Written by:	Ruchesko
Published:	December 05, 2014

Things are looking pretty good for women in metal right now. Fifteen years on from the breakthrough of symphonic metal, female vocalists have been making major in-roads into an array of subgenres: you might even say the novelty's worn off. However, away from the microphone, things aren't so rosy.

Outside the sanctuary of all-woman lineups, female guitarists are exceedingly rare in Western (and Australian) metal. As with any sweeping generalisation, there are obviously exceptions: Laura Pleasants (Kylesa), Samantha Escarbe (Virgin Black), Simone Dow (Voyager) and Lori S. Acid King to name a few. Still, the fact remains, in the West, women guitarists are in more or less the same position today that Doro Pesch and friends were in 20 odd years ago.

So, are things any different out east? Well, considering how the Japanese establishment basically told feminism to sod off back in the 1970s, you might be surprised. Far away from the saccharine horror of Babymetal's "kawaiicore", the "girls' metal" revolution is afoot.


What Came Before

Back in 1980, when the flagship all-female act Girlschool made their debut, Japan's metal scene was still very much in its infancy and pretty much devoid of women. With the arguable exception of singer Misako Honjo, things pretty much stayed that way for the remainder of the decade.

Japan's rock scene was a whole different story. By the early '80s, the scene was being swept by the "girls' rock" boom, an unprecedented explosion of all-female bands, precipitated in part by the success of The Runaways. One of these groups, Show-Ya, would give the country the closest thing it would get to a female metal guitarist until next decade. This lucky lady was Show-Ya's sole guitarist, Miki Igarashi, otherwise known as "sun-go", a nickname she adopted to distinguish herself from two bandmates also called Miki.




From their 1985 debut, Show-Ya's early output was a blend of synth-laced cheese-rock, mawkish ballads and the occasional heavy number. A couple of their albums even had lyrics penned by one Yasushi Akimoto, a man would later attain infamy as the mastermind behind J-pop behemoth AKB48. It wasn't until 1988 and their 7th opus Outerlimits that they turned to honest-to-Moses hard rock, and that's when the yen came rolling in. This success came to a screeching halt when frontwoman Keiko Terada bailed over creative differences, but besides a seven-year hiatus (1998-2005), Igarashi has continued to perform and record with the band.

Does this mean we can call "sun-go" the Japanese Lita Ford? I hesitate to do so. Besides Igarashi's lack of a solo career - she played in various bands during Show-Ya's hiatus - and the fact she's never sung lead vocals, their public images couldn't be more different. Where Ford has always taken full advantage of her sex appeal, posing in spiked bikinis and whatnot, Igarashi has never really gone in for that shtick.


Rumblings in the Underground

So like I said, it wasn't until the 1990s - 1996 to be exact - that Japanese metal gained its first female guitarists, when two of them turned up at once. The first was someone a few Metal Stormers will already know: Wata, lead guitarist of Boris, a band I've long since given up trying to allocate a subgenre. Recently I read drummer Atsuo Mizuno doesn't even think of their work as music. She was followed in October by Kyoko Moriya, sole guitarist of Osakan hardcore punks Yellow Machinegun.




Things fell quiet again until 2000, when Wata was joined by a slew of her fellow sister-shredders in otherwise all-male lineups. 2000 saw the debut of extreme progressive outfit Gonin-ish, fronted by Anoji Matsuoka. 2002 brought thrashcorers Gunship666, led by guitarist and only constant member Masumi Toriumi. Then in 2003, the burgeoning Japanese power scene gained its first female shredder in Eita of [url= http://sevenseas-web.jp]Jikuu Kaizoku Seven Seas[/url]. The next year, Coffins frontman Uchino Bungo's exit from sludge-doom outfit Dot(.) opened the door for guitarist Rei.

The Tokyo underground also spawned a couple of all-female acts in the 2000s. The first to break out were crust punks Gallhammer in 2004, followed by the easy-to-pronounce Flagitious Idiosyncrasy In The Dilapidation in 2008. FID actually ceased to be an all-woman group almost straight after their debut, when founding guitarist Kyoko abruptly quit. This status was only restored in 2011 when original bassist Noriko Okamoto, who initially jumped ship back in 2006, took over on guitar. In the interim, Noriko had been playing guitar with death metallers Reexamine as "Robin" - they debuted in 2005 - and symphonic black metal troupe Sungoddess under the moniker "Barbados", who debuted in 2010. She remains active with all three bands.




The mid-2000s also saw an unexpected shakeup in the visual kei scene, with the movement experiencing its very own "girls' rock" boom. I was a bit ambivalent over whether to include this band, but if those sage arbiters of wisdom over at Wikipedia are to be believed, in 2005, visual-kei gained its very own all-female metal act in Exist?Trace. Like I say, I was a bit hesitant whether include to these girls - the best the Wikipedians have managed for a subgenre is "alternative". Nevertheless, the potential irony of Japan's first all-woman metal band with mainstream appeal coming from the visual movement felt like justification enough to at least mention them.


"Girls' Metal" Cometh

Now we come to the phenomenon known as "girls' metal", essentially a repeat performance of the 1980s "girls' rock" boom playing out in the Japanese metal scene. Thus far, at least ten new all-woman metal bands have sprung up in the last 5 years. The first to get their stilettos in the door were the kimono-clad Tengusakura in March 2009, followed in November the same year by Osakan power metallers Aldious. Led by guitarist Yoshi, Aldious were the band who brought about the breakthrough of "girls' metal", when their 2010 debut album Deep Exceed outsold every other independent record in Japan in its first week of release.




2010 also saw the debut of Aldious's fellow Osakans G∀LMET , a self-styled "girls' death metal" act whose lineup features ex-Aldious guitarist Ruki. The year's other debutantes Destrose, who're in the fact the most senior of the first wave of "girls' metal", having first formed way back in December 2005. Quite why it took them almost 5 years to release their first single is probably down to the truly rotten luck guitarist and bandleader Mina has had in trying to maintain a stable lineup.

Her woes began in 2008, when shortly after releasing their second demo, everyone but Mina upped and left. Departed guitarist Eri, along with singer Eye and drummer Mari, went on to form [url= http://marysblood.futureartist.net]Mary's Blood[/url] in late 2009 - their debut followed in 2011. Eri's replacement in Destrose, Saki, didn't last long, and was gone inside a year - in 2012, she joined Mary's Blood. Saki was succeeded by session guitarist Satty, who stuck it out for over a year before moving on to other projects.




Guitarist number five, one Hanako Fujiwara, proved to be another Saki and was gone within months. In 2013, she debuted with Albion, but left earlier this year - Eita, free of Jikuu Kaizoku Seven Seas since 2009, has been filling in for them on tour. Meanwhile, Mina's fifth co-guitarist Narumi has so far stayed put. Here's to hoping the poor woman's luck holds.

So, how long can we expect the present "girls' metal" boom to last? As we know, all musical movements burn out at some point, and to be honest, the "girls' rock" boom doesn't set a great precedent. Show-Ya are one of just a handful of bands to still be performing, and are alone in permanently reuniting after a hiatus. Then again, of the first wave of "girls' metal" bands, only Tengusakura has faltered: they've been on indefinite hiatus since 2011.

In the meantime, a second wave of sorts has already emerged. Formed in 2011, power metallers Cyntia have been making series waves since their 2012 debut on Aldious's own label Bright Star Records. What's more, 2013 was the biggest year yet for "girls' metal", with Bridear, A Drop Of Joker and Gekijo Metalicche all debuted alongside Albion. Assuming even one of these bands can establish the sort of momentum the first wave have, "girls' metal" should be around for some time to come.





And Finally?

Aldious weren't the only women making Japanese metal history in 2010. Some 28 years after Loudness guitarist Akira Takasaki launched his solo career, Rie a.k.a. Suzaku became the first Japanese woman to pursue a solo career as a metal guitarist. Though she dresses much the same as her Western antecedents, Rie doesn't have much in common with them musically. Unlike Lita Ford, her music is indisputably "metal", but doesn't go in for neoclassical shredding of The Great Kat, instead opting for a brand of melodic heavy metal. She doesn't sing either, employing a host of female guest vocalists on her releases. Anyone interested in gauging her ability for themselves should check her fully instrumental debut album, Kingdom Of The Sun.