told to make pretend they are rock stars. This certainly isn't the case. At least not entirely.
Front man Nishikawa, while inarguably a phenomenal vocalist, is just that, the pretty looking voice. The main songwriter and man behind the curtain is Toshiyuki Kishi, the keyboardist and programmer. As I point out on my profile on the band, he's always been the man with the plan, and it would seem as though ABS is more of an excuse to get Kishi on stage and in front of the cameras than it is a chance for Nishikawa to earn his rock and roll cred.
This argument loses steam once you hear the music. It is far more than one member or the other showing off while the band simply backs him up. ABS is first and foremost a band full of excellent musicians. Every song is full of layers, changes and unexpected flourishes, things that you will never find in a factory-pressed pop band. Sure, the production is slick to say the least, but the songs manage to break out of their overly compressed and normalized confines and offer up not only stunning sounds, but an impressive set of balls.
"As One" starts the album off on a bit of a low note considering what lies in wait later on in the track list. I'll note right now that the one major failing of the album is that every song, sonicly speaking, sounds exactly the same. Namely, really fucking loud and in your face with everything sitting at just about the same volume, full of the aforementioned sparkle and gloss. "As One" simply sets the stage, lumbering through its soaring chorus and wall of guitars and record scratching.
The first of the early singles follows this. "Howling" is the quintessential ABS song, and probably the stand out track. It manages to secretly sneak in some rather wicked heavy metal riffs under the glossy veneer, and Nishikawa gets the chance to show off his slightly angry side. They somehow manage to present what might otherwise be a simple rock song in a way that not only makes it more epic and soaring, but also darker and more complex than anything you'd hear on a rock or pop radio station. All without going too far in either direction to scare off the pop girls or the metal dudes.
Howling
"Via Dolorosa" is all about Nishikawa. It's a slower song, just about as close to a ballad as ABS gets. It's still full of grinding guitars and huge drums, but it leaves plenty of space for him to stretch his range to new and rather impressive heights.
Things pick up again with "Innocent Sorrow" and "Down to You." Both of these are your standard driving rock tracks. They both highlight what I can only think of as a late '80s/early '90s power metal mentality. They are very melodic and guitar driven, yet they have that over the top pop metal quality. While Skidd Row and Whitsnake may have taken into unbearably poofy hair swaying directions, ABS sticks to the basics and simply belts out their massive riffs with nothing but power.
Innocent Sorrow
"Athena" is the first truly pop track on the album. It chooses a driving disco-like beat as its foundation, ala Base Ball Bear or UVERworld. This is pure radio candy, very upbeat and straight-forward. The piano lines and squealing guitars are also very Gackt-like, and I can see this one being played live while either rain or multi-colored streamers fall from the ceiling. Also, a lot of back-to-back guitar playing. Perhaps shirtless?
"Stay Away" opens the second half of the album, again with a very upbeat feel. This one feels rather weak and shallow after the unrelenting sonic feast preceding it. Even before the album was released I felt that this was their weakest song, and that would seem to be the case on the album as well.
Well, OK, mabye that award should go to "Nephilim." It's another of their (trademark?) ballads that's too loud to really be a ballad. The chorus is certainly epic and full of energy and drive, but overall the song feels too much like your average girl getter. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Nephilim
OK, now is the time when I have to piss off the fans boys and girls out there. Previous to the album, "Lost Reason" was a decent track, a bit in the "filler" category, but still full of that certain ABS-ness. This album version, however, is a horrible fucking mess. For some reason thay saw fit to add some dude (MICRO) rapping over anything that Nishikawa isn't singing on. Any pause and MICRO is in there jibbering away. Then, for some godforsaken reason, the song drops out and a new break is added where this goon raps for a while. Not only does this utterly destroy the flow of the song (ironic!), but it serves absolutely no purpose. It's possibly even worse than what KanYe West did with that Daft Punk song. Well, OK, maybe not that bad. Nevertheless, what has been done to this once good song is not only baffling, but unforgivable. I have already deleted it from album folder and inserted the correct, first draft of the song in its place. Let's never speak of this again.
Moving on.
"Desire" moves things into a decidedly more electro direction with stuttering drum samples and squeltchy synths arpeggiating away ala Boom Boom Satellites. While the song is certainly frenetic to say the least, it's perhaps a bit too chaotic. It's the obvious "let's use this one to play twenty minute guitar and drum solos live" song. It's not so much a song as it is a music bed.
Now, "Dress" is a bit of a mixed bag as well. First off, it's a cover of one of my favorite Buck-Tick songs. No one can compare to the voice of Atsushi Sakurai, so it already has one strike both for and against it. The music, however, is a clear improvement, at least if you've enjoyed any of the previous songs. Yes, once again it lacks any dynamics, running at full steam from the beginning to the end. Yet ABS does add a ton of darkness and a sort of powerful dominance that the original lacks. It's gone from a simple, soft, almost delicate song to something much more brooding and, to use that word again, epic. While Nishikawa may not be able to convey Atsushi's inherent and seemingly limitless supply of raw goth, the band certainly picks up the slack.
The final track "ReBirth + ReVerse" is just a chance for Kishi to strut his stuff unencumbered by the band. This certainly supports my "producer turned rock star" theory. It's a straight up electro dance track, with the thumping kick and echoing piano parts, surrounded by clanging industrial drums. While it is inoffensive in and of itself, it is totally out of place with the rest of the album. Why they chose to include this aimless song and not the far superior b-side "Nervous Breakdown" I guess we'll never know. It's a clumsy end to an otherwise cohesive (well, except for "Lost Reason." Damnit! I said I would never mention it again!) album.
Nervous Breakdown
Obviously, I am a big fan of Abingdon Boys School. While I don't think I could handle listening to this album more than once at a time due to its ear tiring production, it is certainly one that will get a lot of play. It has its faults, some of which are almost enough for me to question my very existence, let alone the sanity of whoever makes the decisions for the band, but those faults are easily deleted or replaced with other options. Overall, it's a triumph of musical alchemy, of mixing pop with rock and metal and truly epic structures without having the entire tower come falling down into a big messy heap.
Abingdon Boys School is something of a super-group, though that might not be immediately apparent. Their front-man is none other than the platform dancing/silly arm waving Takanori Nishikawa, aka T.M. Revolution. Most J-pop fans already know all about him (for reasons why, see: T.M. Revolution), but what about the other strapping (not so) young lads in the band?
Sunao, the phenomenal lead guitar player, is also a member of and writer for T.M. Revolution's solo work. Shibasaki Hiroshi, rhythm guitar, was in a band called WANDS (think New Kids On The Block with guitars) before leaving to form al.ni.co, a sort of arty grunge band. Ikuo (bass) is a member of Cube Ray, as is drummer Kozy Hasegawa. Hasegawa has played in a few other bands like Out Of Order, Admucho Family Band and The Esper, and that’s just the beginning. In short, this guy is a tireless and prolific drummer.
The real brains and brawn behind the band seems to come from the keyboard/turntable/laptop/programming guru Toshiyuki Nishi. Also known as TKO, he has worked with and produced or arranged music for a huge number of artists like The Alfee, Tomoyasu Hotei, Tomovsky, Tetsu69, J and of course T.M. Revolution. He's also performed live with Pizzacato Five and Tetsu 69 among others. Trolling though his site and reading over the lists is rather exhausting.
All of this diverse talent leads to some equally extraordinary music. Their first self-titled album is consistently thick with layers of detail, while at the same time providing plenty of balls-out rock. Even the slower tracks "Nephilim" and "Lost Reason" bring a huge lumbering metal machine to back them up. In fact it's usually Takanori who manages to keep the band from falling off the tracks into territory that may be too dark for a wider audience. His clear and pretty voice calms the otherwise savage riffs. It's a testimony to the quality of the other band members that Takanori is often the weakest link. He is a great vocalist in his own right, but his hard-rock shortcomings are really brought to light in their cover of Buck-Tick's "Dress." While the song reaches new heights of awesomeness due to the massive sonic assault, there really is nothing that compares to Atsushi Sakurai's god-like vocal prowess.
Their music is everywhere. From NANA ("Stay Away"), to the Death Note movie tribute album ("Fre@K $HoW"), Buck-Tick tribute album ("Dress"), to various anime shows like Darker Than Black ("Howling"), D. Gray Man ("Innocent Sorrow") and also video games like the PS3 FolksSoul (“Nephilim”). Ever single has been used as part of another major work. With this much coverage and mainstream acceptance, I expect absolutely huge success for Abingdon Boys School.
Takanori Makes Revolution is the solo work of Takanori Nishikawa. His style is decidedly electronic/dance oriented, with the usual batch of ballads peppered with high energy, trance-like like songs. He was closely tied to the Gundam SEED series, not only providing some music but actually voicing the character of Miguel Aiman. In Gundam SEED Destiny he even had a character modeled after him, Heine Westenfluss. In addition to being both a stage and television actor, he has gone on to form a for-reals band called Abingdon Boys School. While maintaining the energy of T.M.'s early music, ABS is a much more rock oriented band that has yet to release a full album.
Madan ~Der Freischutz~
This is one of my favorite videos ever. I love the elbow rocket!
Invoke
My favorite TM song, and the first one I ever heard. It's also used as the Gundam Seed OP.
J-Pop and J-Rock are only the beginning. The modern Japanese music scene is just as vibrant and varied as any other music scene in the world. I'm Zac Bentz, writer, musician, designer and all around Japanese music fanatic. Here I hope to share with you a comprehensive (!!) list of Japanese artists and bands (with a strong focus on underground and indie acts) that you may or may not have heard of, in the hopes of expanding our mutual awareness of Japanese music.
I don't mean to suggest that everything I listen to is great. Quite the contrary, I hope that you will take the time to recommend your own favorite artists in the comments so that we can all learn a bit more about the huge range of Japanese music that's out there.
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