GONIN-ISH

Gonin-Ish biography
(From the band's website): "The name of Gonin-ish refers to the Japanese classical literature work "Hyakunin-ish". Hyakunin-ish is a book which contains hundred of poems. The poems are constructed by divided characters, and the dividing rule is 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 characters. "Hyakunin" means people of one hundred, and "Ish"means one poem. A man at A.D.800 selected 100 excellent poems from a lot of poems. For this reason, the collection was called "Hyakunin-Ish", and these poems were inherited in the card game. The rule of this game is very simple: when the introduction of a poem is read aloud, players are to scramble for cards. In the new year, a championship of Japan is held for this game.
Relatewd to the above. The words "Gonin" (means five people) and "ish" (means one poem) were selected for the name of GONIN-ISH. So, the name of the band refres to the uniting of songs by the five members.

GONIN-ISH is a Japanese experimental progressive-metal band formed in Tokyo in 1997. It was born out of the ashes of a cover band named ANEKDOTEN (no relation with the Swedish band of the same name).

In 1998 they recorded their first demo, under the GONIN-ISH name. They immediately got signed by a Japanese indie label to record their first full-length.

In 2000 they released their debut album, "Gonin-Ish", to good reviews from both national and foreign specialized press. They toured Japan and played various gigs across the territory.

In 2002 they released a single and in 2005 they finally recorded and released their sophomore effort, "Naishikyo-Sekai", to great acclaim in Metal-zines like "BURRN!" (80 out of 100 points).




GONIN-ISH plays a very technical brand of Experimental progressive-metal. The band is able to create great melodies, always with delicate pianos, percussive pianos (which they use to great effect), odd time signatures and difficult soloing passages. Their music has elements of classical "prog-rock" but also of death-metal, gothic-metal and even punk. Their inclusion in PA is mandatory.