Despite featuring musicians from prominent Japanese rock bands, Daida Laida always felt more like a hobby project than a record company sanctioned supergroup. Solid, fun, but unspectacular. In a way, their sixth studio album ‘Issen’ is exactly that, but the addition of former Gargoyle guitarist Kentaro to the line-up did give the band’s songwriting a notable boost. ‘Issen’ is a combination of new material and old songs Kentaro recorded new guitar tracks for. Hearing the old and new material side to side really emphasizes the growth Daida Laida has gone through. The deluxe edition especially features some of their best material.

One thing you will have to be prepared for as a listener is that Daida Laida albums tend to sound terrible. ‘Issen’ is not mastered quite atrociously as its predecessors, but the mix is quite poor, barely transcending demo quality. Nobuo Yamada’s vocals are mixed in far too loud, while Kentaro’s guitars are too low in the mix to have the punch his parts need. This issue is exacerbated when Yamada harmonizes with himself or when Kentaro enters one of his spectacular lead duels with bass virtuoso Masaki. Fortunately, the songs this time around are good enough to stick with ‘Issen’ and enjoy it.

As a songwriter, Kentaro is allowed to flex his muscles a bit more here. From the grinding heavy metal of opener ‘Ruri Iro No Sora’ to the power metal meets J-rock of ‘Nemure Nai Yoru Ni Jikosu 1 Km No Ryusei No Energy’ to the fantastic, almost neoclassical power ballad epic ‘Tobi Iro No Tsuki’, he proves that he hasn’t forgotten how to write an excellent song. Not all highlights are from his hand, however. The driving, melodic hardrock ‘Zoge Shoku No Uso’ is an excellent Masaki composition, as is the borderline speed metal of ‘Daida Laida ~Tamashii No Uta~’. The new songs are generally better than the partially re-recorded ones, though none of them are less than enjoyable.

Why I mentioned the deluxe edition in the opening paragraph is because it contains the full album ‘Tsuzuri’, which was released digitally only in 2020, as a bonus disc. Simply put, it is the better of the two albums. The sound is more balanced and therefore better. And so are the songs. ‘Tsuzuri’ flows very pleasantly, while its blend of melodic hardrock, power metal and short burts of virtuosity plays to Daida Laida’s strengths. Especially the opening salvo of ‘Akatsuki’, ‘Shizuku’ and ‘Akashi’ is impressive, though the scorching ‘Oboro’ closes the album in style. This edition also contains a fanatastic cover of ‘Pegasus Fantasy’, which made Yamada’s band Make-Up a household name.

If this band interests you at all, do yourself a favor and pick up the deluxe edition. The main portion of the album is a reasonably good collection of new and old songs, but ‘Tsuzuri’ is without a doubt the best thing Daida Laida has released to date. And though I still think Daida Laida has more quality than comes out, maybe ‘Issen’ and ‘Tsuzuri’ are exactly what they should be: a group of established musicians just having fun making music with each other. Because if anything characterizes these albums, it would be that the joy of creating them is tangible.

Recommended tracks: ‘Tobi Iro No Tsuki, ‘Nemure Nai Yoru Ni Jikosu 1 Km No Ryusei No Energy’, ‘Oboro’, ‘Shizuki’, ‘Zoge Shoku No Uso’

 

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