Well, that was a surprise. With 2024 being a fairly terrible year when it comes to major Japanese metal releases, I wasn’t expecting Matenrou Opera to be the band to save J-metal’s honor. That isn’t meant as an attack on the band, it just feels like they had been going through a fairly long identity crisis ever since guitarist Anzi left the band. ‘Mutsu no Hana’, on the other hand, sounds very confident. It is easily the most guitar-focused power metal album that Matenrou Opera released in a long time, and without a doubt their best album since their 2014 masterpiece ‘Avalon‘. Possibly ever.

For much of the past eight years, the guitarist spot in Matenrou Opera was flexible. As a result, you can really hear that the band wasn’t sure how prominent the guitars should be, and by extension, what kind of music they should make. Their previous album ‘Shinjitsu wo Shittiku Monogatari’ was actually quite good, but that did not prepare me for how good ‘Mutsu no Hana’ would be. Guitarist Yusuke Hiraga really found his place within Matenrou Opera’s music, contributing to the songwriting significantly. His powerful rhythm guitars really help set ‘Mutsu no Hana’ apart as Matenrou Opera’s most muscular album.

In terms of track sequencing, the band also wastes no time letting the listeners know. The way the album starts is actually somewhat reminiscent to how ‘Chi Kyu’ (2016) did: first, there is a short, speedy and intense track in the shape of ‘Blood’, followed by one of the heavier tracks of the album in ‘Dystopia’. The difference is that this time, the riff-based power is prolonged for a few more tracks. ‘Ruthless’ vaguely reminds me of ‘Burning Soul’ in how the guitars and keyboards interact, while ‘Taboo’ is a bit more melodic, but still has its fair share of bursts of speed.

Matenrou Opera hasn’t forgotten how to write a visual kei-style light power metal track either. ‘Koko Kara wa Todoka Nai Anata He’, ‘Suigyoku no Waltz’, ‘Yami wo Hamu’ and especially the somewhat more modern, but supremely melodic ‘Incessant Snow’ prove that singer and main songwriter Sono is still a master of his craft. Even the ballad ‘Ai wo Shiri Takatta Osanaki Hibi yo’ is surprisingly good, with Sono truly capturing profound sadness in his performance. The following ‘Yoake ha Yuki to Tomo ni’ finds a strong middle ground between power ballad and melodic power metal. ‘Apocalypse’, on the other hand, is an intense instrumental that sounds like it could have had vocals on it.

Ultimately, my only minor gripe with ‘Mutsu no Hana’ is that the last two tracks are a little too upbeat for my taste, though they are quite good, and the closing title track is likely to please fans of late eighties Helloween or very early Angra. Apart from that, ‘Mutsu no Hana’ is far better than I expected Matenrou Opera to be at this point in its career. Beefing up the guitars a bit was exactly what the band needed to have its current line-up reach its full potential. Fans of melodic power metal anywhere in the world should give ‘Mutsu no Hana’ a chance.

Recommended tracks: ‘Incessant Snow’, ‘Blood’, ‘Yoake ha Yuki to Tomo ni’

Order ‘Mutsu no Hana’ from nearly anywhere in the world at CD Japan below: