Bridear – a sensational all-female quintet and the embodiment of Japanese diligence (2017)
Bridear
2/20/2017
Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Bridear, a Japanese all-female metal quintet formed in 2011 in the city of Fukuoka, stopped by the Slovenian capital on their European tour. The girls came to present their debut studio album “Baryte”, which came out last year.
Japanese musicians have always been famous for the peculiarities of their musical perception, and the resulting “quirkiness” in how they express musical art, and on that score alone their gigs have always been hugely appealing. Well, the ladies in Bridear are, on the surface, barely-legal young women who, musically speaking, don’t bring anything out of the ordinary. But once you factor in their youth and the fact that they’re girls, their output goes up in value. And in general, all you can do is bow to the band once they win you over and sweep you away during the show itself.
This time around, the trip to Orto bar was a real treat. No support act, none of that energy you burn off waiting for the headliner, and no expectations whatsoever. I was honestly afraid the show would be empty. Wrong. At least a hundred people packed into the small, that is, upstairs hall of Orto bar. You won’t believe it. Faces you mostly don’t run into at metal gigs in Slovenia. So who were they? Yes, you guessed it. Japanese-language students and their friends. When the girls took their positions at half past ten at night, the crowd moved from the back all the way up to the edge of the stage. The moment the promising young ladies fired up their machines, the revelry began. Real revelry. The energy in Orto bar was superb. People reacted loudly, and at least half the crowd got a proper workout during the band’s set.
And Bridear? Except for bassist Haru, they weren’t dressed up like brides, which is what you’d expect from their live videos. They showered the crowd with a hailstorm of smiles that would leave even the whole American school of acting speechless. Even though the mix of power metal and metalcore felt predictable, the girls blew me away with what they delivered. For compositions coming from a female world of imagination, they’re anything but easy. They’re built from multiple leitmotifs, multiple time signatures, multiple melodies. They contain elaborate intros and outros. The girls also stunned with the speed they build up in the songs. Born ultrasonic! Both guitarists, Mitsuru and Misa, are equals in the solos, where their fingers race along the fretboards with feather-light ease, and the two fire off extremely fast solo passages so brilliantly that they could easily serve as role models even for many Slovenian guitarists who forever study the Albert Einstein technique of guitar playing.
So, a neoclassical approach to guitar playing, close to the Swedish school. It immediately becomes clear why, say, Y.J. Malmsteen, Chris Impelliterri and Paul Gilbert have always been incredibly popular guitar figures in Japan. The Japanese have always put a high value on technical flawlessness crossed with hellish speed. Just check out the younger-generation Japanese guitarist named Syu, his latest solo record, the Animetal project and/or the records of his band Galneryus. You’ll lose it at the hellish speed of information flying around in the material they play. Bridear’s guitar passages in thirds inevitably pull toward Iron Maiden at times, too, and the crossing of those old-school metal habits with modern touches that lean toward the sound of metalcore acts is fascinating. That goes especially for the implanting of passages full of “breakdowns”, played on the top three strings in a lower, growling tuning with dropped bass lines. An incredible mix of old and new. All of it was filled out by the excellent Kai behind the drums, and her pounding on the double bass pedal was especially stunning, filling up whatever space was available in the songs.
Vocally, singer Kimi is a phenomenon. Also in terms of whether you should take her completely seriously or not. I don’t know if anyone in the club that night figured out what language she sings in. The song titles are of course written in English, but when the girl sings, you’re not sure which language she’s using. It’s neither Japanese nor English. Probably “Japanified” English. Radically adapted. The incredibly likable singer, with extreme highs bordering on piercing, sine-wave shrillness, nearly punctured the eardrums of everyone present several times. She got vocal help from guitarist Misa with growls and from bassist Haru.
The use of the stage was excellent too. The girls are incredibly dynamic. Hair flying everywhere. Both guitarists take center stage whenever they play in thirds, and they take the center spots when soloing, too. In the process they can also trade off several “lead break” passages. Like I said. In everything you hear when watching Bridear, there’s a ton of grinding, grinding and nothing but grinding, which just proves what a hardworking nation the Japanese are. Whatever Bridear take on, they carry out with incredible commitment, heart and fire. The girls were having a ridiculously good time up there. That was plain as day.
The show wrapped up in an hour minus ten minutes. Over in the blink of an eye. Nobody had a single complaint (maybe only because of the muddy guitar sound in the first third of the show), just a feeling of respect for the relentless stage presence and the incredibly heartfelt performance, seasoned with a superb helping of creative imagination, perfectionism and technically polished precision. For the overall musical creative reach of the female world, Bridear are truly a one-of-a-kind attraction and a phenomenon worth every bit of envy, one you absolutely have to experience at a live venue at least once in your life. Five absolute “sweeties” who summon a real concert demon from the depths of their souls!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Klemen Udovč
