The Japanese post-hardcore band 9mm Parabellum Bullet -- named after "the world's most popular and widely used military handgun cartridge" -- honed their instantly recognizable style over four prior albums, culminating in 2011's superb Movement. Their basic modus operandi consists of a mash-up of American-style alt rock with far Eastern traditional scales and melodies, incorporating churning spasms of downtuned, metallic riffs, blasting drum rolls and fills, and lightning-fast, high-pitched string scraping played at the extreme upper register of the guitar, treated with a mélange of effects such as phasing and reverb and topped with vocalist Takuro Sugawara's fine, impassioned, rather high tenor. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but like so many of their peers they are at heart a commercial, pop-oriented band, and big melodies and singalong choruses are never far away. The first third of Dawning contains some excellent examples of this headache-inducing pile-up, such as "Grasshopper" and the single "Answer and Answer." The middle third of the album is more experimental, as they play with elements of Americana, roots rock, and Central/South American music. "Scarlet Shoes" bears the influences of bossa nova and Latin jazz, while the single "Heart ni Hi wo Tsukete" ("Set Fire to the Heart") sees Mexican-style mariachi music played at a breakneck pace over a frantic ska rhythm, with a wailing blues guitar solo. Though they should probably be praised for trying something new, it does occasionally sound a bit like they're running out of ideas, as on "Siberian Bird" and "Wild West Mustang," which sound like Ennio Morricone spaghetti western themes played by a ska-punk band, and "Caution," which sounds uncannily like Motörhead. Among the harshness there are some attractive pieces, however; "Starlight" has a nicely retro, '60s feel, and the mid-paced, jazzy and melancholy "Cosmos," with its tinkling Eastern guitar melody and incongruous J-Pop-style ending, works as a great interlude between the two halves of the album. And they've saved the best for last: "Kuroi Mori no Tabibito" ("Travelers in the Black Forest") is the best thing here, an unselfconsciously classicist, epic hard rock tune with a fantastic melody line, which is then almost -- but not quite -- topped by the album's closer, the ironically titled, Baroque-influenced shredfest "The Silence." While this album has its downsides -- it has a tendency to sound a bit samey, the production is unfortunately rather tinny, and it's let down a little by some bizarre and unsuccessful experiments -- it's something of a grower that improves with subsequent spins. It may not reach the dizzying heights of its predecessor, but it's still a solid entry in the band's canon and as good a starting point as any for neophytes.
© John D. Buchanan /TiVo