Angherr Shisspa

Koenji Hyakkei

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 2005)
• Original Release Date: October 4, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Skin Graft Records
• ASIN: B000B83832
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #61,563 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Alternative Press
"This is superhero music of the future...perhaps the greatest group currently operating in the world."

Product Description
Some bands you just have to hear, and Japan’s Koenjihyakkei are just such a band. Headed by vocalist/composer/drummer extraordinaire Tatsuya Yoshida (of renowned bass-and-drum duo Ruins), Koenjihyakkei is Area and ELP at their most excessive, Deus Ex Machina with tempo changes multiplied by 100, and Magma at their orff-ian choral, fusion jazz, overcharged gospel peak…all of which is meaningless to those unfamiliar with the aforementioned bands. Maybe that explains why advance listens have yielded head-scratching comments comparing Angherr Shisspa to Stereolab, Yes, Queen, Melt-Banana and "something so far off Broadway it’s on the moon."

All this makes the band sound indecipherable and impenetrable. Fortunately, that’s not the case. There’s plenty to latch onto here, densely packed into the album’s 50-minute running time. In the heady, heavy prog-circles, Koenjihyakkei is already firmly established – renowned as the ultimate contemporary progressive rock outfit with three albums and a live DVD released in their native Japan and exported around the world. Koenjihyakkei explodes with glittery keyboard lines, speedy bass/drum workouts, emotive reed respites, and operatic female vocals that take the listener from sheer exuberance to absolute apocalypse…and all this is performed with superhuman technique in extremely catchy, complex arrangements.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, August 4, 2006

A Kid's Review

It amazes me how much good music comes from Japan. Between Keiji Haino, Merzbow, Muddy World, Ruins, Otomo Yoshihide, Acid Mothers Temple and the Boredoms, you'd think the place would be bled dry of anything new to offer up. Alas, such is not the case as Koenjihyakkei prove, who manage to add their name to the list of great avant/prog artists like those above. I honestly hear something new every time I throw this one in the changer. The shifting dynamics, tight compositions and excellent playing ability of all involved makes this one of the best whim purchases for me thus far. I really can't think of anyone or anything to compare this band to, but if you're into something new, at least moderately interested in the avant-garde and prog scenes, or fascinated with Japanese music, you'll find something to like here.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take me to the limit!, November 4, 2005

By	M. Hiraldo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you experienced these guys last album you know what to expect. Heavy and dense yet layered prog music that rocks. Magma is the closest comparison...but they are moving away from that specific style and becoming their on voice in the 'Zeuhl' idiom. In this outing you can feel the band has grown in experience: tighter arrangements (if that is posible!), better command of dynamics and voicings and a deeper conviction in the whole 'Zeuhl' thing.
Love it and comes highly recommended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unrecognized Classic!, September 24, 2007

By	Miles Massicotte "thedevilsadvocate" (Bristol, CT, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Before I do dare to call this album one of the best progressive rock, maybe the entire rock canon, my listening crudentials are that I am a rock buff and an open listener. My favorite musics (yes, it is okay to spell it with an "s") are classical, jazz, what are usually the higher art music. I recently (well, years ago) got into seeing rock as an art form. My answers are unprejudiced, uninfluenced, and confident. Of course, it is always personal taste. But when a certian work as an undeniable musicality no matter your taste, I feel I can recognize it.

And wouldn't you know! Angherr Shisspa is such an album!

Seriously, this is a level of musicianship and virtuosity almost never seen in rock. Period. The compositions are driving, meditative, complex. The energy unwaivering. Comparisons like to be drawn between this and Magma albums (another gooden) but I can only compare this to one album I've ever heard (and I've heard 'em all) and that is Dun's only album Eros (can you say masterpiece?).

This album for me gets put in a rank of the greatest fusion albums, of which I use the term loosely: to me it means not just jazz-rock, but all music which obviously combines more than one genre into a "supergenre", that is fusion. These great albums are: Blood Sweat and Tears - Child is Father to the Man, System of a Down - Mezmerize+Hypnotize, Frank Zappa - Absolutely Free, Henry Cow - Unrest, Spring Heel Jack - Disappeared, SBB - Memento z Banalnym tryptykiem, Godspeed You Balck Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists..., Mahavisnu's Inner Mounting Flame, Bitches Brew, Eros, and this. Some of these might not even make my top 30, but they are the prime examples of mastery over many genres. (Obviously, the "great albums" could probably be cited as these kinds too: Trout Mask Replica has a blues influence and The Whie Album is all over the map, but since those are indeed primarily influences and not obvious physical discrepancies I leave them out for the sake of organization!)

Ya.