YAKUZA

The band play a really eclectic and at times experimental type of metal. The music is somewhat rooted in hardcore and there are some raw sludgy elements in the music too, but especially the addition of saxophone/clarinet to the band´s more traditional rock instrumentation of bass, guitars, drums and vocals, provide the sound with an avant garde (at times free jazz type) element. There are also keyboards and percussion on the album.

The vocals by Bruce Lamont (who also handles saxophone/clarinet) are predominantly shouting and raw, but he is one of those rare breed raw type vocalists who manage to put melodies into his harsh and distorted singing style. A feature that provides the vocal part of the music with a nice dynamic. The music is generally aggressive with edgy hardcore/sludge metal riffing, heavy yet cleverly played rhythms and the occasional mellower part, which are no less intriguing.

"Way of the Dead" is a pretty long album with it´s 70:42 minutes long playing time. The first seven tracks on the album are pretty much as I´ve described the music above, but the 8th and closing track "01000011110011" is very different from the rest of the tracks. It´s a 43:24 minutes long jamming type track, with no heavy distored riffing, no vocals and a focus on atmospheric saxophone/clarinet playing. A mellow, laid back and ambient track. I enjoy the track for about 10 minutes and then my attention wanders. If you ask me there´s no reason for this track to drag on for so long, when so little happens, but I guess people more into long drawn ambient and atmospheric music will appreciate this more than I do. I much prefer the more "regular" tracks on the album, which are all full of great energy, adventurous songwriting ideas, and high level musicianship. Add to that a powerful sound production and "Way of the Dead" is not only a quality album release by Yakuza, it´s a highly recommended listen. If "01000011110011" had been shorter or had progressed in a more interesting direction I would have rated "Way of the Dead" with a full 4 star (80%) rating, but because of that track a half star comes off and therefore a 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.

YAKUZA's first album was a strange and schizoid album, hesitating between brutal NEUROSIS-styled sludge and laid-back improvised psychedelic jazz. "Samsara" combines those two poles of the band's sound in every composition, making this a much more fluent album and more successful in its eclectic approach. The most remarkable feature of this band are Bruce Lamont's saxophone and clarinet, which are played in a ethereal and moody way, much like Miles Davis blows the horn, and they are a driving factor in their quality as well as originality. Vocalist Matt McClelland mostly sticks to his rough shouts. Bruce Lamont adds some spare clean vocals. His Ozzy-ian whine is effective here as it comes in short dosages. It could have gotten boring when applied too much. The songs are amongst the best of their career and the production is superb, very natural, rough around the edges but still clear and well-balanced.

"Samsara" is my favorite Yakuza album, newcomers to the band might also check the more melodic and catchy "Of Seismic Consequence". A much recommended and unique psych-jazz sludge experience.

'Of Seismic Consequence' appeared in quite a number of metal top 10s of 2010. Even right at the top sometimes. I've gone back all the way to 'Way of the Dead' in their discography and I can confirm that this is indeed their masterpiece so far. There is no album where they've shaken all the ingredients of their style to such good effect, reaching a perfect balance between fast and slow, between aggressive and subdued, between screaming and melody, and between energetic and lethargic. The songwriting is outstanding, not deviating much from previous albums but with hooks aplenty this time. I especially love the outstretched psychedelic jazz parts, and they aren't overtly long or too indulgent to frighten off people that usually don't listen to jazzy stuff.

There's one gripe with this album though and that is the mastering. Everything is a blur of mid-level equalizing, leaving the lower end without any oomph and the higher end flat and dry. Even some serious EQ-ing doesn't help much. Especially the fast and heavy tracks lose lots of their dynamics because of it. Luckily 3/4 of the album is rather calm and brings in the needed dynamics despite of the deafeningly flat sound.

This is nothing less of a post-sludge masterpiece with astonishingly original music and excellent songwriting. The lifeless production could have been better though. 4+ stars easily.

It starts pretty weak with 'Meat Curtains' where Matt McClelland mimics the whine of Ozzy in his clean vocals, but he misses the sickening evilness and Ozzy's knack for catchiness. And it's again the vocals that remain the main issue on 'Egocide', which suffers from vocal melodies that are too monotone. The music is great however. On 'Congestive Art-Failure' a vocoder is used to help out but it doesn't help. The track is mainly brutal, just like 'Praying For Asteroids'. None of both does much for me.

With 'Raus' the album finally starts showing the qualities of this band. The clean vocals work better here, evoking a certain Joy Division 'atmosphere'. Most of the track remains in quiet post-rock areas, with the saxophone providing a delicate jazzy touch. The track flows into the heavy outburst of 'Steal The Fire', showing that different 'ugly' face of the band again, and this time it works due to the strong music and emotional tension that preceded.

The album continues with the dissonant and chaotic 'The Blinding', which rivals The Swans in disconcerting and nauseating doom. It's wilder, more experimental and psychotic then the other tracks but quite astounding. I don't think I could handle an entire album of this but here it works. 'Existence Into Oblivian' is more typical, with melodic vocals dueling against brutal growls and busy tribal drumming. The psychedelic break near the end is magnificent.

'Perception Management' integrates the different aspects of Yakuza's sound, post-rock, jazz, psychedelica, sludge-metal, it all comes together and as unlikely as the combination may sound, Yakuza can make this sound natural and organic. It's without their real strength. Unfortunately, the album ends as it started, with 2 songs featuring less alluring melodies and - to my ears - rather whiny vocals.

All ingredients that make Yakuza great are in place but the songwriting is very uneven for me. The main body of the album is great, but I don't care much for the opening and closing tracks. The next one would be the real deal. This is one that only fans should seek out.

The band doesn't bend the two components of their sound into one fluent style, but instead they simply switch styles inbetween separate songs: the first half of the album is dominated by heavy rough hardcore, and the closing 43 minutes long '01000011110011' is a stretched out post-rock jam recalling Miles Davis' psych-jazz jams of the early 70's, with Bruce Lamon's sax and clarinet taking up the trumpet role. Nothing heavy or metal about this track and it must have greatly disturbed expecting hardcore fans. For me it's the best bit of the album.

The band was put on hold after this album, but they returned 4 years later with an impressive series of albums that would further explore and perfect the two polar opposites of their sound, ultimately ending in the masterpiece 'Of Seismic Consequence' where all the elements of their sound would fall into place to create something entirely new and unique. But that's a story for later. 3.5 stars so far.