05-25-2024, 12:15 AM
Island Trailblazer - 8/10
For my money, I would call Murasaki's self-titled debut one of roughly the ten most important formative albums in the gradual development of Japanese metal in the 70s, as far as things by domestic bands go. Of course select works of bands like the Flower Travellin' Band, Bow Wow, and just a bit later on, Nokemono or Lazy would stand out ahead, but to me the competition doesn't reach much further than that. Long story short, while this particular album leans slightly more rock than metal as a whole, this was one of the first Japanese hard rock albums to make waves on the mainland. The self-titled Murasaki sold extremely well for a homemade hard rock record, and the band got to enjoy a nice run of success in the years surrounding it. Beyond that, thanks in part to this record, Murasaki are neck and neck with Bow Wow, who also debuted in 1976, as the two earliest Japanese rock and metal acts to definitively steer the musical direction of the country's heavier bands away from the doomier sound of the early 70s and add a meaningful dose of speed to the mix.
While Murasaki are quite literally named "Purple" and instrumentally are probably the purest form of Deep Purple worship that Japan ever saw, there's also a hell of lot more going on here than a band merely aping their heroes. For one, Murasaki dip into prog rock influences quite a bit, I'd wager even more-so than Deep Purple typically did, I've noticed this especially in the build up to and during Murasaki's solo sections. Another one is the prominent usage of twin guitars, layering melodies and rhythms masterfully, rounding out the band's sound very well, especially when you've got George acting essentially as a third guitar to contend with. It's busy, certainly, but never to the point that you'd ever call it tiring and the band strikes a strong balance despite so much going on.
There's no doubt that George Murasaki himself would refer to his earlier body of work in the 70s and 80s as being a rock musician first and foremost, but across every project of note in his career during that era, he dished out a healthy amount of heavy metal tracks and that trend started right here on his main band's debut. While there's metallic elements all over, this album's crowning metal highlights appear back-to-back as the openers to the record. Double Dealing Woman is a zippy metal track that exudes raw energy, the guitar work is fantastic and George Murasaki provides all the Hammond organ you could possibly want in a 70s metal tune. As for the second of the two tracks, Devil Woman builds slowly into a violent, and considering the era I almost dare say a thrashy galloping metal riff with crazy progressive twists in several places throughout the song. Needless to say, it's the most aggressive track on this release.
Another strong piece here is Maze, a vibrant and upbeat nine minute instrumental prog jam that, while perhaps not quite as twisty as a lot of prog rock tends to get, demonstrates that the instrumentalists of this band were an extremely synchronized bunch. Maze is quite a whimsical track boasting a great melody and plenty of showy displays by the band's instrumentalists. Another song which I'm especially fond of is Do What You Want, which, while not quite as metallic as the tracks highlighted in the paragraph above, boasts some wonderful twin guitar and the song carries itself with an overall swagger that just kicks ass, to put it bluntly. A somewhat proggy segment with a keyboard solo leading into a tasteful guitar solo is just the cherry on top of a great song. On the note of upbeat, in-your-face rockers, Far Away and Rock and Roll Nightmare are both killer tunes in their own right, and both get awfully metallic too in certain stretches, in and around the solo section of Rock and Roll Nightmare especially.
Strengths in the Murasaki lineup are widespread; you've got the obvious twin guitar spectacle of Kiyomasa and GG front and center, about equally matched with George Murasaki on keyboards doing the best damn Jon Lord impression you could possibly encounter while still maintaining a style distinct to him. In recent years however, perhaps my favorite member of this band's classic lineup has become Eiichi Miyanaga on the kit; in his heyday he was just such a versatile and talented drummer across basically every band he was in, non-metal ones included, with quality prog and even southern rock bands in his credits too. Chibi, as he's nicknamed, leads the charge incredibly well in all his featured projects, and this very first Murasaki album is no exception. Chibi shines throughout the record, but my favorite example of his work here is likely the proggy Maze described above. While a powerful attack is typically the biggest strength he brings to most songs, he can be a very technical player too.
The weakest link in this band however is easily vocalist Masao Shiroma, who while not outright terrible, simply doesn't have the power nor the vocal character and depth of an ideal rock and metal frontman. While to his credit he stays in key, he's rather bland and underwhelming in contrast to what this music deserved, and I do dock this release a few points based on him alone. The biggest kicker and most frustrating part is that it didn't have to be this way either, as Murasaki had an extremely capable singer in the band, that being Eiichi Miyanaga the drummer. While I understand he likely wouldn't have wanted to sing from behind his kit when playing this stuff live, it would have done the band a lot of good to try to make it work, especially in studio because he's genuinely that much better. Despite my relative disappointment in the vocal department, the rest of the band do a fantastic job despite Shiroma's limitations and keep the whole thing together to the point that he's more of an inconvenience than a significant problem.
This album isn't perfect, but it's certainly a quality, extremely listenable record with some great, innovative ideas that pushed boundaries in the young Japanese rock and metal scene, to an extent that almost fifty years later you still get iconic metal-men like Demon Kogure, Minoru Niihara or Pata openly raving about what this group meant to innumerable rock fans and eventual musicians like them back when they were kids growing up in the 70s. To be the band that all the influential guys talk about several decades after you first left your mark, this being a flawless record or not, I would call a job well done.
Put through my first proper review in over three years tonight. Feels good. Take that, depression!
For my money, I would call Murasaki's self-titled debut one of roughly the ten most important formative albums in the gradual development of Japanese metal in the 70s, as far as things by domestic bands go. Of course select works of bands like the Flower Travellin' Band, Bow Wow, and just a bit later on, Nokemono or Lazy would stand out ahead, but to me the competition doesn't reach much further than that. Long story short, while this particular album leans slightly more rock than metal as a whole, this was one of the first Japanese hard rock albums to make waves on the mainland. The self-titled Murasaki sold extremely well for a homemade hard rock record, and the band got to enjoy a nice run of success in the years surrounding it. Beyond that, thanks in part to this record, Murasaki are neck and neck with Bow Wow, who also debuted in 1976, as the two earliest Japanese rock and metal acts to definitively steer the musical direction of the country's heavier bands away from the doomier sound of the early 70s and add a meaningful dose of speed to the mix.
While Murasaki are quite literally named "Purple" and instrumentally are probably the purest form of Deep Purple worship that Japan ever saw, there's also a hell of lot more going on here than a band merely aping their heroes. For one, Murasaki dip into prog rock influences quite a bit, I'd wager even more-so than Deep Purple typically did, I've noticed this especially in the build up to and during Murasaki's solo sections. Another one is the prominent usage of twin guitars, layering melodies and rhythms masterfully, rounding out the band's sound very well, especially when you've got George acting essentially as a third guitar to contend with. It's busy, certainly, but never to the point that you'd ever call it tiring and the band strikes a strong balance despite so much going on.
There's no doubt that George Murasaki himself would refer to his earlier body of work in the 70s and 80s as being a rock musician first and foremost, but across every project of note in his career during that era, he dished out a healthy amount of heavy metal tracks and that trend started right here on his main band's debut. While there's metallic elements all over, this album's crowning metal highlights appear back-to-back as the openers to the record. Double Dealing Woman is a zippy metal track that exudes raw energy, the guitar work is fantastic and George Murasaki provides all the Hammond organ you could possibly want in a 70s metal tune. As for the second of the two tracks, Devil Woman builds slowly into a violent, and considering the era I almost dare say a thrashy galloping metal riff with crazy progressive twists in several places throughout the song. Needless to say, it's the most aggressive track on this release.
Another strong piece here is Maze, a vibrant and upbeat nine minute instrumental prog jam that, while perhaps not quite as twisty as a lot of prog rock tends to get, demonstrates that the instrumentalists of this band were an extremely synchronized bunch. Maze is quite a whimsical track boasting a great melody and plenty of showy displays by the band's instrumentalists. Another song which I'm especially fond of is Do What You Want, which, while not quite as metallic as the tracks highlighted in the paragraph above, boasts some wonderful twin guitar and the song carries itself with an overall swagger that just kicks ass, to put it bluntly. A somewhat proggy segment with a keyboard solo leading into a tasteful guitar solo is just the cherry on top of a great song. On the note of upbeat, in-your-face rockers, Far Away and Rock and Roll Nightmare are both killer tunes in their own right, and both get awfully metallic too in certain stretches, in and around the solo section of Rock and Roll Nightmare especially.
Strengths in the Murasaki lineup are widespread; you've got the obvious twin guitar spectacle of Kiyomasa and GG front and center, about equally matched with George Murasaki on keyboards doing the best damn Jon Lord impression you could possibly encounter while still maintaining a style distinct to him. In recent years however, perhaps my favorite member of this band's classic lineup has become Eiichi Miyanaga on the kit; in his heyday he was just such a versatile and talented drummer across basically every band he was in, non-metal ones included, with quality prog and even southern rock bands in his credits too. Chibi, as he's nicknamed, leads the charge incredibly well in all his featured projects, and this very first Murasaki album is no exception. Chibi shines throughout the record, but my favorite example of his work here is likely the proggy Maze described above. While a powerful attack is typically the biggest strength he brings to most songs, he can be a very technical player too.
The weakest link in this band however is easily vocalist Masao Shiroma, who while not outright terrible, simply doesn't have the power nor the vocal character and depth of an ideal rock and metal frontman. While to his credit he stays in key, he's rather bland and underwhelming in contrast to what this music deserved, and I do dock this release a few points based on him alone. The biggest kicker and most frustrating part is that it didn't have to be this way either, as Murasaki had an extremely capable singer in the band, that being Eiichi Miyanaga the drummer. While I understand he likely wouldn't have wanted to sing from behind his kit when playing this stuff live, it would have done the band a lot of good to try to make it work, especially in studio because he's genuinely that much better. Despite my relative disappointment in the vocal department, the rest of the band do a fantastic job despite Shiroma's limitations and keep the whole thing together to the point that he's more of an inconvenience than a significant problem.
This album isn't perfect, but it's certainly a quality, extremely listenable record with some great, innovative ideas that pushed boundaries in the young Japanese rock and metal scene, to an extent that almost fifty years later you still get iconic metal-men like Demon Kogure, Minoru Niihara or Pata openly raving about what this group meant to innumerable rock fans and eventual musicians like them back when they were kids growing up in the 70s. To be the band that all the influential guys talk about several decades after you first left your mark, this being a flawless record or not, I would call a job well done.
Put through my first proper review in over three years tonight. Feels good. Take that, depression!
Japan's Earliest Metal Bands | 80s All-Female and Female Fronted Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Bands
Looking to add to your collection? Read up on a few sellers to trust or avoid. I'd also be happy to help you out with Obscure Band Research/Questions.
Looking to add to your collection? Read up on a few sellers to trust or avoid. I'd also be happy to help you out with Obscure Band Research/Questions.
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