Nagoya-based rockers ES-TRUS will celebrate their fourth anniversary this year, but despite their age, they don’t have a lot of releases. It’s a bit sad, since the musicians are actively performing and play one hot gig after another. However, in
the ‘quality versus quantity’ battle, the band choose to stick with quality. Judging by their fourth single, released last November, ES-TRUS is still warming up, but at such a pace that akatsuki / kagaribi could easily make you lose your mind.
This
time, the band goes full-force right from the start, bringing all the strength of their skillful and loud rock music to bear on fans. Just listen to the crazy drumming, which pierces akatsuki like a hurricane and has the potential to create
circle pits during gigs. The musicians don’t stop there, heating the atmosphere up further with perky riffs, some flamenco-like elements and rich melodic basslines. This explosive mix of fast-paced rhythms, heavy guitar lines and badass
frontwoman Kyoka’s vocals works like a Molotov cocktail, but instead of fire, ES-TRUS is pouring everything around with their unbridled energy.
The second track of the release keeps apace
with the opening one. kagaribi is a little slower but nevertheless an interesting song, at least because of its constant changes in speed. Dynamic verses switch over to choruses filled with fun drive, only to pave the way for heavy instrumental
parts. Almost four minutes of this non-stop action-packed track passes by like mere seconds.
ES-TRUS is still a young band but with every release its sound becomes more confident and catchy. Moreover, for akatsuki / kagaribi, the musicians put all they have together, offering perhaps the hottest and most energetic songs in
their relatively small discography. It is an open question whether or not the band can maintain this level of quality in the future, but we’ll recommend everyone to keep an eye on them. ES-TRUS definitely have the potential to rock hard.