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Frontiers [Release date : 06.12.24]
Through one of those close encounters you read about, Tak Matsumoto, guitarist and founder of leading Japanese rock band, B’z met up with Jack (Night Ranger) Blades and Eric (Mr Big) Martin in LA, in 2004.
As musicians do, they decided to write and record an album together.
Now, some twenty years later they have reformed, with the addition of Matt Sorum, and recorded TMG II.
In a smart commercial move, they invited a couple of famous Japanese artists to join them on two tracks.
Babymetal provide backing vocals on ‘Eternal Flames’. More of a shadow vocal, trading rapidfire phrases with Martin, combining to create the kind of pop immediacy that shines through all the best Japanese pop and rock music.
LiSA is a regular in the Japanese Charts, especially with songs from big hitting Anime series/movies. She sold out the Budokan with her solo concert some years back. Like Babymetal, she is big in Japan.
She duets with Martin on ‘The Story Of Love’.
‘Endless Sky’ and ‘Crash Down Love’ are forceful, melodic hard rock tracks. The guitar/bass backing is reinforced by uncredited keys (as it is on most tracks). Sorum’s hands are heavy on percussive clash, constantly feeding it into the sound of the other instruments.
This combination creates densely constructed hard rock songs. Different to the sound of other bands, and different to the sound of their own legacy material.
The pounding hard rock of ‘My Life’ and ‘Jupiter and Mars’ are more what we would have expected from Martin and Blades. They sound plugged into the history of their own music here.
Still, it’s the track that reaches even further back that might catch your attention.
‘Colour My World’ is something of a pick and mix selection from the Beatles’ “psychedelic” period …’Lucy In The Sky’ and ‘I Am The Walrus’ proving to be fertile ground.
The beautifully descending bass line behind Matsumotu’s searing solos is a killer.
Enjoy this album. They don’t come around very often. ***1/2
Review by Brian McGowan
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