Suicide Ali- Sarau Fue to Yakusoku

ARTIST: Suicide Ali

ALBUM: Sarau Fue to Yakusoku

LABEL: Darkest Labyrinth

REVIEWER: Matthew J.

DATE: 10-5-08

One of the more promising bands to emerge from the burgeoning Japanese gothic rock scene, Suicide Ali offer up a six-song EP that ably mixes high-speed intensity and moody atmospheric rock. "Tobira" starts things with the sort of speedy, Baroque-meets-metal approach pioneered by visual kei groups like Malice Mizer, but adds a hint of distortion to lead singer Goshi's emotive vocals for a touch of industrial attitude. That hard electronic edge is expanded upon in "Chainsaw," which adds heavier-hitting drumbeats and an undercurrent of synthesized glitches, but the vocals this time are far more expressive, Goshi bounding back and forth between throaty growl and androgynous falsetto. "Kaze no Slave" is cleaner, more purely gothic rock, with an effects-drenched guitar melody that calls to mind The Cure's "Lovesong" augmented by flittering violins. "Doumyaku" starts off in a similar vein with creaking background noise and moodily picked guitars, then bursts into jagged screaming gothic rock guitar. "Fuefuki Douji" is similarly fast and intense, with frantic keyboard lines speeding like a freight train in danger of going off the rails as group yelps back up Goshi's dramatic vocal performance, then "Mujin no Takai" brings things to an abrupt halt with soft keyboards and hand-percussion. An intriguing but all-too-brief offering, this release is sure to please diehard fans of similar Japanese groups like Blood and Moi Dix Mois; hopefully it also presages North American distribution for the band's full-length album.

For more information about this group, visit their English-language MySpace page at https://www.myspace.com/suicidealirock.