Ignition
Artist: Sex Machineguns
Album: Ignition
Musicians: Anchang (vocals, guitar), Circuit.V.Panther (guitar), Noisy (bass), Clutch.J.Himawari (drums)
Composer/Lyricist:
Release Date: 9 Oct 2002
| Ignition – Sex Machineguns Tracklisting 01. Bousou Rock *Bold titles – recommended listening. |
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OVERVIEW
Sex Machineguns is one of the best heavy metal bands out of Japan. The vocals are an acquired taste, unless you already love high-pitched hair-band vocals. But the instrumentals are truly stellar, with outstanding guitar solos, heavy bass, and rapid drum lines. Their fourth album, Ignition, perfectly showcases their amazing talent with some classic songs that you’ll want to jam along with over and over again. But perhaps their best characteristic is their sense of humor. Sex Machineguns have some serious talent, but they never take themselves too seriously, augmenting their awesome instrumentals with humorous lyrics. For example, “Sashimi to Wasabi” is a song about the joys of eating sashimi. Sex Machineguns just have fun with their music, which is definitely more than can be said about most bands, and this sense of enjoyment can be seen in every song on Ignition.
THE GOOD
Hoojirozame no Higeki
“Hoojirozame no Higeki” is my favorite song on this album. A rapid and awesome guitar riff energetically opens out the song, and it never loses momentum as it blows straight through to the high note at the end. Although I love everything else about this band, I had a hard time liking the vocals of Sex Machineguns. But “Hoojirozame no Higeki” finally converted me. The vocals for this song are stylistically perfect and right on tone, and Anchang carries the great melody well. The guitar solo in the middle is a truly impressive example of speed metal. Overall, this is just a great metal song.
Sokoni Anataga
This song is relatively slow, compared to the other songs on Ignition. The softer verses of the beginning sound almost mellow, despite the heavy bass and guitars. Halfway through the song, it speeds up with more urgent guitar lines under the lyrics, which build into another rocking guitar solo, but it quickly slows down again. This is an excellent rock song, with a strong performances from all four members of Sex Machineguns.
Akumano Keshin
“Akumano Keshin” shows off Sex Machineguns‘ heavy metal side, featuring a very strong bass line augmented by the occasional high-pitched screech of a guitar. This is a song you’ll want to turn your bass up for, simply to feel the beat and every note the bass plays. Anchang sings in a lower range, which sounds great and suits the feel of the song perfectly. And any Sex Machineguns song would not be complete without a brilliant guitar solo; the solo for “Akumano Keshin” is fractionally slower than the others, but no less amazing in its execution. This is one of my favorites from Ignition.
Gyakuhuu
What I love most about “Gyakuhuu” is its ending, and no, not because the song is over. “Gyakuhuu” just has one of the best rock endings I’ve ever heard. The guitars and drums together combine to lead the listener out of the song without losing an iota of the song’s energy, jamming straight through to a decisive conclusion. To be honest, at first I found Anchang‘s vocals in the chorus grating on my ears a bit, but the ending caught my ear so much that I couldn’t help but listen to the rest of the song in order to reach it. And in the end, I fell in love with the song as well.
Yonaoshi Good Vibration
Nevermind good conclusions or hilarious lyrics: “Yonaoshi Good Vibration” is just good fun from start to finish. An extremely catchy Asian-flavored guitar riff launches us into this bass-heavy song. Throughout the song, the vocals leap from note to note with crazy speed, and finally end in a glass-shattering high note. This is the perfect song to end this album; it leaves you feeling energized and wanting to listen to more of Sex Machineguns.
The Rating: 8
Reviewed by: dheu
