Petit Brabancon finally reveals itself.
Created in 2021 in Japan, the band which only has in common with the dog of the same name its cover, is composed of Kyo (vocals, Dir en Grey, Sukekiyo), Miya (guitar, MUCC), antz (guitar, Tokyo Shoegazer), Hirofumi Takamatsu (bass, THE NOVEMBERS) and Yukihiro Awaji (drums, L’Arc~en~ciel). Shortly after its creation and a few singles, the band announced the release of Fetish, its debut album.
Don’t Forget, the first track, will immediately reveal a mix between heaviness, raw vocal parts and intense fury, creating a musical hurricane with multiple and complementary influences. Backing vocals create a contrast with the snarling lead vocals on this short track, but Gion quickly comes back to jerky and groovy Nu Metal sounds. It’s easy to foresee the explosions of violence the singer perfectly masters, but riffs give it a special flavor just like on OBEY and its false softness which quickly turns into catchy heaviness. The disturbing clean vocals feed the contrast with explosive saturated parts tempered by the instrumental then the band follows with Ruin of Existence and its immediate groove which lets the five musicians develop an as unpredictable as progressive rhythmic. Shuchou ni Te wo Nobasu Shura is going to reveal us a more worrying and soaring shade of the band’s musical universe, which leaves the vocalist a total freedom between growls and clean vocals, then Koku links catchy sounds to dissonant and soaring leads. The vocal parts adapt to this soft and soaring rhythmic while letting some bursts of rage appear before come to a screaming halt and its modern Post-Punk influences. Keyboards and cybernetic effects develop a very special atmosphere to welcome soothing vocals, which will create a total contrast with the energetic and unhealthy I kill myself which will let some heady leads carry us to heavy parts. Aggressiveness will develop again on Pull the trigger, an extremely catchy and heavy track which lets madness contaminate all the musicians to create energetic and aggressive riffs just like Hiningen, Dokuhaku ni Arazu which simply bewitched me. Between the vocalist’s visceral rage and the haunting instrumental, this track is simply one of this year’s darkest, and it doesn’t let us go until Isolated Spiral takes over with hypnotic leads. Bass also plays an important role in this heavy rhythmic which gives vocal parts a heavy basis before Muchitsujo ha Mukuchi to Utau awakens the madness. Heaviness and permanent rage combine to make this track a real neck breaker before letting Kawaki close the album with this contrast between softness and aggressiveness.
Japanese bands have always cultivated some unique sound, and Petit Brabancon proves it again. All the musicians come from very different bands, and their alliance makes Fetish a varied album focused on devastating groove coupled with massive heaviness.
85/100