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Let’s become band heroes
-Having made this album, are there a concept and a theme etc.?
Anzi: There was a big objective within me to ‘’become a band hero’’. Since we’re a rock band I think we have friendly quarrels between members on stage and in our sound for sure. That’s why I want every member respectively to hold pride in their own parts. For kids who play the guitar I endeavor to play the guitar so that they may think ‘’I want to play this guitar song’’ and I think if it’s Sono, when listening to his own voice he should want them to think ‘’I want to become a vocalist who can sing this type of high tone’’. This time with my own parts for sure I dealt with making them holding this feeling in particular.
-So, for the sound, what kind of objectives did you have?
Sono: Because we have ballad songs and very aggressive songs and so on I was preparing for new songs where I could express a side I couldn’t with the singles.
Ayame: Because I’m the type of person who enjoys the challenge of things I haven’t done yet up to that point, I’d been preparing to play the keyboard like that as well but in creating the music that feeling was especially strong. For instance with ‘’Mermaid’’ I used a sequence track and a change of the keys and a chord progression I hadn’t used up till then yet and so forth, I’m trying a lot of things.
Sono: So, I’d listened and thought about our finished album and more than yet more visual kei and heavy metal and so on it’s a Matenrou Opera style rock. If you listen to the album even a little bit I think you’ll understand what kind of band Matenrou Opera is.
Anzi: It’s just a wish but I feel like it would be nice if the name Matenrou Opera can become a genre by itself.
An album born from the theme of ‘’Justice’’ was compacted
-In the album title of Justice more than extreme symbolism a powerful word was used, wasn’t there?
Sono: In recording the songs of this album there were a lot of lyrics with contents that go ‘’more than living, there are all kinds of anxieties but let’s overcome them and believe in ourselves.’’ The album’s title track ‘’Justice’’ was the last song that was made but since it holds the meaning of being the container of the theme of an album like that I think we made an exceptionally ideal song.
-There may very well be a word like ‘’Justice’’ in the depths of everyone’s hearts. Because you made this into the song title, could it be so that it makes the theme of the album even clearer?
Sono: Certainly. Because ‘’Justice’’ is present in every one person, hmm, what kind of justice do you believe in, not letting yourself be swept away by others how do you live your life, in the end I only believe in my own justice and so on. Such kinds of thoughts are packed into this song. Furthermore because I put a link to the other songs in the lyrics of ‘’Justice’’ the album has the image that its world opens up and spreads out from here on going the second song, the third song.
Yo: From the birth of the theme of ‘’Justice’’, more than ever have we put together an actual album, and I think all the members have individually been able to demonstrate their abilities more than before.
-Have there been instances where you’ve been inspired by lyrics in your performances and phrases?
Anzi: Because ‘’Justice’’ has the lyrics of ‘’I’m gonna believe in and let my own justice pierce through’’, I’ve recorded with the feeling of letting the playstyle I think is cool and believe in pierce through without imitating what the artists who are popular and selling well in this current age are doing.
Yu: When performing roughly when songs are at the stage that the composition is done, we can create an image but detailed phrases and such will bother me till the end. After listening to the song when we’re done because we’ll judge it like ‘’we have to add more to this part, because the song isn’t shining, is it’’ or ‘’let’s prolong everything from this part through the entire song’’, reviewing the melody of the song and the lyrics is important.
The weight of a very small person is used metaphorically as the title to ‘’21mg’’
-The title of the song ‘’21mg’’ is really impressive, isn’t it?
Sono: The ‘’21mg’’ points at the weight of the soul. I’ve been told that after a person dies, the weight of the body decreases to 21 grams only. In this song in which I wanted to convey an even smaller weight, a single person is having the conflict of ‘’is it okay like this?’’ but arrives at the conclusion of ‘’even if this tiny individual disappears (or doesn’t), the world won’t change. That’s why I’ll go and enjoy this world.’’ That’s why I picked the metaphorical title that the weight of this tiny person is ‘’21mg’’. It has a negative connotation but, it’s a song about wonderfully looking forward. It says ‘’even when you’re small, let’s go live!’’
-And, the guitar riff in this song has this, what do you call it, 70’s hard rock-like sound so I got a very different impression from this song than from the rest.
Anzi: My personal style has a strong influence from the 70’s and 80’s hard rock, but at the time Sono brought the demo for this song this riff came out naturally. I wasn’t aware of it but it’s drenched in it, right. (laughs)
More than being impressed, a guitar play that moves you.
-This time, there was an instrumental song titled ‘’Just Be myself’’ recorded as well. When playing an instrumental song, what things in particular did you pay attention to?
Anzi: Comparing instrumental numbers with vocal numbers, I think there aren’t really that many people in the world who listen to them but this time I kept the idea in my heart of although there are no lyrics the guitar is singing, so you won’t be able to think of getting bored while listening to it.
-When the album was nearing its final stages, it was recorded, however, continuing to that time without being defeated by the vocal numbers and not in the least feeling out of place with the others songs in the sense of being melodious, I think it blends into the album in its natural shape.
Anzi: Thank you very much. Because I simply want to come to play more so that people say ‘’The tone color is pretty’’ and ‘’I feel good listening to this’’ and so on more than playing real good, I made this song really aware of having my guitar play move people more than them being impressed by it.
A ‘’Matenrou Opera style rock’’ made because it’s the 2012 of the present
-And, the song that wraps up the album, ‘’Kizuna’’, has an individual image but I believe it’s directed at the victims of the large East Japan earthquake disaster.
Sono: It’s like that, yes. Because ‘’Kizuna’’ was a song made directly after the earthquake disaster, we support those people victimized by or hurt by the earthquake disaster and so on, it’s a song with a very strong meaning.
-The version previously released with the single ‘’Helios’’ was much shorter and had an acoustic style arrangement but, that and the full album version, which did you create first?
Ayame: Because at the time before the acoustic version was in the recording phase, although it’s slightly different from the present version, there was an arrangement with the guitar and strings, the full version we put on the album came first. From the start we’d intended on making the full version but because shortly after the earthquake disaster there was a planned power outage so using power became a struggle and thus we presented our record company with our acoustic version.
-From the single version, the number of syllables have increased and the musical composition has been changed as well, so I was able to enjoy it with a fresh feeling like it was a different song. And, from the way the lyrics reverberate as well I got a stronger impression.
Sono: The lyrics to the single version and the album version are the same but, seeing as one years has passed since the earthquake disaster, singing it presently, I feel like my thoughts I had put into the lyrics have become stronger than before. At the time of recording the album version as well, more than at the time of the single version I sang with the feeling of ‘’I want to embrace those people who were met by the disaster and are working so fervently.’’
-Listening through the whole album, I felt very strongly that it was story-like, and furthermore it has a lot of elements put into it; I feel like you can’t say there’s one CD that can sums up the present Matenrou Opera.
Sono: I believe the product we made is what it is because it’s the 2012 of the present. I think I’m completely able to say with pride that this is one CD that is ‘’a Matenrou Opera-style rock CD’’. However, to tell the truth the idea for our next work has already been born. Exactly because we’ve made this ‘’Justice’’ album, I’ve become able to see the road to grow further again more and more.
-This is not much of an answer but, this might be a checkpoint for the development toward yet again a new Matenrou Opera, right.
Sono: If it’s gonna be that way, I will be happy.
<The top 5 album picks from the members received strong influence when making ‘’Justice’’>
Anzi’s select
YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN'S RISING FORCE’’MARCHING OUT’’（1985）
Anzi: My number one inspiration comes from the guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. The way he plays in ‘’MARCHING OUT’’ is my favorite. When I hear it, somehow it’s like he understands where I come from. Normally, I value ‘’TRILOGY’’ (1986) the most but I love the guitar solos, the phrasing and the emotion he has put in ‘’MARCHING OUT’’.
-There are many instrumental songs on Ingwie’s album so is the song ‘’Just Be Myself’’ you put on the ‘’Justice’’ album also an echo of that?
Anzi: Listening to various guitarists and not just Ingwie, because I think those influences have mixed inside of me, ‘’Just Be Myself’’ doesn’t have a feeling of being ‘’my personal style’’, does it? However, when recording the new song ‘’Apoptosis’’ I wasn’t really thinking; when I listened to it when I’d calmed down afterward I thought ‘’it’s like ALCATRAZZ’’ (a band Ingwie had joined in during the first half of the 80s). When I said it to the director he replied with ‘’that’s quite possible’’, so it must be Ingwie after all (laughs).
Yu’s select
HELLOWEEN ‘’KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, PT.2’’（1988）
Yu: Truly, I wanted to recommend ‘’KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, PT.1’’ (1987) as well, the two of them together but, when it comes to which one I like best, it’s part 2. In all seriousness it can be said that this album is a textbook to speed metal but, in reality the music is rich with variety and when there’s straight hard rock as well there’s a splendid musical selection, and I feel like ‘’Justice’’ has something close to this as well. Because this album is on the top of my list I’ve listened to it a lot but I have yet to come across an album that surpasses it.
-I see.
Yu: And, more than anything, I really love the HELLOWEEN from that time. The HELLOWEEN at that time was so that the vocals, guitars, bass and drums were all in gear with each other. I gained all kinds of influences, not just from the drums, and refined it into the ‘’Justice’’ album.
-The drummer for HELLOWEEN at that time was Ingo Schwichtenberg, right.
Yu: Sadly, Ingo has already passed away but, but more than a strict technical player he was a person who freely expressed the sound he desired himself. A drummer just like that is exactly what I aim to be myself more. Of course I want to get better on a technical aspect as well but more than that what I mean is ‘’coming to understand the drums better, how will I express myself?’’
-This might be a bit out of the blue but, when I listened to ‘’Apoptosis’’ I had to think of ‘’Eagle Fly Free’’ of HELLOWEEN (a song on ‘’KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, PT.2’’).
Everyone: Aah.
Yu: I see. I did a little bit of that drumming but, thinking it fit with the song I tried it with ‘’Apoptosis’’. Like an homage.
-It’s weird to compare the two but may I say that there’s an influence from HELLOWEEN here?
Yu: If the kids listen to that album, I wonder if they’re gonna smile. Reading this interview, when they’re gonna listen to HELLOWEEN, I think they’ll notice things like ‘’ah this part of this song…’’, I think that’s one way to enjoy music as well. I think especially to those who play an instrument, if they hear it, they’ll find it interesting.
Yo's select
DREAM THEATER「METROPOLIS PT.2 : SCENES FROM A MEMORY」（1999）
Yo: Because I love DREAM THEATER, the number one bassist I receive my inspiration from is John Myung. The guitarist and keyboardist of DREAM THEATER have a brilliant way of playing. And, has a fast way of playing as well so the bassist John supports them from his place while he has a great sense of playing the bass as in appearing to the front when he does. ‘’METROPOLIS PT.2 : SCENES FROM A MEMORY’’ is a concept album however, when I listen to this album I understand why I want to be a bassist.
-DREAM THEATER strangely has a similar band formation to Matenrou Opera, right. To tell the truth, when I first listened to Matenrou Opera I got this feeling that the combination of the keyboard phrasing, sound color and the rhythm were inspired by DREAM THEATER. There’s a lot of commonalities as well in the individualistic style of play and timing you use when you play before the usual heavy and coordinated parts.
Yo: However when adding the vocals, everything gets mixed up with what was put in before. The part of ‘’playing by pulling’’ is something that was considerably influenced though.
Ayame's select
NIGHTWISH「IMAGINAERUM」（2011）
Ayame: I think this was released just around the time we were recording for the ‘’Justice’’ album. Because I’d originally received quite some influence from NIGHTWISH, ‘’IMAGINAERUM’’ is an album I’d been enjoying all the time since it’s release. Matenrou Opera has called upon a symphonic sound as well but for me the one foundation to ‘’symphonic’’ is NIGHTWISH. They don’t just use a synthesizer but also put in strings and a brass sound whilst creating their unique worldview. Because of that I’ve received quite some influence from them. Especially the contents of this ‘’IMAGINAERUM’’ has a musical and movie soundtrack like sound to it. Our ‘’Justice’’ does not have this musical or movie like concept but it’s an album that does heavily reference this type of sound.
-On the final work of ‘’IMAGINAERUM’’ there’s also a 13 minute song called ‘’Song Of Myself’’ recorded, do you think a song of such length would seem like a challenge to Matenrou Opera?
Ayame: If there’s a concept like that, I feel like I’d want to tackle the idea of a concept album.
Sono's select
ANGRA「ANGELS CRY」（1993）
Sono: It’s an album that was released the first half of the 1990’s but I absolutely adore it. Comparing the band’s ANGRA’s worldview and sound to regular metal bands they have a slightly different color and such. They a Brazilian band but having received their influence from classical and opera music they’re a unique being that you cannot liken to anyone else. This ‘’ANGELS CRY’’ is the album that started the history of that ANGRA and when you listen to it, it really gives you this strong notion of ‘’this is the worldview we’d like to build’’. They’re a Brazilian band but having no connection with the border of their country’s reach, I think they’re a band that doesn’t belong to one place.
-I’ve this memory of the moment when ANGRA entered the stage and thinking it’s a difficult band, lumping together all these different genres such as melodic metal and speed metal.
Sono: That’s so, hmm, difficult, right.
- I think know for sure there are bands popping up quickly calling themselves ANGRA follower bands but even know I think they are a unique being. Moreover since the first half of the 1990’s when they entered the stage was a time when hard rock and heavy metal and such were declining in world popularity, I think there’s a deep interest in the bands then who came from Brazil and are like ANGRA.
Sono: I especially like the time when Andre Matos (retired in 2000) was the vocalist. For instance I think it’s really cool how he didn’t break away from his own worldview. I think I came to want to be a vocalist like him.