Balzac
Came Out of the Grave
~review by Basim
The esteemed 18th century French author
Balzac once said, “"All happiness depends on courage and work, I have had
many periods of wretchedness, but with energy and above all with illusions,
I pulled through them all." Pretty upbeat for a man whose thankless task
of defining literary movement left him enduring a life of poverty, don’t
you think? Similarly, we have Japanese punk rockers, Balzac. This is a
band that really strives to do the best they can. Their live shows are
so great, I know people who’d actually sit through a set of the Merchfits
to see them. The band even learns their English lyrics phonetically, because
they honestly don’t know more than a few words.
But I should really be getting to the
music. If you’ve heard of Balzac before, you’ve probably seen them described
with unfair words like... “Misfits clones”.
Unlike most horror punk bands, this music isn’t just kitsch or formulaic. You won’t find the obligatory 1950s “ironic” anthem dedicated to the undead. What you will find is an interesting mix of bleak noise dirges vivisected with throat blistering sing-along punk anthems. Certain albums, like The Damned’s Phantasmagoria, or TSOL’s Change Today, have a song for every mood. This is one of those timeless masterpieces.
What really impressed me was the approach
to their noise/industrial songs. Noise is one of those genres that leave
me floundering, wondering “why?” when I’m stuck listening to a “song” of
it. The Balzac species of it is an evolution of their dark punk style.
There’s just enough grinding rock in the noise pieces to give them momentum,
but not enough to degenerate it into “Industrial Rock”. The overall effect
is either grating in that grisly post-punk way I know most of you like
so much.
The top of the food chain is ruled by
their predatorial punk anthems. I don’t think I’ve heard murder music played
so gleefully in my life. You know those Exploited gutter anthems about
Brotherhood? Well, imagine songs like that, but interesting to listen to.
There’s some blazing guitar work that borders on being metal in that happy
Maiden/Helloween way. This album’s chock full of pinch harmonics, and dazzling
solos. Guitarist, Atsushi, is great at veering out of the way when the
rock songs need tension, and hitting you like freighter when the digital
noise needs structure. There’s some neat, and pleasantly brief shredding
here and there, which works ALOT better than it sounds. Drummer Takayuki
and Bassist Akio form a formidable rhythm section. These players know the
virtue of exploring the thematic possibilities from song to song. You get
tempo changes, and Akio has that magical sense that cues him into sliding
his bass notes at the perfect moments. You know, when the bass slides and
you wince because you can’t imagine how awesome it sounds? You’ll be doing
alot of wincing when listening to this album.
Oh, and the vocals.
The vocals will destroy you. This band can contend with punk rock royalty when it comes to big, three part vocal choruses. Buy this album, if your tastes can be plotted somewhere between the Punk and Gothic spectrum, you will find something to love here.
Tracklisting
1. Grave- Dreizehn
2. Japanese Title
3. Season Of The Dead
4. Inside My Eyes
5. Japanese Title
6. Pain Is All Around
7. Came Out Of The Grave
8. Beyond Evil 308
9. Art Of Dying
10. World Without End
11. Pain Is Not Around
12. I'm Losing You
13. Beware Of Darkness
14. I Know
Balzac is...
Vocals – Hirosuke
Guitar – Atsushi
Bass – Akio
Drums – Takayuki
07/13/04