Record Label: Century Media
Genre: Metal
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

I normally like experimental metal (experimetal?), and Yakuza are pretty good in a Candiria-meeting-Helmet-at-the-Blue-Note-to-discuss-King-Crimson sort of way, but they seem to just miss the mark.

For one, the vocals aren’t very strong. Growling is at a minimum, but the vocals are a bit bland. Also, they seem to lack oomph, for lack of a better onomatopoeia. With the exception of “Obscurity” (which features a neat avant-garde sax duel), the songs just aren’t weird or interesting enough. Like, they might as well just be straight-up metal songs.

There is a tune on here that seemed at first glance to be ambitious enough to save the album – the 43-minute, modal-improvisational “01000011110011” which, unfortunately, is binary code for “Bitches Brew rip-off.” Regardless, huge props to Yakuza for doing something different. Too bad it’s not that good.

Bottom Line: Jazzy metal, but not interesting enough.
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