Jin recommends: SiM: Unique and Creative.

I remember the first time that I ever came across the hard to describe band known as SiM (Silence iz Mine). I was sat at a computer working on one of several projects for my Interactive Media diploma during my time at college. The tutor there was a really chill dude and believed that we should be allowed to listen to music whilst working. Studies also indicate that listening to music makes us more productive so, he wasn't wrong. 

As I listened to bands such as DIR EN GREY, lynch. and The Gazette, suddenly, on my recommended videos, a video for a song simply titled Blah, Blah, Blah popped up. Naturally, I was curious and so clicked on it to check it out. What followed was a great introduction to a unique new band. From the first hook, I was entranced. The crunching guitar riffs from Show-Hate, Mah's dancing and energetic vocals, the tempo changes and catchy chorus just sold me on the band. Also, I hilariously misheard some of the lyrics at first and was embarrassed to find out that I heard wrong. The lyrics were "Don't be a dead in your lifetime", I thought Mah said dick, my bad. 

I had to hear more and so I searched their name on Google. There was limited information about them available, but they formed in 2004 in the Kanagawa Prefecture and are labelled as an alternative metal band but that doesn't do them justice. Actually describing their sound is seriously difficult as they combine elements of various genres in their compositions from metal to reggae, dubstep in songs such as Gunshots, hiphop, ska and punk. Their punkish attributes include their defiant, rebellious lyricism especially in songs such as Baseball Bat, Blah Blah Blah, Make Me Dead and of course Punk Rock iz Coming. 

No 2 songs sound the same from SiM which is wonderful as many bands unfortunately release material which hardly differs these days. To this point, Dance in The Dark and Crows sound nothing like Rosso and Dry or Fathers. The former are 2 sounds on the heavy side with an almost dance like use of it's electronics whilst bringing brutal guitar riffs. The latter are softer, ballads with Rosso and Dry sounding almost reggae. Mah's clean vocals really stand out on the softer tracks and proves he can write some really mature lyrics with the song Fathers, which, was written for his son and brought me to tears. Gunshots has a random dubstep in it's midst which I actually enjoyed and that says something as I usually detest the genre. Maybe it helps that SiM also has crunching riffage and catchy choruses such as in Baseball Bat. In contrast to Fathers, Baseball Bat has a chorus in which Mah claims he wants to smash someone's head in with a baseball bat. This diversity in styles and lyrical content makes the band always seem fresh and interesting. 

The band have had their songs featured as Anime openings, such as The Rumbling being used as Attack on Titan's Final Season's Part 2 opening theme beginning in January 2022, Under the Tree being used as the ending theme for Part 3 and Let It End being used for Shingeki No Bahamut: Virgin Soul back in April 2017. That wasn't the first time their music was used for Shingeki No Bahamut as Genesis used Existence as the opening back in 2014. 

Along with Anime openings, the band have had songs used for NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom which, I'm a huge fan of. The song was the single Lion's Den and it acted as the opening theme for Wrestle Kingdom 13. Anime and wrestling aren't the only thing that I'm a huge fan of that had featured SiM's music, as Ryu Ga Gotoku Kiwami 2 (Known as Yakuza in the west) featured A/ The Sound of Breath on the soundtrack. 

The band are receiving more recognition and yet other than in some communities and articles online, I rarely see or hear them being mentioned and that's a damn shame. I hope that my rant at least makes readers consider giving them a shot. I started my music posts with SiM because I believe that due to the fact that they write songs mainly in English, they'd have a far reaching, easily accessible appeal. That being said, my favourite SiM songs often involve some degree of Japanese lyrics. For example, A, Dance in the Dark, Existence and Under the Tree all have a blend of English and Japanese.