NEPENTHES, the new world standard in heavy rock, announces new groove-monsterized album

Album Reviews
Written By Matthew Ketchum

NEPENTHES’ vocalist, Negishi, was recently interviewed by Yahoo! News Japan. This is a translation from Japanese to English powered by AI.

 

NEPENTHES’ vocalist, Negishi, was recently interviewed by Yahoo! News Japan. This is a translation of that article from Japanese to English utilizing AI.

The expression "music with blood in it" has been used to describe the sound of NEPENTHES, but their music is not so simple. Their third album, "Grand Guignol," is "music that spurts blood and squirms in a sea of blood.”

Formed in 2012, the band has been overrunning the scene with their super heavy rock, and their new album, their first in five years, is even more powerful, swallowing metal, hardcore, and doom into a whirlpool of groove.

The curtain rises on the stage of Grand Guignol. Interview with vocalist Negishi Yoshiaki

Doom rock is "music with really cool riffs.

Yamazaki (interviewer): Last year (2022), NEPENTHES celebrated 10 years since its formation, and has finally entered the realm of veterans, hasn't it?

Negishi (Nepenthes’ vocalist): No, I don't feel that way at all. There are no senior bands in the hardcore and metal scene that have quit, so I feel like a young band. Of course, there are people who have been playing before us, and new bands are emerging. However, in my mind, "rock music" is the music of young people, so I want to stick to it as if I were young. When I hear ambivalent expressions like "adult rock," I feel like, "What is this guy talking about?

Yamazaki: What is the reason why you stick to rock music, especially heavy rock?

Negishi: I don't know. I am motivated by the loud music I have loved since I was a kid, and I am still doing it... That is my motivation. If you play loud music long enough in your career, you learn how to relax, but not like that! I want to make music that never forgets the impulse I had when I was a kid. I try to play music that goes straight into the heart of the music without forgetting those impulses.

Yamazaki: Please explain the musicality of NEPENTHES to listeners who are new to the band.

Negishi: The music of NEPENTHES is the music that we believe is cool, and this album is the result of that. Compared to previous albums, the "pressure" of the songs and the groove of the riffs have been strengthened. Doom is often defined by the intentional destruction of groove, but in our case, Suto (Kensuke, guitar) used to play with Earth Blow and Goto (Tatsuya, bass) used to play with Barebones, so rock and roll is overwhelmingly at the root of our music. Iwamotor (drums) is also the type of drummer who emphasizes groove, and this is what makes NEPENTHES unique.

Yamazaki: NEPENTHES' music is heavy, hardcore, and psychedelic in style, but elements of doom rock play an important role. What is your obsession with doom?

Negishi: Doom rock is simply "music with really cool riffs" in my opinion. Essentially, it is riff rock, and while some thrash metal and death metal riffs are cool, it is a different kind of coolness.

Yamazaki: How has the musicality of "Grand Guignol" changed compared to the past two albums?

Negishi: Well, I myself don't feel that much has changed, but I am inspired by the changes in the members. But I am sure that the addition of Goto has strengthened the groove of the rock roll. There was the Corona disaster, but after playing a lot of shows with this lineup since 2018, I feel that we have become more of a groove monster. I am convinced that there is no other band that can get this kind of groove than us.

Yamazaki: As the title "Grand Guignol" suggests, the style of the album is like an erotic freak show, but were you conscious of the totality of the album?

Negishi: Yes, a little, not much has changed since the beginning of NEPENTHES, but this time it is clearer, partly due to the use of the phrase "Grand Guignol" in the lyrics of "Perfect World". I think it is clearer this time. The previous titles, "Scent" (2015) and "Confusion" (2017), were more pinpoint, but "Grand Guignol" embodies the band itself. When I think of a freak show, I think of the street in front of Hanayashiki or the Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku. Or the "six-foot-tall weasel" (laughs).

The initial impulse of men fucked by rock 'n' roll.

Yamazaki: What is the leader track Cut Throat from the album like?

Negishi: Cut Throat is a specific description of the world of the song in words, but it's not the only thing I'm trying to describe. There was a song on the first album called Conflict, and just like that, it is a dialogue between two opposing sides of myself, and it is a doom/stoner groove song based on a riff that Suto wrote shortly after we completed the album, Confusion.

Yamazaki: Is the title I Wanna Feed Your Dog an homage to The Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog? The song itself is not very similar, except that it is heavier...

Negishi: Yeah, it's more of a parody title than a tribute. I wasn't trying to make the song similar, but the title just seemed to fit perfectly.

Yamazaki: Bloodlust also has a song with the same title in Venom, but I think the only thing they have in common is that they are both heavy.

Negishi: Of course I love Venom, so I put my own spin on it. But it was the texture of the word "bloodlust" that gave me the idea, and when Suto came to me with the song, the word popped into my head. The song is not similar at all. I wrote the lyrics as an anthem. It's a song that brings kids together. If people don't feel that way, then it's a success. I can only write lyrics like this (laughs).

Yamazaki: Speaking of the totality of the album, is the repetition of the triplets of lead guitar phrases in Bloodlust and Cut Throat an intentional continuity? I am very impressed by the phrase, which is similar to Deep Purple's Child in Time.

It was never intended, but I think Suto said something like, "That sounds like Child in Time. (smiles). We all like old hard rock and have been influenced by it because it is in our blood, and we think that doing it in 2023 is what we are and where we stand.

Yamazaki: Tell us about the chilling acoustic ditty I.C. Water.

Negishi: I.C. Water is a song that sits as a cushion between Still Life and Cut Throat. Of course, I think it works well as a song, but I think of it as something like Black Sabbath's Orchid, where the groove is slowed down to a crawl.

Yamazaki: Wakuraba is over 11 minutes long, and is a doom epic that is a good way to end the album.

Negishi: Wakuraba has been in the works since after the first album, but it was a long time in the making, and finally I was able to finish it. It's a strange song, but it's one of the highlights of the album. I originally came up with this title long before we formed the band, when I was reading a lot of books and somewhere along the way, the word "sicklepod" made an impact on me. But after almost 10 years of putting it down, I came across a character named "Sickle Leaf" in the manga "Oni no Kane"... I haven't read it, but I'm sure I got the idea. I had not read the manga, but I was not happy to have the same story, so I decided to use the hiragana character wakuraba. From now on, when I write a song, I will announce it as soon as possible.

Yamazaki: What effect did having Koichi Hara as a recording engineer have on your music?

Negishi: I did not know Mr. Hara, but Mr. Hamada of Daymere Recordings, the company that will release the album, suggested it to me. I heard that he was the PA guy who was attached to the Boredoms when they were on tour in the U.S., and I also learned that he had worked with BABYMETAL, Boris, FRAMTID, GLOOM, NIGHTMARE, SECOND TO NONE, etc., so he came from that area. I decided to ask him to do it. Bachin! The high-end sound of the band was great, and he understood the music of bands like NEPENTHES, and he took us to a new place with a modern sound while utilizing the original musicality of the band. Even from the recording of the basic track, the sound was so big that it made me say, "Oh!” I said to myself. Thanks to that, I was able to start working on the album with a sense of excitement.

Yamazaki: What do you think is the appeal of NEPENTHES' live shows?

Negishi: As I said before, I think the initial impulse of the men who were fucked by rock'n'roll is directly expressed. But it is not rock'n'roll as revival music, but something that has been updated by the combination of these four musicians. I think people will find it cool regardless of genre. If it's not cool, it's not rock 'n' roll (laughs).

Latest Album

Grand Guignol

Daymare Recordings

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Links

Nepenthes Official Facebook

Daymare Records’ Website

Matthew Ketchum https://www.mkultraman.com