Bandvivil: Junaokissei

Bandvivil is a white hot power trio from Japan that plays a straight up, in your face mixture of jazz-rock, fusion and blues, laced with Zappaesque pyrotechnics and a slight flirtation with 80s King Crimson. The band's style is highly reminiscent of their fellow countrymen Show Yen, which I reviewed favorably on this site a couple of years ago. This said, I do find Bandvivil's music to be more adventuresome and their songs better constructed. "Junaokissei" is the band's debut disc and is basically made up of 2 suites : Vivid and Evil.

Musically speaking, the band offers up the usual power trio formula. Issei Takami is all over the radar screen, laying down some funky guitar chords and filling in the blanks with some note-frenetic lead passages. His sparse yet effective use of guitar synthesizers gives certain tracks an added flavor and color. The dynamic duo comprised of Naoki Sawada (bass) and Jun Isobe (drums) are given ample room to stretch out and provide plenty of intelligent fills throughout.

Now, I don't want to be misleading here and have you all believe that this is a non-stop chops-fest . As with the majority of bands that I've encountered hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun, Bandvivil appears to attach an extreme importance to form and melody. This disc is not about squeezing a maximum amount of notes into every bar, but rather about telling two tales without lyrics or vocals.

Flowing seemlessly from soft ballads to hot funky numbers, to the blues, to complex incendiary fusion forays without missing a beat, Bandvivil is a force to be reckoned with. Guitar hero status will surely be thrust upon Issei Takami if this disc gets any kind of exposure. But guys, I'd do something about the band name though.

Track Listing

Part I: Vivid

1. Jemah & She
2. Afro
3. Eat Triplet
4. W.P.
5. To King Rush
6. Get Up
7. e.g.f.
8. Chili Mens Ballade

Part II: Evil

1. Seven Spices
2. Abraham Bee
3. San-Byou-Shi
4. Hane
5. Strange Smoke
6. Zoo Zoo Da Juju
7. Shuffle De Go
8. Zoo Zoo Da Juju(Slight Return)

Added: February 5th 2005
Reviewer: Yves Dubé
Score:
Related Link: www.bandvivil.com
Hits: 5177
Language: english

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