With skill, aggression, and experience, Yousei Teikoku call their subjects to battle.
Having celebrated its 15th anniversary just last year, Yousei Teikoku is a relatively long-lived band. Of course, if you ask the members, they've been around much longer—three hundred years or so. After the masterpiece that was their last full album, PAX VESANIA, one would be inclined to believe they do indeed have that much musical experience. It has been, however, only sixteen short years since Yousei Teikoku entered the human world, and in that time they've managed to carve out a distinct niche for themselves that's one part metal, one part techno, one part classical, and gothic to the core. With their newest single, Shito Kakusei, coming one year after the seminal PAX VESANIA, the band has managed to maintain the same spark that made that album great, while still bringing something new to their subjects.
Formed in 1997 by members Yui and Takaha, Yousei Teikoku's initial offerings were of a softer, airier variety than what most fans (or "subjects", as they're called) are familiar with now. Densely electronic songs about peaches soon gave way to darker, heavier numbers accompanied by a militaristic stage presence, and it is this incarnation of the group that has reached the widest audience. The fascist imagery is a bit of a hard sell to Western listeners, but Yousei Teikoku's intentions are entirely pure—as fairies, they wish to revive their dying empire using the strength of human belief. Now a five member group, their style has recently shifted to a much heavier, more metal-oriented sound.
As part of the band's "counterattack" campaign, one would expect Shito Kakusei to be a powerful, in-your-face affair, and indeed it is. Shito Kanadeshi Hametsu no Tategoto sets the tone with one of the band's trademark choral introductions before swiftly exploding into a violent instrumental battle. Yui's voice has a rather shrill quality to it that could present an obstacle to some listeners, but a higher voice is almost essential to pierce through the veritable wall of sound presented by most of this track. Shito Kanadeshi's sound is purposely warlike and riotous, and is certainly an appropriate start to this musical "counterattack".
The next track, Kakusei, Iteru Tamashii to Unmei no Kyoukaisen, takes a different approach, offering a somewhat slower pace and a different tone. Here, the mood is more courageous and uplifting, calling to mind a soldier in the heat of battle. The dark-sounding bridge offers a counterpoint, but the lyrics emphasize "living on" in an echo of the release campaign's slogan: "We will not perish without fighting".
Shinken Ranbu, the final song of the single, feels like a halfway point between the harshness of Shito Kanadeshi and the more optimistic Kakusei, but offers its own message. Metal bands have a history of writing songs about battle and weapons, and this track feels like Yousei Teikoku's intensely gothic contribution to the tradition. Lines such as "Dance, wind-slicing sword!" serve to drive home the intensity of the release amidst a slightly more symphonic instrumental track.
Shito Kakusei manages to show off exactly what got the band where they are today. The release operates on the strength of its concept, and each song presents a different variation on the theme of military combat. The imagery here is very concrete, and the songs that accompany it are skilfully performed. Yousei Teikoku is one of the very few bands that manages to improve with every new step they take. This single makes it obvious that when the band has an image in mind, they use every musical weapon at their disposal to bring it to fruition. With this kind of opening barrage, there's no doubt that Yousei Teikoku's "counterattack" will be successful.
