The Back Horn

The Back Horn's eponymous album will never be hailed as a milestone of J-rock (let alone any other genre), but it's certainly competent and generally enjoyable. However, it's also somehow elusive, and that's not exactly a good thing. The record's got all it's supposed to have from a technical and stylistic point of view: energetic guitars that the good kids would call "hard rock" (while the bad kids listen to Sigh anyway), anthem-like singing that manages to stay the right side of annoying, fast playing that sounds natural and not as if the band's running out of studio time. There are actually a lot of nice little variations on Back Horn, and that's always a welcome thing in J-rock. "Freesia"'s got some Muse-inspired bass, the chorus of "Koukai" plays '80s rock power chords (the '80s influences typically abound) with nu-metal crunch, and then there are lighter moments, some of which work very well, such as the closer "Eda" that sounds like a good Red Hot Chili Peppers ballad. But all these things negate each other — they don't fight for a place in the mix, but rather blend into a polite mix that bars active attention. It's still got some substance — quite a lot of it, to be honest — but the percentage of hook-free filler is too high compared to first-tier J-rock bands.