Sir Vanity embraces hardcore and post-rock to deliver one of the most violent and heartwrenching rock songs released in 2022.
Sir Vanity consists of Yoshiki Nakajima (vocals and guitar), Yuichiro Umehara (vocals and guitar), Arte Refact’s Satoru Kuwabara (on bass), and taisei (VJ & Creative Director).
Title: will Label: VANITY RECORDS Release date: 18/03/2022 Genre: Hardcore/Post-rock
Tracklist:
1 - will
Track analysis:
1 – will
Urgent, dramatic strings paint the background to what is the heaviest song by Sir Vanity (so far).
The build-up is slow but quite intense, with the guitars blasting their way through the violent drums that take you to the first verse.
The tone is dark, decadent. It almost feels like the moment before giving up. It is crucial. Raw and violent and the instrumental reflects that, going straight for your feelings.
There are strong influences of hardcore in this song – instrumental only – with some post-rock in the mix – noticeable in the slow, melodic intermissions within the song. This mix is a first for Sir Vanity, a sound that suits them surprisingly well.
For the second verse, things change slightly. Snare rimshots echo in the background, taking everything away from you before bringing in the heavy drums, insanely tricky bassline, and screaming guitars.
Slowly, the drums and screaming guitars bring you back to the despair and violence you could find in the first verse, and oh boy. The second time the chorus hits, it feels like it is even heavier than the first time.
Although barely noticeable, in the background there is a beautiful piano arpeggio going on, adding a layer of raw beauty to this song. A beautiful spot in a song that is pitch-black.
The bridge glitches the guitars and puts the drums and bass at center stage as strings give a grandiose scale to this song.
It’s goosebumps all over me as the double-bass drums, the melodic bass solo, and the strings kick in.
“will” goes loud and straight for your heart, with Yuichiro Umehara and Yoshiki Nakajima making sure to hit the final nails in the coffin, performing this song with an obvious rawness – as if baring their heart – but with an underlying gentleness and care.
Umehara and Nakajima have quite the technical performance in this song, mixing clean vocals with melodic, low parts, falsetto, harmonies, and vibrato. This much variety on the vocals has led to one of the most interesting performances I’ve heard this year.
Rich, full of color, intense, and heartwrenching.
That’s the stuff I look for in rock performances and Sir Vanity certainly delivered.
This is, hands down, Sir Vanity’s best song to date.
Listening to the band tackling a sound this heavy – and it fitting the band right from the start – makes me wish the band further explores this sound in the future.
This introspective, “screaming your heart out” type of performance and sound is something that has been lacking from rock bands in the seiyuu industry, and hell if Sir Vanity didn’t arrive with a much-needed song to fill in that gap.
To headbang to no end. To floor you. To play with your emotions. Outstanding song.
“will” is available for streaming on Spotify.
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