Review by Rick Eaglestone for MPM
Armed with full speed riffs and the inspirational backdropof the Ainu people of Hokkaido as well as famous Japanese paintings and idioms. RYUJIN unveil their new self-titled album.
Instrumental openerHajimari plunges the listener into a world of ominous atmosphere before Gekokujo injects a thrash / death metal riff-fest with some great folk-inspired passages.
Dragon, Fly Free follows before the album’s producer – Trivium’s Matthew Kiichi Heafy lends his contributions to the first of four tracks and coincidentally the album’s first single Raijin & Fujin which to be fair is power metal personified this is then fused with The Rainbow Song a blend of 90’s anime of flowing power metal – the accompanying video feature some stunning nature footage and once again Matthew Heafy arranged the lyrics, which were originally written about trout.
Kunnecup paints a musical canvas with great sing along elements and then the band embrace their extreme side on Scream of the Dragon which blends both English and Japanese lyrics seamlessly.
The album then moves into the trio of Gekrin, SaigoNo Hoshi and title track Ryujin which go from Rock Opera back into traditional elements which have been consistent throughout.
A great cover ofLinked Horizon’s Guren No Yumiya– better known as opening theme of popular anime series Attack On Titan fires through the speakers. The album closes with a bonus English-language version of “Saigo No Hoshi”, with vocals once again performed by Matthew Kiichi Heafy
The word “Ryujin” refers to a dragon god of the sea in Japanese mythology, and this self-titled album is full of appropriate oceanic musical themes weave seamlessly throughout the album which gives the album a nice level of truthful authenticity.
“Ryujin” Track listing.
01 Hajimari
02 Gekokujo
03 Dragon, Fly Free
04 Raijin and Fujin (Feat. Matthew K. Heafy)
05 The Rainbow Song (Feat. Matthew K. Heafy)
06 Kunnecup (Feat. Mukai Wataru)
07 Scream of the Dragon
08 Gekirin
09 Saigo No Hoshi (Feat. Matthew K. Heafy)
10 Ryujin
11 Guren No Yumiya (Feat. Matthew K. Heafy)
12 Saigo No Hoshi (feat. Matthew K. Heafy)
Line-up:
Ryoji – Guitar, Vocals
Aruta – Bass, Backing Vocals
Shui – Drums
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7/10
