Source: Bounce.com
Rap-metal band RIZE ends a five-month hiatus with a performance on Dec. 9. Each member of the group wrote messages on the band’s web site regarding what they called a “time out”. RIZE performs at Shibuya O-West as part of the “Peace Vol. 3” showcase.
Source: Bounce.com
RIZE will go on hiatus, according to the band’s official fan club. “RIZE has come to a point to take a [break] for a while until the ‘TIME OUT’ is over,” the fan site writes. During the break, the site will track each member’s activity. Singer Jesse worked with Sphere of Influnce on the side project GICODE in 2003.
Source: Bounce.com
GICODE, featuring Jesse from RIZE and Sphere of Influence, releases its debut album on Nov. 19. The band’s pre-release single, “G-I-C-O-D-E”, was used as the theme song for the movie Guuzen ni mo Saiaku na Shoonen. GICODE’s sound has been described as a combination of hip-hop and rock. Sphere of Influence, meanwhile, releases its second album Trailblazah on Oct. 29.
Okay, I confess — I love TOKIE.
She played an upright bass in the middle of RIZE’s heavy metal guitars, and she grounded Asai Kenichi’s atmospheric strumming in AJICO.
She has an incredibly sense of rhythm, and like the very best bass guitarists in the world, she lays a musical foundation every bit as melodic as a singer or lead guitarist.
Which of course means Foreplay, RIZE’s second album, had to work harder to impress me.
TOKIE left RIZE in March 2001, and as a result, drummer Nobuaki Kaneko and guitarist/vocalist Jesse auditioned a new bassist and a second guitarist.
The new line-up went straight to work, releasing three singles before unleashing Foreplay.
On the surface, RIZE continues to pack the rock half of its rap-rock equation with beefy riffs and aggressive vocals.
The addition of guitarist Nakao Hiro definitely injects RIZE with an extra dose of testosterone, and TOKIE’s replacement U-ZO does a fine job painting within the lines of heavy metal bass picking.
As such, RIZE brings itself closer in line with the rap-rock aesthetic ground to death by bands on a Vans Warped Tour itinerary.
Is that necessarily a good thing? TOKIE’s smart bass work made RIZE stand out. The two-guitar attack makes Foreplay far more dramatic than the accomplished debut Rookey, but it takes a bit more work to get past surface predictability and uncover the album’s true heart.
Foreplay does a great job continuing RIZE’s hook-friendly metallic muse, and as a youth-market product, the album does a fine job delivering head-banging, body-slamming music.
But without TOKIE, RIZE loses just enough of its edge to make it stand apart from the Limp Bizkits of the world. Get this album if you don’t mind a little conformity.
Big ass disclaimer in first-person perspective (you hate reading ’em, and I hate writing ’em, so let’s get it out of the way):
If I were forced to listen to rap-rock, I’d like it to be more heavy on the rock than the rap. But that’s just me.
I don’t channel hip-hop culture, so that portion of a rap-rock equation will be lost on me no matter how good the artist is. Which means I’ll take uninformed potshots at Limp Bizkit and Korn while practicing a double standard idolizing Rage Against the Machine and Missile Girl Scoot.
Now that you know from where I’m coming, I can now safely proceed to give RIZE a favorable review.
This Japanese trio is a rock band first. The guitar riffs are pure metal. Bassist TOKIE delivers some Zeppelin-worthy lines, even busting out an electric upright to give her part something subtle and special. Nobuaki Kaneko, meanwhile, grounds everything with drumming that’s both solid and all-over-the-place.
Even though vocalist/guitarist Jesse spends most of the recording rapping in a raspy, bleach-drenched holler, he does at least to attempt to sing — and I use that term somewhat loosely — some choruses.
The results aren’t too bad on such tracks as “Music”, “Why I’m Me” and “Rocks.” Then again, with riffs as big as these, the last thing RIZE needs is a Really Good Singer. In short, Jesse does his job pretty damn well.
RIZE’s debut album, Rookey, is the kind of recording you either really dig ‘cos you’re into rap-rock, or you hate yourself for liking ‘cos it is rap-rock.
But don’t let rough-hewned rap delivery hang you up — RIZE knows how to rock out. It’s all there in the guitars.