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"Mandoro" is the 17th album by Japanese heavy metal band, Ningen Isu. For over twenty years, the band had sold enough records with each release to permit them to stay with a record label, but the band remained an underground phenomenon. In 2013, they appeared at Ozz Fest in Japan. Seeing the opportunity as a chance to introduce themselves to a larger audience, the band approached their next album as if it were their second debut. There was also a conscious decision to move the band's sound more firmly into heavy metal. Therefore, this album features less of the band's progressive rock side (no 9-minute songs with long, instrumental parts) and as well, it smartly strays from some of their more lighter, pop-influenced songs that had cropped up on albums during the previous decade.
The heavy guitar sound that had been used on some tracks on the last few albums was now the guitar sound of the album. The album is chock full of heavy riffs. Guitarist Shinji Wajima once again takes over all the lyric writing except for the track "Neputa no Mandoriko," which was written by bassist Kenichi Suzuki. The song was inspired by some of the images on the floats of the Neputa Festival of their hometown, Hirosaki City, in Aomori Prefecture. In particular, Suzuki liked the images of battling warriors with skulls, chopped off heads, and eye balls popping out.
Even without writing many lyrics, Suzuki still contributed the music for several of the tracks. Suzuki's songs are usually the faster and heavier ones, and there's no mistaking them here with "Jigokuhen - Hell Screen", "Neputa no Mondoriko", and "Jinsei Banzai". "Neko ja Neko ja - It's a Cat, It's a Cat" features Wajima's wah-wah guitar to mimic the meow of a cat. The song was inspired by an incident when they discovered a kitten had become trapped in a ventilation pipe just over the drum set in their rehearsal studio.
Wajima delivers some great heavy prog songs with some awesome riffs in tracks like, "Kuroyuri Nikki - Black Lily Diary" and "Jikan kara no Kage - The Shadow Out of Time". He also proves yet again to be a master of customized guitar solos, going from blazing metal solos, to psychedelic influenced effects, traditional Japanese music scales, and his unique style of playing what he called "Tsugaru jamisen". The shaminsen or jamisen and a traditional three-stringed instrument a bit like a Japanese banjo. The fingering involves many frequent slides and wiggles on the string to create a vibrato effect. Wajima applies this playing style to his electric guitar.
Wajima once again taps into literature for some of the songs. "Kumo no Ito - The Spider's Thread" and "Jigokuhen" are based on stories by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, a famous Japanese author from the early 20th Century, and H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Out of Time".
The whole album is packed with intense and exciting heavy metal songs. Some songs are heavy and prog-influenced while others are fast and furious. Drummer Nobu Nakajima sings lead on "Kumo no Ito" and belts out some killer screams at the end. He also plays a wicked drum pattern in "Neputa no Mondoriko" which came from a festival drum beat on traditional Japanese taiko drums played at the Neputa Festival.
Only the opening track, "Shigan Goeika - Hymn of This World", takes the tempo down and sounds like a Buddhist chant turned into a song for a three-piece heavy rock band. And the closing track, "Eisei ni natta Otoko - The Man Who Turned Into a Satellite" begins more gently with chorus guitar before switching to a heavy and groovy riff after fifty seconds.
"Mandoro" marks the change over to the current style of Ningen Isu which has continued over five albums now. Most of the band's official music videos on YouTube are for songs from this period. Though always heavy, the band sounds most metal from "Mandoro" and on. It remains one of my favourite albums by Ningen Isu.