Hagane - Top Of The Tower - review
Hagane - Top Of The Tower - review
Tracklist
01. Top Of The Tower02. Not Lose
03. Kagome
04. Out Of The Darkness
05. Start Our Journey
06. Records Of Tsurugi
07. Over The Fate
08. Salvation
09. Catch The Star
10. With A Dream
11. Heart Scream
A review by
BitterCOld June 24, 2025
Rest assured, it is the real me.
And at first glance it's an odd choice, given my steady diet of Stoner Sludge Black Death Doom metal. One morning while nursing a monster hangover, YouTube served up a suggestion with the thumbnail of an unassuming Japanese girl standing in front of a curtain covering DragonForce. She killed it and had fun doing so, also covering some Judas Priest and other tunes. I thought "She's great, I hope to hear more from her!" I then proceeded to forget over the years as the YT algorithm buried her channel under a mountain of whatever else I watched. Flash forward until recently and it popped up under "watch again?" I did, and after it finished YT started into the next vid... “Tenkagokun” by Hagane. Four Japanese women kicked into some attention-grabbing, galloping, catchy and energetic power metal. Then when the vid panned, focusing on the guitarist...
Imagine the “Leo DiCaprio pointing” meme here.
"Holy shit! I recognize that guitar! It's her!"
In the time between me watching her cover of "Painkiller" and now:
• Hagane, which had been formed, released some singles, vids and a full-length
• Three of the five said “Sayonara!”, leaving Sakura and bassist Sakaya high and dry to pick up the pieces.
• With the band on life support, in 2024 Sakura and Sakaya recruited a new vocalist, Nagi, and force of nature, er, drummer, JUNNA, promptly writing, recording and dropping the Life Goes On! EP and making the “Tenkagoken” vid.
• And before I finished wordsmithing a review for that, they dropped another single, vid, and most recently an entire new album, Top Of The Tower
They’ve been busy.
So, finally, with my prolonged intro over, on to the actual album. Phew.
Top Of The Tower is this incarnation’s first full-length, and when compared against their prior EP, it shows a little more diversity and maturity. These ladies can play... and play fast. The EP showcased a whole lot of galloping speed, which made it a great listen, but a full-length album needs to be a little more varied if it’s going to keep someone’s attention for an hour or so. They still have a few full-throttle tunes, but mixed in some dynamic shifts within tracks, fast to slow, slow to ludicrous speed and back, and even just melodic mid-paced tunes. The songs are also framed in such a way as to better allow each of the members a chance to shine.
On the EP, with the combination of Sakura’s shredding and Junna’s relentless kit assault, Nagi’s vocals usually just flowed along before bursting forth for the choruses and, well, Sakaya’s basslines were a bit inadvertently buried under the cacophony. With Top Of The Tower, for moments of songs, Sakura holds off, Junna slows It down and we get to hear more of the vocals as well as the bassline. You can hear the difference pretty much immediately with the first actual song (and second single), “Not Lose”, about a minute in after the first hooks draw you into the song/album. Even when going full throttle, like “Start Our Journey”, the mix is set up to make the bassline more audible, and she gets a swell bass solo as a transition point in the guitar solo.
While most songs sort of follow the “Not Lose” approach, blending some 3rd- or 4th-gear speed with slower, more open and melodic bits, “Kagome” spends most of its time slithering before dropping to a dirge, followed by an adrenaline shot of musical fury before dropping back down the slither. And, in all honestly, if “With A Dream” were in English, I could see this being a radio song all the Swifties and woo-girls would flock together and sing along with. “Over The Fate” is an instrumental number, also including more keyboard usage. Variety is the spice of life.
The video game imagery on the cover is also fitting, as the flow of songs and titles feels like the overall plot structure of an old school JRPG like the 90s Final Fantasies. Intro, build up, party forms, venture forth, battles, dramatic low point and climactic battle. Hell, in the video for “Not Lose”, there’s scenes of Sakura soloing while laying on a slab of concrete and Sakaya dropping the bass in front of a long-abandoned car that both look like they could have been shot in the slums of Midgar in Final Fantasy 7.
Personal bias goggles might have been worn during the writing of this review; I can’t help but think it’s pretty freaking awesome that the talented guitarist covering other people’s work has surrounded herself with musicians of similar caliber and made the leap to writing their own tunes. It’s energetic and infectious fun.
If looking to check them out, I’d recommend you start your journey at the second most metal parking lot since “Heavy Metal Parking Lot”.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 24.06.2025 by
Written on 24.06.2025 by
BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. Comments
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I couldn't believe that you'd review a power metal album. But then I listened to it, and I understood why. I also love a backstory in a review; it makes it more personal and unique.
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Oh fuck, now it's me saying: Imagine the “Leo DiCaprio pointing” meme here. "Holy shit! I recognize that drummer". I saw a video of her also covering a Dragonforce song. Like you, I was so impressed. The girl completely destroys the drums. Well, gonna definitely listen to this one. Plus, I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan, so that helps.
---- Huddled in the safety of a pseudo silk kimono wearing bracelets of smoke, naked of understanding.
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Posts: 15359 Written by RaphaelThorne on 25.06.2025 at 20:53 Gee Anzalone rather enjoyed it when he reacted to it on the DragonForce official channel. "This is the best cover. One of the best covers. It is my favorite... apart from mine (laughs)"
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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Posts: 6696
I did indeed ask all of those same questions. I'm glad you reviewed this, though; I was curious about it when you first mentioned it and now this gives me the push I need to actually sit and listen to it. And doing so, I'm really enjoying it. It has great melodies and I definitely feel some of that video game aesthetic, but it's not too bright or sugary; I like that Nagi's voice is a little deeper and her approach is a little softer than what you'll usually find in this style, and of course instrumentally it's very impressive and expressive. As you said, there's a great variety in compositions as well; going from "Not Lose" to "Kagome" right off the bat is a whole lot of fun. Excellent single material with stuff like "Start Our Journey" and "Heart Scream". This was a cool album. Probably the most out-of-the-ordinary thing I can remember you reviewing, but also one of my favorites.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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Posts: 15359 Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 27.06.2025 at 05:57 Rather enjoyed the EP, had most of that penned when this dropped so shifted as more timely and deserving having a light shined on it beyond the YT React community.. I like my hoppy IPAs and potent Stouts, but living in Brazil taught me to enjoy fruity sours, including some of the sweet "dessert sour" variety. Hagane fits that same niche with my metal tastes, mixing in something a little sweet with all the bitter and dark. Junna was already sort of infamous as a drummer when they recruited her, but Nagi was seemingly plucked from obscurity - her YT channel (each of the band members has one predating the band reboot) still has under 3,500 subs. Wife gave me shit one night as she came out of the bedroom while I was blowing stuff up in some video game while a Nagi cover was playing... "FROZEN!?!?! ARE YOU LISTENING TO FROZEN!?!" Apparently I was, in Japanese albeit, and like I fucking know what Frozen sounds like unless it's IMMORTAL screeching about grim and frostbitten kingdoms. But yeah, she brings a bit of Disney Princess to the band, which is a perfect fit given the image they all project.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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