Band:	Doll$Boxx
Album:	Dolls Apartment
Style:	J-rock, Alternative metal, Heavy metal
Release date:	December 2012

01. Loud Twin Stars
02. Merrily High Go Round
03. Take My Chance
04. Monopoly
05. ロールプレイング・ライフ / Roleplaying Life
06. Fragrance
07. Karakuri Town
08. おもちゃの兵隊 / Toy Soldier
09. Doll's Box
10. ヌヂリズム （$場ジョン）/ Nudierhythm ($ Version)[Gacharic Spin cover]

I’ve seen many Western media outlets discount Doll$Boxx as another post-Babymetal “kawaii metal” novelty. Five Japanese women in color-coded outfits playing treacly, energetic pop metal: gotta be some cutesy fad, right? Nah. Check Hana’s biceps. This has guts.

I’ll allow that a certain degree of marshmallowy mindset factors into Doll$Boxx’s identity: their sole studio album is a straight barrage of singles, all bursting with infectious enthusiasm and exuberant refrains that adhere to every stereotype about the sheer melodic density of Japanese pop music. Strong sing-along choruses sit centerstage in every track, and no matter how complex and unhinged the instrumental performances are, every line locks into the perfect support formation for the unforgettable melodies that dominate. Doesn’t matter if it’s dance pop or black metal: if it ain’t catchy, it sinks, and that’s a rule well understood by bassist F Chopper Koga, drummer/vocalist Hana, keyboardist Oreo Reona, and guitarist Tomo-zo. Thanks to the trim structures and meticulous compositions, listeners of all persuasions may find Dolls Apartment so accessible to the general public that it deserves a tax deduction.

Certainly the band is nothing if not entertaining, and this album is full of cool, up-tempo bangers that will satisfy your sweet tooth, should you be in search of some pure escapist pop with a bit of attitude. But be advised that Dolls Apartment offers more than fun grooves and adhesive hooks. It also comes with wicked slap bass solos, crushing double bass, ripping guitar leads, dazzling keyboard banks, harsh backing vocals, and an actual power metal singer. Yes, the plastic poses are just a gimmick for the cover art: Doll$Boxx is a muscular machine. Their sound is so polished that its complexity might escape notice at first, but listen beneath what the bouncing beach ball is following and you’ll hear a formidable wall of instrumentation – at any given point in time, each member is barreling through some lead that’s first impressive for the intensive skill required and then doubly impressive for how well it clicks with every other member simultaneously exercising their chops. This is a rare act in which every instrument is truly accorded equal status: there’s no guitar hegemony or singer ego to ruin the harmony. The four instrumentalists are all members of Gacharic Spin, a more pop/rock-oriented variation of the same sound that expertly melds technicality and groove, and the years and years of practice are evident in every super-dense backing track.

And I mentioned an actual power metal singer. For this side project, the members of Gacharic Spin elected to team up with the one person I haven’t mentioned yet: lead vocalist Fuyuki Tenge, a.k.a. Fuki. Fuki is one of the most recognizable voices in Japanese metal, and specifically power metal, leading Light Bringer and Unlucky Morpheus and having worked with Syu of Galneryus, Dragon Guardian, Destinia, and others. Catchy as these choruses are, they’re not crooned – they’re bellowed. The single I linked at the beginning, “Take My Chance,” is possibly the best example on the album: Fuki pushes that song forward with sheer presence and volume. Between her intimidating command of the microphone and the intensity of the instrumentation hurrying along every urgent chord progression, it should be clear after the first minute that Dolls Apartment is far more than assembly-line bubblegum carted out for a lukewarm cheer (I once again refer you to the video).

Though I’ve listened to this album countless times over the years, I still hear something new every time I put it on; there’s always some trick to the keyboards I never heard before, or I never realized how neatly the drums and bass sync with each other, or how well the secondary vocal lines complement the lead melody. A thousand replays later and I’m still charmed by every track. “Merrily High Go Round” opens with glittery piano that gets bulldozed by a thunderous wave of guitar and drums – the stabbing bass strikes are so powerful, and yet there’s still a vibrant sense of fragility in the soaring chorus. The title track is a rich, tender ballad that communicates its bittersweetness through the music alone; only recently did I finally read a translation of the lyrics to find that they fit perfectly with the mood I’d always felt from the song. Every song is its own playground: extremely catchy, driven by sophisticated musicianship, both ambitious and rewarding.

I chose this day, the 10th anniversary of the album’s release, to sing a little endorsement of one of my favorite albums in the form of my 350th review. I wish I could say there’s more Doll$Boxx to go around (and there is the equally incredible and even darker high $pec EP, which I also love), but an album like this is hard to top anyway.