Outrageously brilliant band Gezan takes no prisoners
Because it’s too damn hot to do anything I’m sitting inside, drinking a lot of ice-water and watching movies. There will undeniably be a load of movies about corona in the very near future, something I’m not particularly looking forward to. But yesterday I saw my first corona-movie and damn, it’s actually a very good movie. Toyoda Toshiaki’s The Day of Destruction is an hour long allegory and an astute analysis of the current corona crisis. It has a killer soundtrack that contains, among others, the music of punk rock band Gezan. One of the main parts in the movie, that of a cult-like exorcist, is played by Gezan’s charismatic front man MahiTo the People.
So after the movie I decided to check out what Gezan is up to these days and I found out they brought out a new album in January. It’s called Klue and it is a stunning master piece, blending all kinds of metal music with all kinds of world music and bringing in instruments ad sounds you wouldn’t immediatey expect from a punk metal ensemble, like a didgeridoo. But Gezan has always been this eclectic, being as much a guitar-based band as it relies on polyrythms, tribal chanting, grunting, droning and spoken word.
Klue is passionate and intense, the music is burning hot, the temperature scorching, and Gezan leaves no space for interpretation: “Free refugees, right now!” MahiTo the People keeps screaming against a wall of aggressive drumming and dark chanting, a musical take-no-prisoners attack on our senses. Gezan takes a stand against Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo and against Trump and calls for an uprising. Hell, the album itself is an uprising.
The video above is a very recent registration of a live performance by this magnificent band, organised by Drip Tokyo in co-operation with YouTube, TV-channel Space Shower TV and radio station J-Wave. Yes, Gezan is weird, but I urge you to earnestly listen and you’ll find out how outrageously brilliant this band is. (PB)
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