Possibly the longest-running active rock band in Japan, The Alfee managed to maintain a sizeable portion of its popularity by simultaneously staying true to their core sound and developing along with the changing trends of the rock landscape. Despite starting out as Japan’s answer to the American folk rock scene of the 1960’s, The Alfee’s unlikely, yet surprisingly listenable blend of American folk, new wave, bombastic hard rock and progressive touches has remained instantly recognizable, with only certain productional traits dating some of their albums. ‘Arcadia’ is the sound of The Alfee evolving into the nineties with their most satisfying album to date.

If you need a western reference, imagine a mix of equal parts ‘Innuendo’ era Queen and the earthy rock tones that Robert Plant was going for circa ‘Now and Zen’. There are still distinct touches of the eighties here – ‘Rainbow in the Rain’ in particular has a notable new wave flavor – but ‘Arcadia’ sounds notbaly drier and more grounded than its predecessors. This somehow has not gone at the exepense of the the band’s uniquely Japanese sense of bombast. The arrangements on ‘Arcadia’ are fairly dense and theatrical, with impeccable vocal harmonies and carefully layered instruments defining the sound of the album.

Maybe the song material boosted the band’s confidence in such a productional approach, as ‘Arcadia’ is quite likely the most consistent set of songs The Alfee has released to this day. The opening title track brilliantly sets the tone. An epic, bombastic heavy metal song showing listeners that the band is adapting to changing times in the music scene – parts of the percussion in the intro could even be considered semi-industrial – but they are still cranking out powerful melodic hardrockers. The likes of ‘Funky Dog!’ and ‘My Best Friend’ could even have been on their eighties albums with a more glossy production.

Occasionally, The Alfee veers into speed metal territory and the aggressive ‘Count Down 1999’ is a prime example of that. ‘Shadow of Kingdom’ has a notable metallic edge as well, but especially stands out due to its gorgeous melancholic atmosphere. The multi-faceted, fairly unexpected songwriting of ‘Eurasian Rhapsody’ is one of the biggest surprises on the album, while the propulsive ‘Masquerade Love’ has a delightfully nervous vibe that makes it quite unique within The Alfee’s discography. The stripped-down ‘Ryūsa no Yō ni’ is my favorite of the ballads, as it strongly focuses on the power of the band’s acoustic guitars and trademark vocal harmonies.

While the sequencing on ‘Arcadia’ isn’t perfect – ‘Mind Revolution’ and ‘On the Border’ should not have been clustered at the end, as that makes the album fizzle out a bit – it still stands as the most consistent, listenable album The Alfee has ever released. Due to their multi-genre approach, their albums have a tendency to be hit and miss, but nearly everything makes sense on ‘Arcadia’. The songs are great, the performances are flawless and the production style really enhances the music. Interestingly, the album is a better representation of nineties Alfee than some of the albums that followed. It might not be the most representative album for the band, but they never sounded better.

Recommended tracks: ‘Arcadia’, ‘Shadow of Kingdom’, ‘Eurasian Rhapsody’, ‘Count Down 1999’

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Arcadia [Cardboard Sleeve] [HQCD] [Limited Release]

THE ALFEE