Featured Review #35: FOXPILL CULT - 邪宗門

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Artist: Foxpill Cult Album: 邪宗門 (Jashumon) Score: When the voices in your head provide backing vocals

Better late than never! Back in January, Foxpill Cult released their latest album 邪宗門 (Jashumon – Heretic Religion, a term used to describe non-Shinto religions). Like their previous efforts, this album reaches deep into Foxpill’s bag of tricks and manages to come up with an album that is deeply varied, yet cohesive. While the variety is there, a more critical examination from someone familiar with their previous releases might yield that they are still relying on the same kinds of tricks, but the overall presentation has enough innovation and charisma to make that observation seem nitpicky. What works really well for 邪宗門 is the recurring theme of multiple presences—be it in a schizophrenic kind of way, or in a supernatural sense. Throughout the album there are interludes and outros of static noise and a very distorted girl’s laughter. In addition, many songs feature multiple layers of vocal harmonies from what sounds like people who are not the actual vocalist. Could I be reading into this too deeply? Possibly. But if this ~sing along with the voices in your head~ motif is what they really were going for, then I would say they were successful. If you’re completely new to this band, the most succinct way of describing them is basically Liphlich’s punk cabaret meets all the weird shit Buck-Tick has done (see also).

邪宗門 opens with a strong number, “サイコキャンディー" (PSYCHO CANDY), which for our intents and purposes is the “Moura” of this album in the sense that it is a playful gothic, yet new wave-inspired, song that also received a music video. This is definitely the most accessible track on the album, as well as one of the catchiest. However, it is solid enough to hold it’s own while still sounding like it belongs with the rest of the songs in the album—all to often I hear albums with strong or weak singles that end up being rather out of place when put into the context of everything else (take D’s “Tightrope,” for example). During the middle of the song there is a bad acid trip and a bit of 女王蜂 falsettos going on, which plays on my interpretation that this album is about some sort of super natural phenomenon. “サイコキャンディー” ties in well with the next song, "米を与えど、子は聞かず" (Kome wo Atae do, Ko wa Kikazu) as it is very similar in nature but with a more rock’n’roll approach. I don’t have too much to comment on with that song, but it is a “if you like one, you’ll like the other” sort of deal.

Track 4, "ファウストと異邦人" (FAUST to Kotokunibito) is the second instance of strange laughter and a mysterious woman’s voice, which is used as an introduction snippet. The song itself is much less creepy, and its main theme is quite playful. This song uses a lot of distorted guitar, bongo-sounding drums, and frantic time changes between 4/4 and 6/8. What I find fascinating here is that there are a ton of influences going on all at once: at times the drum structure sounds like a march while the vocalist yells over very pretty guitar work and bizarre keyboard samples. This sort of treatment is used quite often throughout the album as well—while most of their music is technically intensive, there are many many layers of different ideas happening all at once, but somehow they all come together in way that’s enjoyable and fun.

"秋霖ヒソム▲神隠し" (Shuurin HISOMU ▲ Kamigakushi(?)) s song that caught my attention at first listen: each of FOXPILL’s albums have some sort of dark-wave track and this one is it. ▲ also throws in noise, a bit of folk, and ties it together with a staticy sounding drum loop. While this song does come of as being deceptively heavy or dark based on the first few seconds, it ends up being pretty simple and sweet up until the end. The last few seconds they turn up the creep and add in the sounds of something being drilled, followed by a much more distorted and warped sound of the same woman’s laughter that has been used throughout. What I enjoyed about this song is the mix of both harsh electronic elements and the very gentle sounding chorus. Ultimately ▲ alls into middle for me: there’s enough good here to attract me back to the song, but it isn’t the pinnacle track on this album.

"僕は宗教" (Boku wa Shuukyou) is the sleeper track on this album for me—a near perfect fusion of cali=/=gari and XA-VAT if both were going through a mall goth phase, FOXPILL CULT combines a lot of new wave synthesizer with female vocals backing the chorus and quirky vocals commandeering the bridges. There’s much less synth going on here than XA-VAT used, but the 80’s throw-back sound is definitely there. It is also interesting that they recycle the gang vocal melody from the album’s opening track, "鎖国した一寸法師" (Sakoku Shita Issunboushi). This song, "サイコキャンディー" and "ファウストと異邦人" would be the three songs I would recommend trying first if you are new to FOXPILL CULT.

For the sake of brevity, the last song I’m going to expand upon is "啓蒙されぬ" (Keimousa Renu). This is one of the more electronic-heavy songs, but what is really interesting is that the chorus is like a gothic sea chantey (to be more than honest, I never thought that was even a possible mix of genres, but here we are… think Moi Dix Mois covering and you wouldn’t be too far off.). Quirky and innovative, "啓蒙されぬ" plays a lot to FOXPILL’s strengths and shows that even if their bag of tricks is finite, they know how to get the most out of it by mixing what they know with influences that would otherwise seem out of place.this song

While not every track on this album is fantastic, overall I thought FOXPILL CULT really delivered with this album and it shows that they are well seasoned in what they do. The filler in this album is minimal and their influences range from new wave, to dark wave, to rock’n’roll, to even funk. While I prefer their more new-wave tracks, which they proclaimed their last album was focused most on, I liked a greater amount of tracks here. 邪宗門 was a like at first listen, but it was also a grower. I am still unsure if this is the top contender of album-of-the-year for me quite yet, which is why I am rating it 4 stars out of 5.