Kabuki rock demons Seikima-II are back! In accordance with their silly mythology, the band split up on new year’s eve in 1999, claiming the world was conquered. Apparently there were more worlds to conquer, as there have been occasional reunion tours since and now there is a new album in ‘Bloodiest’, possibly the most Seikima-II album title ever. Aside from the current touring line-up, all former members of note contributed to the album as well. ‘Bloodiest’ does end up sounding like a mixtape of all eras of the band. Funny how 23 years can pass and the new album is simply just another Seikima-II album.

Not all material on ‘Bloodiest’ is brand-new. Quite a few songs appeared on singles and compilations over the last thirteen years. Especially if you get the 2-cd version, the second disc of which is literally a compilation of tracks released this century. As a whole, ‘Bloodiest’ sounds remarkably consistent though. Or at least as consistent as a genre-fluid band as Seikima-II can be. A majority of the album consists of the traditional heavy metal that dominated the band’s earliest releases and the melodic hardrock that became more prominent later on, with a few experiments thrown in a for good measure.

The first brand-new track that surfaced from the album was opening track ‘Love Letter From A Dead End’ and it kind of misrepresents the album. It’s a good hardrocker with a memorable chorus, but it sounds far more like founding guitarist Damian Hamada’s overproduced Creatures project than it does like Seikima-II. Hamada’s actual first contribution, the classy heavy metal of ‘Koryotaru Shinsekai’ is a far better track, as are the bombastic metal monsters ‘Jigoku No Kane Wo Narasunowa Omae’ and ‘The Bloodiests -Mottomo Chinamagusai Yatsura-‘. ‘Planet / The Hell’ is a fun, uncomplicated stomper, as are ‘Goblin’s Scale’ and the almost seventies Aerosmith-ish riff rocker ‘Run Run Run!’.

As per usual, the ballads don’t fare quite as well, though the hyper-melodic eighties-styled power ballad ‘Utao Odoro xxx Shiyo’ – clearly a composition by former guitarist Ace Shimizu – is fairly enjoyable. On the more experimental side of things, ‘Mighty Punch Line’ is the album’s most pleasant surprise. Guitarist Luke Takamura made an unpredictable, bombastic track that just keeps on building upon an almost tribal rhythm that drummer Raiden Yuzawa goes absolutely wild with. ‘Noroi No Shananana’ should not work as well as it does, but its big dumb eighties stadium rock fun is simply irresistible.

For collectors of all things Seikima-II, the bonus disc on the 2-cd version is not strictly essential, but for casual fans, it’s a fairly cheap way to obtain a few relatively rare tracks. Many of them are really good as well. It does not reach the peaks of the main portion of ‘Bloodiest’, but to me, the driven hardrocker ‘Heavy Duty Baby’ alone is worth it. It sounds a bit like Judas Priest in the eighties, only with a far better rhythm section. ‘Babies In Their Dreams’ is another fantastic latter-day Seikima-II song, while ‘T Ressha De Iko’ could have been one of the highlights on any of the band’s mid to late eighties albums.

‘Bloodiest’ is quite a unique reunion album, as it is neither a glorious comeback nor does it sound like a band desperately trying to be something they are not anymore. It is simply another Seikima-II album and that is probably exactly what fans of the band would want right now. While it doesn’t quite measure up to the likes of ‘Mephistopheles No Shozo’, ‘Living Legend’ or ‘The End Of The Century’, it’s hard to go wrong with Jail O’Hashi’s bluesy hardrock riffs, Luke Takamura’s more melodic guitar approach, one of the greatest rhythm sections in Japanese rock and a surprisingly good vocal performance by Demon Kakka.

Recommended tracks: ‘Koryotaru Shinsekai’, ‘Mighty Punch Line’, ‘Jigoku No Kane Wo Narasunowa Omae’

 

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