God Of Shamisen — Dragon String Attack

'Shamisen metal'… liek wtf? As one would type out loud on the internet. The Japanese instrument with the weird, huge plectrum seems as distant from metal as noodles to French fries. But it's a small world after all and these guys, in one form or another connected to Estradasphere prove it.

Not that it's just metal, actually, if you're waiting for that you might be disappointed. The album's opener and title track pretty much sounds as what you'd expect. If you did expect anything, because the 'dry' sound of shamisen didn't sound particularly compatible with 'big' sound of metal, but it works out well. Like many genres they chose to tackle actually. You get anything. Indian bansuri flute and tambura drones (Traveler Attack), psychedelic freakout (Bad Dog Attack), eighties funk (Tower Storm Attack) right into to a Turkish song (Beyoğlu Parade Attack, starts out somewhat electronic which reminds of 'synthetic bellydance' of Alamooga Esinlenmeler, although it ends more like a Giant Robot attack through Buckethead). So, you get the picture, I guess. All these things are combined nuggets that rock hard enough to make it relatively easy to digest for anyone, even if you're not to well-versed in the musics of the orient.

Only a few times things get a bit silly, to be precise: the 'vocals' in Ripe Fruit Attack weren't really needed if you ask me, except for talkbox and the r'n'b girl that is, those are fine. The reggae in Bad Dog Attack (with funny voices again) isn't too successful either. Otherwise this is definitely going to be appreciated by Estradasphere-fans. This is not music that will radically change the world, but it does make it a bit smaller and more fun. In other words: God Of Shamisen attack!