... I'm guessing. I honestly don't know what you people like.
And it was only two posts, really.
Just no pleasing some people.
Anyway.
Today, we will be discussing the ever popular...
Sex Machineguns
(I've decided that pictures might be nice when I'm doing these band things too. Just a little visual help. Thoughts?)
Anyway, according to that never-ending fountain of knowledge, Wikipedia,
The Sex Machineguns are a Japanese speed metal band. Their music is characterized by a heavy focus on bass as well as extremely fast guitar and bass solos. The band rides an image of being "Shock Rockers" by wearing crazy, exotic outfits like Visual Kei bands (although this image has been toned down, especially since 2003 when the long-term bassist Noisy left the band), singing about violence (as shown in the song "FamiResuBombaa") and naming one of their live DVDs "SM Show" in a very intentional allusion to BDSM. Casting themselves as shock rockers is not the prime selling point of their music though, as they also exhibit their technical virtuosic skill on their instruments.
They say "like" Visual Kei bands. Oh no, these guys are V-Kei, old-school V-Kei. And I can respect that, my friends. I can respect that a heck of a lot. You see, I've nothing against V-Kei; Dir en grey was originally V-Kei, after all. I just don't like those newbies who think that it's still a valid concept around which to build a band, even though they couldn't write/play music to save their prettily made-up heads.
(I'm STILL looking at you, Gazette.)
And really, these guys are pretty damn legit as candidates for V-Kei because, really, if we're looking at X-Japan and BUCK-TICK as the two forerunners of the genre (which we should), bands have two options: metal or hard rock.
And the Sex Machineguns are metal baby.
See, you don't get much more metal than that. Oooh yea.
(Sorry about the youtube clips again, but I really like this video.)
The only problem is that they keep changing members... aside from Anchang, lead vocalist and guitar, no one else has been there since the beginning. That's confusing for pool little fans like me, who like to know who's playing their music at any given time.
I suppose it doesn't really matter so long as the quality doesn't change... although I have noticed that some of their albums aren't quite as good. Band strife does not make good music, people!
... speaking of V-Kei...
Ooooh yes.
And yes, this song is about みかん (mikan; think tangerine, but better and eaten during the winter by EVERYONE). Anchang and a number of the band members (how many? I couldn't tell you. One of the current guys anyway) are from Ehime in Shikoku, which is famous for its みかん. Local pride, baby. In metal form. This was their first song I heard, thanks to Melon sharing it with me after I had applied to an 英会話 school in, you guessed it, Ehime.
(And for those of you wondering? Yes, fan service is, I believe, an integral part of V-Kei. Feel free to disagree.)
(And no, I don't know what the coordinated head-banging and dance moves are about. I'm as lost as you are. That is most certainly not a typical V-Kei thing. I suppose it's just something they like to do. And can you blame them, really?)
I suppose I should apologize for this band, dear readers; in the past, I've tried to post widely palatable songs so that everyone could enjoy. Unfortunately, the Sex Machineguns make metal, metal, and... more metal. Which, hey, I think is great, but I realize that some of you may be less than thrilled.
Worry not, I will not be relegating myself to only metal reviews in the future. But it's good to have a change of pace once in a while, don't you think?
Speaking of which, enjoy an amazing video as we wind down:
Even if you don't like the music, you can appreciate how amazingly, tackily awesome it is. I estimate it cost a total of twenty dollars to produce.
But that's what makes it incredible.
This is Edo, signing off while headbanging madly. Metal is great, guys.
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