The five-strong Metal maidens of Japan’s Lovebites are on a mission to brighten up our lives with this latest selection of speedy, intricate power rockers.
It’s Metal as influenced by the good, old-fashioned NWOBHM – no, that’s not the sound of an anime dragon or leviathan of the deep breaking wind at 20,000 fathoms, it’s NWOBHM as in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, back in the late 1970s/early ’80s, when Iron Maiden and Saxon, Def Leppard, Diamond Head and the like helped forge a whole new genre and usher in a whole new world.
Which is not to say the sound the girls make, or their very own method and madness, are somehow stuck in that era – there’s a speed and complexity to the playing that few could have matched then and few can match now, and the whole enterprise boasts a very modern, hi-tech sheen and distinctive “new car smell”.
The almost recklessly over-the-top approach can leave you satisfied but dizzy and it’s great fun, if almost wholly unoriginal. The songs do tend to go on a bit – if not exactly outstaying their welcome, at least lingering at the front door, looking over their shoulder to say a few too many goodbyes, hoping for that last half glass of wine, even when the taxi meter is already running, the stains on the carpet evaporating, the sun rising, the cock crowing and the milkman completing the dregs of his round before winding his way home to re-read Proust’s A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu.
It all starts strongly though and, first up, Glory To The World boasts an intro with an uplifting, epic movie soundtrack sweep, a bit like The Lord Of The Rings (and the guy in the video looks a bit like Orlando Bloom). Yes, Lovebites are on a quest, heading for the bright light on the mountaintop, spearheaded by Asami’s superior vocals, with Midori and Miyako soaring ever higher astride twin Flying-V geetars as the thunderous rhythm section replicate the rumble of a megacity scrapyard worth of smashed and torn-up hulks plunging down the sheer face of the precipitous edifice (Haruna’s propulsive drumming is a stand-out feature throughout the EP and bassist Miho delivers and delivers and delivers).
After that impressive opener, No Time To Hesitate gets down deeper and dirtier, and Paranoia’s sinister drums and piano intro leads to more riff-tastic mayhem and piercing solos. Next up is Dystopia Symphony, with keyboards to the fore and an ambition and intricacy that lean towards the Jordan Rudess/John Petrucci/Dream Theater realm (which is to the good, of course). At 6.42, this is the longest and probably strongest track – so after Dystopia, how do they try to top-ia that? Well, with a certain dittie called Winds Of Transylvania, another 100mph-plus chase with the pedal pushed to the … er … Metal. There’s more extensive soloing and the whole thing is bookended by suitably Gothic atmospherics as Winds Of Transylvania just happens to be the theme song to new anime series Vlad Love. Asami & Co’s image and intent seem to fit the fun vampiric tale like a hand in a velvet glove, or fangs in a silky throat, and, as Vlad Love creator, co-director/writer Mamoru Oshii (Ghost In The Shell) points out: “Their name couldn’t be more fitting.”
Glory, Glory To The World by Lovebites is out now on CD and vinyl, from JPU Records.