[Magazine Special Feature] Matenrou Opera’s New EP “EVIL”: The Complete Members’ Commentary

Track Title: “Hikari no Ame”

──I felt like this song was a particularly quintessential Matenrou Opera track.

Sono: I wrote the lyrics for “Hikari no Ame” with the idea of it being like the ending theme of this “EVIL” project, looking at the other songs from a bird’s-eye view. The scope of the world in the lyrics of “EVIL” and “Shita” is small, dealing with personal perspectives of hatred and jealousy. But it gradually broadens, and by “Libra,” it encompasses a larger, more global perspective. In “Hikari no Ame,” it’s about many people, from individual to planetary scale, struggling and muddling through negative emotions but still striving to live. Ultimately, it’s about the brilliance of life, viewed from a higher perspective.

Yusuke: Before starting the guitar arrangement, I listened to the demo and felt that this song would probably be the last (sixth track). I had heard that this song would be a “moment of salvation.” While it’s a melodic speed metal song with a brighter tune overall, what’s fundamentally different about this song compared to recent Matenrou Opera tracks is that it ends on a minor chord. It’s dark at the end. “Owarinaki Namida no Umide” ends with just the vocals, but all the other songs end on major chords. So, it’s not a sense of “Everything turned out okay,” or “That was nice.” I didn’t want the guitar solo to be too bright.
Thinking that the last thing people hear will be the reverb of this song, I wanted to leave them feeling moved or contemplative. This song doesn’t have a guitar riff as such, but after the flow from the first verse to the chorus ends, there’s a fast guitar section. I think this reflects an intention to sound serious, as much as the guitar solo. Before the bridge, there’s a part where the band gets quite active. If you just play the chord progression, it’s really bright. But I particularly thought about how to make it sound melancholic and engaging.
I personally like the bridge a lot. There, instead of picking the guitar phrases, I wanted to play them with distortion in an arpeggio style, which shows how much I like Visual-Kei (laughs).
Also, since the album “Shinjitsu wo Shitteiku Monogatari,” I’ve been responsible for all the vocal harmony arrangements. In this song, I knew a three-part harmony would make the scene shine, like in the part “Bokuraniwa Imi ga aru.” Even before the lyrics rise, I remember adjusting it, thinking this is where the message I want to convey in this song comes together.

Ayame: From a keyboard perspective, I think the most crucial part of this song is leading up to the final climax. For a song like this, brass sounds really stand out, so I thought about where to incorporate them. Although we haven’t used much brass in this album, I believe it was effectively placed towards the climax of this song. Also, I personally like the choir sound playing behind the guitar solo at the end. The repetition of that sound, I think, really captures the grand atmosphere of the song, expressing something quite magnificent.

──You’ve mentioned that as a keyboardist you have a wide range of tones at your disposal and often use choir and strings. In Matenrou Opera, do you have a set idea of “this type of song needs this” in terms of instrument choices?

Ayame: In the past, I used a wider variety of tones, but recently, it’s mostly about strings and how effectively I can use the choir. I personally like brass sounds, but if used too much, it can become too bold or give off a video game music vibe, so it’s crucial to find the right moments to include brass.

Yusuke: The harp and female choir in the momentary break are quite distinctive, aren’t they?

Ayame: That part, in the original demo, was piano, but I deliberately changed it to a harp. I thought the harp had more of the Final Fantasy feel to it (laughs). I might have altered the originally received phrase a bit, but it was slightly influenced by that famous song named Prelude in the Final Fantasy.

Yo: For this song, I think it took the longest to think about the bass arrangement. There are quite a few phrases that are similar but not the same. I used a modern anime song-like technique for the bass guitar arrangement, which makes it hard to remember (laughs).
Also, the bass phrase that enters when the band kicks in at the beginning was in Sono’s demo, and I arranged and played it. This phrase appears several times in the song, and I arranged and recorded each occurrence. This is probably the song where I was most meticulous about the choice of notes and the overall arrangement.

Hibiki: Since this song is melodic speed metal, the base is mainly a two-beat with double bass drum, but I wanted to change the approach this time and focus more on drums than cymbals. So, for the fills, especially before the bridge where the band part is, I arranged it as if it was a drum solo. Specifically, the first half traces a phrase from a certain X song as a form of respect, and the second half incorporates a metalcore phrase that I’m good at.

──Now, as we move towards the “EVIL” tour, could you share your enthusiasm?

Sono: This time, it’s a short tour in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, but the capacity is a bit of a challenge for Matenrou Opera. However, I don’t think it’s too big for us. I’m looking forward to playing the new songs more freely than ever before. I hope it will be a tour where both the audience and the members can enjoy themselves.

Yusuke: Performing on a big stage and enjoying it with the audience is really meaningful and something I’m happy about. Of course, on this tour, I think we’ll be performing all 6 songs from the EP “EVIL,” so I hope the audience will immerse themselves in imagining how it will sound.

Ayame: I’ve always thought that we’re a band suited for large venues, and I believe the audience thinks the same. With new songs being performed, the environment where they’re first heard is important. Since we’re releasing new music and performing in a large venue for the first time in a while, I want to imprint the memory of the stage’s vastness in the audience’s mind.

Yo: With the pandemic calming down, more people can come to live shows compared to last year. It’s important to present a good live performance with the new music… how should I put it (laughs).
Please come to all three shows!

Hibiki: Performing in such a large venue, I think it looks like a very ambitious tour from both our perspective and the audience’s. But those who know a bit about Matenrou Opera might think, “Does this band have that much momentum now?” when they see the size of the venue. So, we want to make it a tour that doesn’t betray those expectations.

──As you’re approaching your 17th anniversary, it seems like the 20th anniversary is also coming into view. Do you have any future prospects or directions that you’d like to pursue?

Sono: We have a vague idea of the direction we’d like to take for our next release. I want to keep challenging ourselves moving forward. With our 20th anniversary in sight, there’s a desire to reach even higher, so together with our fans, the Opera-ers, I want to keep pushing forward.