Bill's Hyperbolic Music Reviews #11- Yakuza- Transmutations

Since I've written a lot of metal and/or noise-rock reviews lately, I told myself that I wasn't going to do that for this installment, because these write-ups were always intended to showcase a broad range of genres, and I didn't want to get bogged down in reviewing any particular style.

Then I heard this album.

Yakuza is not your run-of-the-mill metal band, let's make that clear. Vocalist Bruce Lamont also plays a mean saxophone, showing off the band's clear jazz influences on many tracks. In addition, while so many tech-metal bands focus on machine-like precision and rapid-fire, jump-cutting changes, these guys take some cues from Eastern music and psychedelia and establish a slow-burning, drifting mood before eventually pummeling you into submission with odd-metered blastbeats and discordant riffs that, far from being robotic, splatter all over the place with madcap abandon, somewhat like Gorguts' incredible Obscura. Don't be misled by that comparison, though- Obscura had none of the hazy post-metal atmospherics somewhere between Om and Isis that are all over this rekkid (and most of the band's output, if the other two albums I've heard by these cats are any indication).

My only complaint about this album is that, because this band has such a signature sound, it starts to get a little formulaic near the ending of its hourlong running time. The songs don't diminish in quality, really- two of the last three songs are probably the best of the bunch- but Lamont's voice, though quite good (he's also in a Led Zeppelin cover band, after all) starts sketching out very similar patterns in the melodic parts (and it doesn't help that many of these sections are at very similar tempos) and the rave-ups start to feel a little calculated. This is honestly a pretty mild criticism, however. This album is an experience, and its two-track focus generally just helps that experience linger. Buy/steal the FUCK outta this thing, and enjoy. (Also, be sure to get their albums Way of the Dead and Samsara- WotD has a 43-minute song!!!)