Band:	Onmyo-Za
Album:	鬼哭転生
Style:	Folk metal, Heavy metal
Release date:	December 05, 1999
Guest review by:	Ruchesko

01. 降臨
02. 眩暈坂
03. 鬼
04. 逢魔刻
05. 文車に燃ゆ恋文
06. 氷の楔
07. 鬼斬忍法帖
08. 百の鬼が夜を行く
09. 陰陽師
10. 亥の子唄

Don't let the kimonos and kooky stagenames fool you: Onmyo-Za are not a Visual-kei band. Despite their emergence in the late nineties at the peak of VK's popularity, they weren't a product of the movement. Still, enough about what this band isn't: who are Onmyo-Za?

Put simply, Onmyo-Za are a heavy metal outfit from Osaka whose image and lyrics are inspired by Japanese history and folklore. The lion's share of the songwriting is done by bassist/vocalist Matatabi, also the only band member to sport a beard (cue Marco Hietala comparisons). He's joined on vocals by frontwoman Kuroneko, who's also involved in songwriting, and the present line-up is rounded out by guitarists Maneki and Karukan. The drummer's stool, currently vacant, was occupied by Tora until 2009.

Where metal bands are concerned, experience has taught me never to expect a classic at the first attempt, and Onmyo-Za's 鬼哭転生 (Kikoku Tenshou) is no exception. Nevertheless, this album is for the most part a solid offering of no-frills heavy metal. Most of the nine songs (opening track "降臨" is a minute-long instrumental intro) are solid, catchy, uptempo efforts: "鬼" ("Oni") and "鬼斬忍法帖" ("Onikiri Ninpouchou") both stand out as highlights. It's not all just hard and fast riffing however.

"逢魔刻" ("Oumagatoki"), by far the album's weakest track, is a really rather sluggish affair. On a more positive note, a nice surprise crops up halfway through in the form of "氷の楔" ("Koori No Kusabi"), a soulful piano-driven ballad sung solo by Kuroneko.

As is typical of this genre, there's little in the way of musical innovation on Kikoku Tenshou, but a lot of what nuance there is will be lost on non-Japanese speakers. For instance, "眩暈坂" ("Memaizaka") is interrupted twice by spoken interludes from Kuroneko. This can be annoying for any listener - can't say I've ever much enjoyed such interludes, whatever language they were in - but whatever Kuroneko's talking about (I could only make out some of it) is central to the song's broader meaning. This is where the lack of availability of official translations of Onmyo-Za's lyrics can frustrate, but in fairness, has to be said there's something quite refreshing about the band's complete avoidance of the sort of token English titles and hooks so pervasive in J-pop.

So like I said, Kikoku Tenshou isn't a classic, but the quality of Onymo-Za's musicianship is never in question, as the dexterous solos from Maneki and Karukan prove. What's more, as metal frontwomen go, Kuroneko's uncomplicated vocal style acts as a nice alternative to the gravelly roars of Doro and Federica de Boni, or the wailing sirens of symphonic metal. This isn't a great listen, but is definitely a good one.