弌 (TWO) [AKA: VIVA KOENJI !]

The second album by KOENJI HYAKKEI took three years to follow after the 1994 debut and the first to feature a radical lineup change with only band leader drummer / vocalist Tatsuya Yoshida and keyboardist / vocalist Aki Kubota joining in for a second round of Japan's brutal prog zeuhl party! Joining in on the band's sophomore offering is bassist / vocalist Kengo Sakamoto and guitarist / vocalist Jin Harada. The album was originally released simply as 弌 (Ni) meaning "Two" in English but has since become retitled VIVA KOENJI! which is actually more fitting considering how lively this band is.

As with its debut KOENJI HYAKKEI continues the tribute to Magma's classic zeuhl style with the same bubbly martial rhythmic drive and stentorian choral effects only with all aspects turned up to metal mode with rampaging guitar riffing and frenetic drumming run amok similar to Yoshida's Ruins project as well as a thumping bass groove that firmly places the band in familiar territory. While the debut was brutal prog for the album's entirety, VIVA KOENJI! is a much more diverse affair with stronger composiitons shined into brutal prog perfection. The new lineup and an attention to stronger compositions allowed the band to focus on a more varied palette of tricks and trinkets that take the band's sound to the next level and beyond.

The album's run of just over 58 minutes is as frantic as ever but more controlled in how such tirades of energetic excess are divvied out. Along with a more cleverly means of distribution, the melodies are stronger, the musicianship is tighter and the level of virtuosity has been increased. While the debut was more like a trial run, VIVA KOENJI! sounds more epic in its range with more creatives uses of extreme time signatures, dynamics and tempo changes. While the harsh operatic male and female vocals are both still present, there is a lot more effort to varying vocal styles and trade offs as well as a much more crafty use of guitar riffing and intricate licks. Some sizzling metal solos even find their way into the mix although the main riffing is still very much rooted in the punkish noise rock of early Boredoms and other Japanese hardcore.

To call this music adventurous would be a serious understatement as KOENJI HYAKKEI this time around offers as many clever uses of silence, staccato keyboard stabs and minimalistic effects as it does with the barrage of aggressive outbursts that still dominate the band's overall sound. The music often borders on pure psychosis with tracks like "Sllina Vezom" sounding something like the theme music for the film "Psycho" only taken into the extremities of avant-garde metal and avant-prog punk! The keyboards and drumming also have been seriously upgraded on this second album and to top it off the tracks are all quite distinct from one another making this a mesmerizing if not exhausting near hour run's endeavor. The performances are top notch as the youthful irreverence and punkish delivery system is topped off with some of the most professional sophistication that the world of progressive rock can deliver thus propelling KOENJI HYAKKEI as one of the most acclaimed modern zeuhl bands in existence.

This album is simply as electrifying as it is elegant in all its excess. The perfect balance between the beautifully sublime and the grimy offensive all haunt your soul with this wild ride through the most extreme brutal sounds the world of progressive rock has to offer. By this time Yoshida had launched a million side projects but given the high praise that the world was heaping on KOENJI HYAKKEI for its innovative upgrade of the classic French zeuhl sounds into a brave new world of brutality and dissonance, this band seemed to become Yoshida's main baby and all the attention showered on every detail paid off significantly. One of the best zeuhl albums to emerge from the fertile renaissance that was occurring in Japan in the 1990s and truly one of the most innovative zeuhl albums of the modern age period. For the extremists only! This is truly proggy ping pong headache music that will eat you up and spit you out if you're not acclimated to the intensity :)

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