Friday, October 12, 2007

Phantasmagoria - 'Kamiuta'

I thought rock music was long dead, perhaps after Kurt Cobain killed himself.

Today I start thinking I may be wrong, because I discovered a song by a "visual-kei" rock band from Japan, which sounds rather good to me. It's called "Kamiuta" (God song) by Phantasmagoria. Check out this promo on YouTube:


What's fascinating about this song is its unpredictability of what comes next. There are several catchy rhythms and melodies in almost random sequence flowing into your ears. Guitar refrains are not straightforward. Vocals exhibit several hues: violent shouts, scary murmurs, sensitive monologues, religiously high-tone chants. Along with elaborate structure of the tune, this makes continuous tension felt throughout the tune. And the promo follows the "visual-kei" tradition (dating back to the early 1990s in Japan): featuring band members in fancy feminine gears with make-up and dyed hair. As an audio-visual entertainment, I must say the quality is very high.

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