Katana Orgy

Jig-ai's second full-length, like the band's other albums, is a fast-n-furious affair of 20 short blats of grinding, crushing extreme death gore with alarming titles that reference the musicians' interest in Japanese porn manga comics that emphasise perverse and brutal sexual violence, usually against women.

The best way to hear out this album and Jig-ai's other recordings is to just stick your head straight in and let everything run right through your head. You'll probably feel a few brain cells dying in agony and washing out through your ears but at the very end, there will be an amazingly clear space in your head, all sparkly and squeaky clean - and you won't remember how that got there! Ain't no point for listeners in trying to distinguish particular tracks: first-timers will find most tracks sound the same and only with repeated listenings do you gradually work out where the short songs start and stop. There are very brief spaces between songs but it doesn't matter that they all run into one another. The effect on your ears listening to the album in one single hit - it's just over 35 minutes anyway so that's no great ordeal - is one of a constantly evolving and twisting sonic tapestry, excessive in delivery and production, everything overdone and perverse. The vocals polarise at either the high-pitched shrieky end or the deep guttural porky-pig groaning end with nothing in-between. Even rhythms and chuggy beefed-up riffs, when they appear, overflow with loud excess.

As the album progresses, some tracks boast really good meaty, even dance-friendly grooves and rhythms, and it seems such a shame that the band should treat them as disposable paddle-pop sticks and not work them into longer and more developed songs. But if they did, the impact would be lost because these guys intend to deliver as much laughably piled-up excess as they can - all at once! The songs with their ridiculous titles aren't meant to be taken all that seriously and neither should the band's interest in hentai be construed the same way: I'd say that like everyone else, the Jig-ai guys are gobsmacked at the interest that the Japanese mainstream reading public has in manga comics. The musicians' surprise probably goes no further than that; I don't see any earnest attempt in trying to get into the Japanese manga reader's head to find out where this interest comes from.

What is not in doubt and which should be taken seriously is the musicians' ability to layer their music with riff upon riff and rhythm upon rhythm to create a huge, crazed monster that zooms all over the place leaving destruction in its wake. The guys are seriously talented musicians who are a very tight unit. Production is crisp and precise. Every song tosses out crunchy bass rhythms, catchy riffs and the occasional melody, maybe some field recordings and plenty of humour. Towards the end of the album, Jig-ai pay homage to one of their heroes, Carcass, in covering "Genital Grinder" which is readily recognisable. There's a Brutal Truth cover also but I don't know that band so well.

How long Jig-ai can keep playing this music before it starts to sound like self-parody I have no idea but listeners can enjoy it while the freshness and the musicians' enthusiasm for it lasts.

Jig-Ai has impressed me with this album. They're definitely more than proficient with their instruments, vocals, and vocal effects. A lot of people don't like the "overproduced" sound, but I do, and I think that Jig-Ai's Katana Orgy couldn't have been produced better.

Compared to most other goregrind, pornogrind, and brutal death metal bands that I've heard, Jig-Ai are pretty good songwriters. It has enough changes in riffs and tempo to keep from getting boring I also liked how the songs were short and to-the-point, so they could keep my attention throughout the duration of the song.

I was most impressed by how well the riffs were written in comparison to most other goregrind/brutal death metal bands that I've heard, though there are bands that could play more technical riffs. Nonetheless, they were loud, heavy, and complex enough to keep my attention (n a positive way, of course) throughout their duration, which is my definition of a good riff.

The vocals were also pretty impressive, as they were not only strong, but they also changed often enough to keep from getting old an boring. I will admit that squeals and screeches are an acquired taste in Metal, but Jig-Ai's songwriting made them seem like a less alien concept. Not that that's entirely a good thing, but I don't see why it's really a bad thing either. It might end up being a good way to ease people into the goregrind/brutal death metal genres, and I'm always happy to meet another goregrind/brutal death metal fan in person.

The drum work was beautiful. Jig-Ai really knows how to write a song with good drumming. They definitely have an ear for music. I know solos are uncommon in goregrind, but I don't think it'd hurt Jig-Ai or any goregrind band to try to change that. I will take points away from this review for the lack of solos, though I'm not entirely surprised or disappointed by it.

So I don't think Jig-Ai is the best band out there, but they definitely know how to write a good song, and they know what they're doing in studio. After hearing the entirety of this album, I look forward to seeing future releases by Jig-Ai.

Coming into this album, I honestly had no idea what to expect. Sure, I had done a little research and found that this band was listed as DM/Grindcore at the time, but I was still a bit confused as to whether or not I wished to listen to this musical mixture. After all, there are only so many hours in the day, and there must be much better music out there that is worthy of my time. Of course, on the other hand, much worse music had managed its undeserving way into my player, so I figured that this album couldn't be TOO bad.

First things first. I may not be familiar with this style of metal (the grind thing, though, I know how death metal goes), but I was pleased to say that there was not much displeasure on my part. Of course, the real reason why I refrain from scoring this any higher is because, well, this album made it (or failed through, whichever way you wish to perceive it) half-way to nu-metal. Yeah, you heard me: Jig-Ai's "Katana Orgy" is half nu-metal, but nearly in the same way that Mudvayne is half metal in the fact that just two of its four core components are too reminiscent of nu-metal: Regarding Jig-Ai, its guitar and bass tracks. Regarding those, their performances are pretty simplistic since they pretty much play their instruments on a certain low area through the entire album. I may not know how to play the guitar, but I'm fairly sure that the guitars and bass would fit rather well with a band such as Korn. Don't believe me? Get to the last track, "We are going...", and listen to the song until its title makes sense. If it wasn't for the little boost in percussion tempo near the end, I swear that this would make a perfect nu-metal example. (Although, in my honest opinion, there are a few nu-metal bands with guitarists and bassists that don't deserve to be railed as much as they do, so I'll give this a few points higher.)

Apart from that little annoyance, there's not much else to this album's credit. Since most of the songs are rather short (a key characteristic in grind music, I'm sure), this album flies by pretty quickly. The disadvantage to this is that, unless you are really listening to this, this album will fly by your ears faster than a bullet, and you won't even notice it's almost over until you get to the last track. Seriously, on a casual listen, the only times you may notice a change in the music is when it gets to the Japanese vocal track from the intro to Samurai Gay Party, and when you notice that you have a nu-metal song playing when it reaches We are going... Yes, unfortunately, all of the songs sound very similar to each other -- no solos and most of the riffs sound alike, though, upon closer inspection, they are all unique. Again, this may just be due to the characteristics of the genre, but it's rather bothersome that I have to differentiate between the tracks from their little specialties, though I find that's a problem with damn near every band I've ever heard.

The production is actually superb for my standards, though I'm fairly sure there are many that would claim that this album has the 'overproduced' feel, since everything sounds, for lack of a more appropriate term, loud. Not that I mind my music loud, but there's something fishy about an album that sounds louder than other bands that are usually criticized for their overproduction. (I'm thinking of Trivium and Behemoth, but I'm sure there are others.) Plus, there are plenty of additional sound effects and vocal tracks that, in my opinion, both benefit and hurt the overall atmosphere of the music. Plus examples: The creepy intro music for Testicles Dance, the Japanese female vocals in the intro piece, and the "Holy shit!" in Shu-lin. Minus examples: The weird bubbly noise after the exclamation in the same song, the weird squealing noises in Samurai Gay Party (Is that supposed to sound like someone getting ass-raped?), and "We are going for your cunt, bitch --- bitch --- bitch..." My first time through, after the first fifteen seconds of "Bitch," it just sounded like, "Bi-*whistle noise*."

The vocals... are another aspect I'm unfamiliar with. Usually, with death metal, you get deep, gutteral, gravelly, damn near demonic vocal performances. This time around, you get alternating vocals between almost recognizable low belching and rhythmic pig squeals. Again, I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a good thing or not, but I'm going to assume it isn't, since most of the time, it comes off as random noises thrown in there only for effect.

Drum work actually is very nice. I can hear that this guy's got an ear for music, as the work on here ranges from normal, moderately designed rhythms to much faster speeds. Of course, it doesn't compare to the speeds of most modern death metal bands, and he does tend to play the nu-metal-style of drums (not Mudvayne's, of course, but you get the idea.) of course, but hey, there are worse drummers out there.

And that about wraps this one up. This album doesn't do much for me aside from the fact that any of its tracks are good if I ever need a shot of metal in the day. This album is probably best enjoyed on a superficial level, since there's not much to be found under the surface. (I, personally, find that this album makes for background music at work.) I'm giving it this score because, as I've said, it sounds pretty but lacks substance aside from the bloody song titles. Unless you are really into grind and death metal so much that you believe that their combination is a match made in heaven, then be my guest. To all else, search elsewhere. I liked this enough to keep listening to it, but I doubt you will.