Japanese Metal band Ryujin has made their Napalm Records debut with their self-titled album. Releasing it on January 12, 2024, while the band may be new to many, audiences are bound to be familiar with the album’s producer; Japanese-American Metal master Matthew Kiichi Heafy, the lead singer of Trivium. As well as producing Ryujin’s album, Heafy also makes some guest appearances on vocals and in orchestration.
The new album features traditional Japanese instruments on some tracks (such as the dragon flute and Taiko), and also brings us lyrics in both Japanese and English; making this a cultural mix from these self-dubbed proponents of ‘Samurai Metal.’ Over the past few years, we have seen more multicultural Metal taking the international stage and embracing Folk elements. This includes the likes of Mongolia’s The Hu, and all of this continues to show just how versatile heavy music can be in celebrating traditional sounds, as well as expressing modern concerns.
Listening to these tracks, it may be hard to believe that Ryujin are a new band, and that is a fair observation since they have actually been around since 2011; though they were formerly called
Gyze. They had previously released four full-length albums and toured, and through that road-testing they have developed their unique identity and sound. With this, Lead Guitar/Vocalist Ryoji Shinomoto has particularly made a name for himself throughout this process. In the form of Ryujin, he is joined by Drummer Shuji Shinomoto and Bassist Aruta Watanabe.
Choosing which elements of Japanese traditional music to include in their work has also been a careful process for Ryujin, and they have taken an iconoclastic route through incorporating elements from ancient orchestral Gagaku music, but also drawing from the present day and celebrating modern anime themes.
Consisting of twelve songs in total, after an instrumental intro track, the fabulously fast and heavy “Gekokujo” kicks things off with vocal force and a multi-instrumental melee. You will notice right away that the band are drawing on stylistic features that we might associate with Thrash Metal, Death Metal, and Melodic Metal, sometimes within only a few seconds. While many bands these days will move between Metal traditions on the same album, it is much rarer to hear so many combined so fearlessly on a single song.
Moving forward, the blazing “Rainbow Song” is not only melodic, but also a solid feel-good track that conveys a lot of energy, hope, and drive for a better future and expresses human connection. Here, Heafy contributes clean vocals to the soaring track and the anthemic feeling would not be out of place in an Adventure film. While it is not an adaptation of an anime theme, unlike their cover of Linked Horizon’s “Guren No Yumiya” (which also appears on the album), this song strongly suggests the way in which heroic stories may have shaped Ryujin’s imagination and inspired them.
Furthermore, the contrast between the track “Gekokujo” and a track like the gentle and emotive “Saigo No Hoshi” tells you everything you need to know about Ryujin’s range. The song also deserves special mention for its sense of storytelling as well as for its ballad soundscape. Conveying a conflicted person’s position, clearly reflecting upon regret and separation, we also get the sense of someone who feels alienated in their own time, caught between the past and the present; which makes for a great expression of Ryujin’s own ability to bridge different periods of time. That in mind, the guitar solos in the song also really bring home the unique and accomplished musicianship that Ryuji are bringing to the table.
An incredible bonus on this album is the addition of an English-language version of “Saigo No Hoshi” where Heafy performs the vocals. And while it is not to be missed, hearing both versions, rather than just the English-language version, will lead to the greatest appreciation of the song. Since this is an album that benefits as much from a careful listen all the way through, as much as it can be appreciated one song at a time, Cryptic Rock gives Ryujin 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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