The Flag of Punishment

I never thought it would happen in the mid to late 2000's when I first discovered this band but Galneryus has turned into one of those amazingly internet-big power metal bands, going beyond a national powerhouse in Japan to one of today's most well respected practitioners in the genre. After an initially somewhat divisive change of singer and style in 2010, the power metal community began taking note of their incredibly heroic, invigorating sound and Syu's furious combination of neoclassical fury, "this is where the boss fight gets fucking insane" style distinctive melodies, and surprisingly poignant expressionism and of course, their versatile songwriting and it eventually helped bring them to a performance at ProgPower, their first show on North American soil.

However before they became the flagship of Japan's now revered power metal community, they were a far more straightforward and unrefined band. The only two members on 2003's The Flag of Punishment still with them today are Syu and Yuhki although their distinctive styles are nowhere near as polished as they are now. In fact, the entire album almost sounds like a different band; a much younger and inexperienced one brilling with raw potential but not yet having reined in their wild ambitions or sheer explosive energy. At most, Yuhki had already made a solid demonstration of his capabilities in the prog tinged Castle in the Air back in 1999 on their self-titled while Syu's prior work is difficult to find any solid examples of.

The easiest way to describe the sound of Galneryus' origins is that its got guts and brilling enthusiasm, audible immediately from the almost Daniel Heiman esque bravado of Yama-B when he opens up "Struggle for the Freedom Flag" with a wild roar to Syu's love of throwing brief flurries of wild fretboard action into many of the riffs. Although Galneryus were never really in the vein of "riffy" modern European and Japanese style power metal like Blind Guardian, Iron Savior, or Manticora they nonetheless were much more guitar driven than Stratovarius, Kamelot, Edguy, or Heavenly. It's something that Yama-B's voice helps with a ton, taking on a slightly rough but absolutely confidence-radiating mid-range tenor tone with a surprising deal of grit at moments. He definitely leads the way and even in his not yet fully realized style one could argue he steals the show from Syu who has since gone on to became neoclassical shred royalty.

Speaking of virtuosos, his playing here might not be as creative and lush as it would be in the future but the man knows how to hit hard and hit fast. His riffs most importantly aren't very static, closer to the more streamlined attack of his contemporaries but he rarely stresses out a particular rhythmic pattern too much before throwing out a sweep or a deftly picked melody. It does come off as somewhat amateur at points, a kind of over-eager display of raw axe-wizardry, but in the context of an album that's basically a spiky haired energy-blasting anime hero fighting the forces of evil it's quite thematically appropriate even if unintentionally. Yuhki on the other hand has definitely seen a big improvement. Castle in the Air was a pretty damn good prog-power type band but he was far more mellow and subdued here. However in Galneryus you wouldn't even think it's the same musician with a heavy dose of raw bombast that at times outdoes Syu. While also a bit unpolished, he accompanies the aggression of the rest of the band surprisingly well with an eye for big and gallant melody lines that infuse the riffing with a great deal of raw melodic momentum. His choice in tones does feel a little antiquated even for 2003 but it's clear that he's making the most out of his arsenal.

Like a lot of power metal the album starts off with a blaze of raw intensity. And I'm not just talking about the actual opener, even the introductory track "Meditation for the Saga" in spite of its short length and processed ultra low narrating manages to somehow sound absolutely colossal with Syu's crescendoing guitar harmonies but that's a mere appetizer for a full throttle quarter of high energy tracks. "Struggle..." in particular is probably the single most energetic track they've written to date and while the three that follow slow down they aren't any less powerful. "Beyond the Ground" and "In the Delight" have some amazingly noodly pre-choruses and crunchy verses in particular though "Rebel Flag" steals the show early on with an absurdly empathetic chorus underscored by organ tones and a catchy keyboard refrain from Yuhki. However we hit a sudden mellow moment with instrumental "Requiem" and yes, it's the "Syu just shows he's really good at guitar and stuff" track. Yes, it's slow and sappy but it's delivered with a kind of earnest, vulnerable, but bold burning-eyed delivery that I can't help but love. It helps that Syu really is that good and while he's associated with the kind of shred that makes tech death dorks salivate there's a more expressive, slow burning side here that stresses a more 70's sound that is decadently indulgent though avoids knotting itself up in its own theory-summoning technique.

The second half of this album is where they really begin diversifying a bunch. "Holding the Broken Wings" in particular is the best song off of this one, predicting their future mastery of midtempo anthems like "Stand up for the Right" and "With Sympathy". After a wild flurry of lead guitar gymnastics and chaotic tumbling drum rolls it settles into crunchy chord-led rhythm accentuated with tense single-tone keyboard accenting, letting Yama-B lead it to an absolutely enthralling chorus that pushes his voice to a level of earnest intensity; you can really straining hard to maintain those melodies through all the gravel. "Garden of the Goddess" brings back more crunchiness though with a bit of a stronger j-rock foundation and surprisingly delicate keyboard melodies, showing a cleaner side to Yama-B's voice. "Final Resolution" on the other hand leans further to their classic heavy metal roots with its semi Iron Maiden style agile riffing and choice bass harmonizations, trading in raw surging power for a more almost kind of bittersweet vibe.

"Okay nice but where's the ballad track so I know where to skip it?" Yeah there's a (groan.mp3) six minute ballad but... it's actually good? I suppose this one's a little harder for me to describe but I'd say "really sentimental ending credits of your favourite classic mecha or adventure anime" energy, still reliant heavily on Yuhki and Syu's talents to ensure there's some semblance of melody and muscle interwoven into it at key moments, helping to build up to a burning energy thankfully kept to the end of the track. Thankfully if ballads are just never ever your thing, the closer should. "United Flag" (they really like these things huh?) opens with a strict, stringent melody contrasted by stutter-rhythm tinted verses and an even stronger fancy-schmansy neoclassical sensibility throughout its near six minute duration and probably the catchiest chorus of the album through which Syu weaves a twisting and turning melodic riff. It ends the album on a vigorously swaggering note album, a kind of almost arrogant charisma but what an ending it is! The soloing here is probably the most measured of the album and the band rewards with two sections full of it.

While I don't think I would put this in the band's top five, it still annihilates the grand majority of modern styled power metal past and present. As it turns out, you can have all the keyboards and face-melting shred you want but it never hurts to have some beefy riffs and genuinely powerful singing to go with it and Galneryus took these simple but often dismissed lessons to heart. It's amazing it took this long for lovers of melodic metal all over the world to realize what this band was capable until around nine years later. Their sound wasn't "new" in a sense of pure aesthetics or technical novelty yet the earnest energy and hard hitting delivery without really becoming a traditionally "riffy" band made them stand out from legions of low-rent European counterparts and even a great number of their own countrymen. They would go on to hit many more peaks with just a few minor hiccups along the way and while I wouldn't really recommend this as the best place to start with them, this is mandatory for those nostalgic for both the classic era of Euro-style power metal and a remedy to the lackluster wimpiness infecting much of it today. Extremely big hails.

A quirky, unintended pattern that has personally followed me ever since I got serious about listening to music is that each calendar I discover exactly one band that is memorable enough to rise to the title of Favorite Band. This is quite an achievement, as there are hundreds of albums I can say I love; but when I find a group with an extremely consistent output of awe-inspiring releases, it's always a very special moment for me. 2020's definitive band was Japan's Galneryus, and that is purely a coincidence. Their track "My Hope Is Gone" showed up on some algorithmic Spotify playlist, and I decided I liked it well enough to go through the band's whole discography.

The Flag of Punishment is Galneryus's debut full-length album and it sets the bar unbelievably high for any music that comes after it. The songwriting is unmatched. The musicianship is otherworldly. The tracks flow together flawlessly as the stunning tracklist progresses. This is a level of mastery that bands seldom achieve during careers that can span decades, and it's all the more impressive that this is the first record to Galneryus's name.

Galneryus is, at its core, a neoclassical power metal band. Think Symphony X's heavy-hitting grooves combined with Angra's taste for melody; then throw in a guitarist who could give Romeo and Loureiro a run for their money and add influences from contemporary Japanese music styles like Visual Kei. That's Galneryus.

This album is more speed-focused than some of what the band would release later. A majority of the tracks consist of blazingly technical riffs underscored by typical power metal drum parts and accentuated by stratospheric leads by guitarist Syu and keyboardist Yuhki. All of the songs are easily recognizable as power metal, although some of the melodies stand out as rather unusual for the genre; I assume this is the Visual Kei influence I've read about, although I'm not versed in that style so it's difficult to say for sure. Parts like the choruses in "Struggle for the Freedom Flag" and "In the Delight" are extremely catchy, yet seem modally distant from the typical power metal blueprint. The way the band shifts from more traditional sections into these rather startling parts is really just awesome and is probably the most definitive piece of this album's sound.

This is the first of five albums to feature Yama-B as vocalist. He has a much deeper and more aggressive delivery than his successor. If you strip away the accent, you're basically left with a better-trained version of a young Hansi Kürsch; Yama's voice is very gravelly, yet his range, particularly on this album, is enormous, and he has perfect control over every note he hits (hear his soaring screams at the end of "The Garden of the Goddess").

My only real complaint about this album is a pretty minor one, and that would be the production. At first listen, the mix sounds very good; but once turned up to much higher volumes, it quickly becomes apparent that it's rather muddy. The guitars dominate everything else. The bass is mixed very quiet, and the keyboards are frequently difficult to discern even when they're taking a solo. The producers were clearly going for a "wall of sound" approach, yet didn't have the expertise or time to make it work effectively.

The Flag of Punishment is an exceptional release, especially for a debut. The progressive compositions are really beautiful and the virtuosic performances from all band members fit them perfectly. The flaws in the mix are easy to look past, and if you give it a try you'll find one of the most unique and special power metal albums ever recorded. The Flag of Punishment laid the groundwork for the remainder of Galneryus's gem-studded career and served as a great blueprint for the remainder of the Yama-B era.

Best songs: "Struggle for the Freedom Flag," "Rebel Flag." "Holding the Broken Wings," and "The Garden of the Goddess"

I have a general inclination to believe that any band I learn is Japanese will either be too goofy, or trying way, way too hard. (though this sentiment is slowly changing) Especially in power metal. They're normally over the top, or just plain corny. Most Japanese bands just don't get it. Galneryus get it. They get it, they know what is going on, and what they're doing - more than the majority of their European and American counterparts.

Galneryus play a style similar to the power metal and neoclassical fusion of bands like Concerto Moon, Adagio and obviously Yngwie Malmsteen. And as far as this release goes - simply render those bands obsolete.

Showcased excellently here is one thing the generic power metal bands can learn from and that is this; Galneryus are all great musicians. The keyboardist, guitarist and drummer all play at hyper speeds. Not too far from most power metal bands, right? Right. But here’s the differences, Galneryus’ guitarist and keyboardist don’t just run through scales. Their drummer doesn’t just pound away endlessly at the bass drum, and do rolls across the toms from high pitched to low, for every fill. The riffs aren’t played repeatedly with no variation. In fact, every time you hear the riff, it will be dressed with a new fill. Guitar licks like greased lightening, keyboard leads that just ooze emotion (that's unheard of, huh?), and drums fills with just the right amount of complexity showcase these players superior skill. These guys play their instruments better than most wank-fest bands, yet add to the music seamlessly, rather than cluttering it needlessly.

The Engrish has to be looked over to enjoy this music fully. It’s silly, but if you can get past it, and also realize the vocalist is perfect for this music, then you’ll have no problem enjoying it immensely.

These well written songs flow greatly and incorporate the stellar musicianship to it's fullest. This is flawless power metal, pure and simple. Again, I can't stress enough how great the musicianship is - and how wonderful it is to see it showcased in a way free of masturbatory pompous inclinations.

This album loses points only for two reasons - the Engrish, and it is lacking in originality. But I'm not asking for the world. This album is brilliant in it's own right. A power metal essential.

The rebel flag of hate and punishment flies high over the land of the rising sun. Osaka's own final resolution is now reached in their innate struggle for freedom. This deeply affectionate debut release of the glorious aggressor, the gallant Galneryus, resonates with mighty steel, burning the mettle hearts of all power metal minions. In the delight of slaying those souls in the heart of the storm; now lost in the distant event horizon, Galneryus rises to reign. They claim their crown of ages with their incredible loudness and earthshaking thunder from the east. I'm galvanized by the guitar virtuoso Syu and keyboardist Yuhki along with vocalist Yama-B, all who easily open new opportunities, aiming high and offering up the next generation less grief of war and perdition.

Galneryus are an obscure band, and their CDs are difficult to procure. Even their website is primarily in Japanese. As I have very little information for them, other than what I've discovered from the internet, I will just focus on the music which is top notch. The CD, which I believe to be conceptual in nature, deals with a post-war torn society now being oppressed by an evil warlord. Here a small band of rebels have risen up prepared to regain their dignity, while flying the flag of freedom. The CD commences with an overture and narration which sort of explains the thematic context of the saga. It's very difficult to decipher Yama-B's vocals given his thick accent; but he does sing in a very clear manner reminiscient of Daniel Heiman. Actuallly, the muscle and music on this CD is quite fast and aggressive like Lost Horizon's debut. I also detect an homage to classic Loudness as Yama-B also does his best Minoru Nihara impression on tracks like "Child Of Fire" and "The Final Resolution". Syu also charismatically channels the devil soldier of fortune - Akira Takasaki, grasping the tusk of the jaguar while on the prowl for licks, and breaking the heavy chains of disillusion with all satisfaction guaranteed. Yuhki's Keyboard arrangements echo the force and rampage of appreciation found in Vadim's dragon flame of youth mixed and mangled with Jan Warmen's mentality for accepting the fact of hate.

The first 4 tracks on this epic are real burners, blazing beyond the ground and pound cache. The melodies of ancient rage and rancour are quite infectious, and overall this is an awesome CD. Requiem is an instrumental, providing a break in the speed and the last track with its very familiar melody, is a bit slower and more epic; but essentially this creates balance and breath for the CD which is thoroughly entertaining. Galneryus' second offering is stellar as well, leaving me no eternal regret. They will soon be enticing fans with a new CD called Beyond The End Of Despair, so my quiet wish is to hear that and hopefully write another promising review.

as originally posted at www.metalcdratings.com

Take the awesomeness of Lost Horizon, mix it with the speed and musicianship of Children of Bodom and add a bit of the neo-classical flair of Nation, and you get Galneyrus.

This is a Japanese band, and what the Japanese do, they do well. So naturally, when a Japanese band decides to play power metal, we get a power metal masterpiece. Not only the songs, but also the musicianship on this album is breathtaking. Guitarist Syu can also be found in Animetal, and there is a slight hint of their computer game melodies in some of the solos, but just a hint; nothing that will draw your attention from the epic and heroic themes of the music. His playing is reminiscent of Yngwie, but, unlike maestro Malmsteen, Syu has a wide variety of techniques to choose from, which he utilizes to the fullest when necessary, from crazy tapping to emotional bluesy licks. Next up, the vocals: I swear Yama-B must have been studying Lost Horizon thoroughly - in his phrasing and vocal melodies he sometimes is a dead ringer for Daniel Heiman, and in my book that’s certainly not a bad thing, considering that Heiman is one of the finest singers in metal. And like Heiman, he’s able to move between the octaves with astonishing ease, from a quite low, somewhat raspy mid-range, where he stays most of the time, to ear-piercing highs. The keyboards are exceptionally well played, though actually being very prominent, blend in perfectly with the music. Usually I’m no big fan of keyboards, but this guy knows how to shred! The rhythm section is a bit problematic. Sure, the drummer has chops and flawless technique, and the bass is audible, he’s playing proper bass lines and lightning speed runs, but you can tell that they haven’t been involved in the writing process. I can’t help but feeling that they aren’t displaying their real potential. A very minor complaint, I know, but they are so close to perfection…

This is a concept album and the story deals with a hopeless post-apocalyptic world where an evil dictator is ruling with an iron hand, but a few brave men form the resistance and leads the revolution. The concise intro with a spoken part serves as a framework for the story to come, and then the album takes off, pulling no breaks, double-bass galore. The first four songs are fast numbers, semi-aggressive yet highly melodic, describing the beginning of the journey to free the land. Then it’s time for an instrumental, where Syu can show off. It’s a slow, ballady song, but in no aspect does it turn into a wank-fest; it’s still a song, and very much part of the story. After this the tempo picks up again, full speed ahead.

The eighth track, Child of Free(sic), had me wondering the first few times I listened to the album. The singer utilized a completely different tone, sounding a bit like Geddy Lee. I thought it had been recorded at a different time, but checking the story it makes perfect sense; this track act as contrast from the previous songs, where we get to follow the heroes' quest to fight the evil. Here we are given a lighter atmosphere before the final battle, a hope that the tyrant may be defeated; as the song takes on a different character, so do the vocals.

As the last track comes, the final stand, I am reminded why I enjoy power metal. It feels as if I’m standing on the battlefield, sword in hand, fist in the air, filled with the pride of being the one who defeated the tyrant and freed the land. Cheesy? You bet, but it is a glorious feeling!

The one thing people might find troublesome about this album is the Engrish. Being Swedish, this doesn’t bother me at all, but I can see how one who has English as their first language could have difficulties getting past this. I find it to be part of the charm, and, more important, the singer has really good pronunciation, it’s the grammar that’s a mess, but not to the point where you can’t follow the story.

If you like Lost Horizon’s Awakening the World, this album is for you. It might not be readily available - I got my copy off eBay from Singapore - but it’s well worth the trouble of tracking it down!