Mardelas - Mardelas III

Mardelas has enjoyed the steadiest career of any act to emerge from the DESTROSE stable. Founded as a solo project of Marina Hebiishi's in 2014, it quickly grew to a four-piece with the addition of Screaming Symphony guitarist Kikyo Oikawa and LIGHT BRINGER's rhythm section. The only blip was bassist hibiki's 2017 exit, but he was promptly replaced by Oikawa's Screaming Symphony colleague Hisayuki Motoishi. Their first album with him, Mardelas III, was released in May last year.

In typical Mardelas fashion, the album starts with a splash, kicking off with a triple-header of blistering heavy metal. The band then take a detour into classic rock territory but find their way back within three songs. The only deviation from the uptempo mayhem is the dusky rock ballad Tokai no Tasogare -Urban Twilight-. The consistency in sound is a marked contrast to musical curve-balls Mardelas II threw with songs like  HA☆NA☆BI.

Among Mardelas III’s later tracks are Symbiosis and Link, both of which were previously beyond the reach of most fans, confined as they were to the live-limited single Snake to Metamorphose. The third track from that release, the hibiki-composed Jaywalker has been omitted, but the included tracks deliver a welcome jolt of energy that nicely tees up the incendiary (and aptly-named) finale Epilogue.

In interviews running up to the release, Mardelas spoke at length about Mardelas III being a concept album, casting Marina in the role of a widow plotting the revenge of her assassinated husband in Tokyo’s Kabuchuko district. It’s to the band’s credit that there are no oblique references to the underlying narrative, avoiding any risk of spoiling the enjoyment of listeners who don’t understand Japanese.

All told, Mardelas III finds the band sounding more and more like the LOUDNESS of their generation. That is to say, a once-pious metal band increasingly happy to blur the lines between hard rock and heavy metal in search of a good tune. The effect is amplified by a guitarist determined to bleed every possible sound out of his instrument his fingers and plectrum will allow.