Bridear – A Sensational All-Female Quintet and the Epitome of Japanese Diligence (2017)
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 20.02.2017
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: €10.00 (presale) / €13.00 (day of show)
Bridear, a Japanese all-female metal quintet formed in 2011 in the city of Fukuoka, brought their European tour to the Slovenian capital too. The girls came to present their first studio album, “Baryte”, which came out last year.
Japanese musicians have definitely 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, going to their shows has always been seriously appealing. Now, the ladies in Bridear actually look like barely-of-age young women, who musically don’t represent anything out of the ordinary. But once you factor in their youth and the fact that they’re girls, their output suddenly gains value. And in general, all you can do is bow to the band once they win you over and sweep you away during the actual performance.
This time around, the visit to Orto bar was a total surprise. No support act, no big energy outlay burned while waiting for the headliner, and no expectations whatsoever. I was honestly afraid the show would be empty. Wrong. At least a hundred people had gathered in the small, i.e. 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: 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 budding young ladies fired up their machines, the partying began. Real partying. The energy in Orto bar was superb. People reacted loudly, and at least half the audience got a proper workout during the set.
And Bridear? Except for bassist Haru, they weren’t dressed up as brides, as you’d expect from the videos of their live shows. They showered the crowd with a hail of smiles that would make an entire American acting school give up. Even though the mix of power metal and metalcore seemed predictable, the girls blew me away with what they showed. Considering they come from the female world of imagination, the compositions are anything but easy. They’re built from multiple leitmotifs, multiple rhythmic keys, multiple melodies. They have elaborate intros and outros. The girls also stunned me with the speed they hit in their songs. Ultrasonicity, born! 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 plenty of Slovenian guitarists, who forever study Albert Einstein’s guitar-playing technique.
So, a neoclassical approach to guitar playing, close to the Swedish school. It instantly becomes clear why, say, Y.J. Malmsteen, Chris Impelliterri and Paul Gilbert have always been such incredibly popular guitar heroes in Japan. The Japanese have always highly valued 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. The sheer hellish velocity of information packed into the playing will blow your mind. Bridear’s guitar passages in thirds of course sometimes nod to Iron Maiden, and it’s interesting how they cross those old-school metal habits with modern touches that lean toward the sound of metalcore bands. That goes especially for the way they implant passages full of »breakdowns«, played on the upper three strings of a lower, growling tuning, with dropped bass lines. An incredible mix of old and new. All of it was fleshed out by the excellent Kai behind the drums; her double bass pedal pounding in particular was stunning, filling every bit of available space in the songs.
Vocally, singer Kimi is a phenomenon. Including when it comes to whether to take her completely seriously or not. I don’t know whether 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 can’t be sure which language she’s using. It’s neither Japanese nor English. Probably »Japanized« English. Radically reworked. The incredibly likeable singer a few times let loose with extreme highs on the edge of piercing, sine-wave shrillness and almost punctured the eardrums of everyone present. Helping her out on vocals were guitarist Misa with growls and bassist Haru.
The use of the stage is excellent too. The girls are incredibly dynamic. Headbanging all over the place. Both guitarists take center position whenever they play in thirds, and they take the central spots when soloing, too. They can also trade off several »lead break« passages. Like I said. In everything you hear when you watch Bridear, there’s a huge amount of grinding, grinding and nothing but grinding, which only proves what a diligent nation the Japanese are. Whatever Bridear take on, they carry out with incredible commitment, heart and fire. The girls were enjoying themselves like crazy up there. That was plain as day.
The show wrapped up in an hour and ten minutes. In the blink of an eye. Not a soul had any complaint (maybe only about the muffled guitar sound in the first third of the show), just a feeling of respect for their relentless stage presence and the incredibly heartfelt performance, spiced with a superb helping of creative imagination, perfectionism and technically polished precision. When it comes to what the female world can pull off musically, Bridear are truly a one-of-a-kind attraction and an enviable phenomenon that 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!
photos: Klemen Udovč
Photo Gallery
