Petit Brabancon: A stupendous supergroup full of raw power and talent.

 

Kyo-san has done it again. The man seems to have the Midas touch as every project he's been involved with has turned into gold. Since 1997, he's been releasing banger after banger with DIR EN GREY, before doubling his workload with the creation of the awesome supergroup, Sukekiyo in 2013. He's also collaborated with talented musicians such as Sugizo and Kagerou. Add on top of that his collections of poetry and photography which shows just how talented the man truly is and how hard it works. So, when it was announced in 2021 that he had formed a new supergroup, I was both intrigued and fascinated by the prospect. Handling 3 large projects at once is no easy feat. 

Petit Brabancon was formed because Kyo-san had been a fan of Yukihiro-san's work since his days as the drummer of Zi:Kill. Due to his fandom, Kyo-san reached out to Yukihiro-san and stated that he'd like to work with him. He had reached out about 4 or 5 years prior to the official announcement of the project. In interviews, Yukihiro-san has claimed that Petit Brabancon came about because Kyo-san wanted to do something extreme with him. With both of them having known Kyo-san's disinterest in simply being a duo, Yukihiro-san initiated the search for members of what would become a 5 member band. Seeking out an accomplished composer, producer and multi-talented musician, Yukihiro-san contacted Miya-san, the guitarist of popular Visual Kei band Mucc. Yukihiro-san believed that Miya-san would match Kyo-san's preference for loud, heavy music. This would turn out to be true and after Kyo-san met with Miya-san for drinks, the 2 bonded over shared interests. The 2 also learned that they had shared a similar upbringing and a fandom of Zi:Kill. Miya-san would then start composing songs for the group in 2018, 3 years before the official announcement that the group had formed. Some time later in 2019, Hirofumi Takamatsu, the bassist of The Novembers joined the project, immediately accepting when offered to join in a phone call with Yukihiro-san's manager. Takamatsu had never used a five-string bass before joining the supergroup, but did so at the request of the members. Completing the lineup, Kiyomi "antz" Watanabe, the guitarist of Tokyo Shoegazer, was told by his bandmate, Hiroshi Sasabuchi, to get in touch with Yukihiro-san after Sasabuchi-san had spoken with the drummer. antz had played with Yukihiro-san previously in Yukihiro-san's solo project, Acid Android for about 10 years before leaving in 2012. Seemingly having not spoken for quite some time, the pair caught up in person before Yukihiro-san called antz and asked him to join the group in 2019. 

The supergroup came to have the name Petit Brabancon because Kyo-san was a fan of the dog breed, calling them very feisty and rather loud as they bark a lot despite being rather small in stature. Kyo-san also owns a dog of a similar breed that can be seen in photos on his Instagram. I highly recommend checking his Instagram out as the dog is adorable and Kyo-san is rather fun. 

The supergroup's first announcement came on the 29th of October, 2021. They were an unknown act set that would perform at the Danger Crue 40th Anniversary Jack in the Box event in 2021. This meant that their first appearance would be at the legendary Nippon Budokan on December 27. An artist photo released on December 6th finally revealed the members of the group. The digital-only double-A side single "Koku/Kawaki", which featured 3 songs was released days before the Budokan show on Christmas Eve. The group played their first solo live gig on January 22, 2022 at Club Nitta. This was a rather small gig with an attendance that was limited to 29 as the supergroup were recording the footage to be used in promotional videos. They released their first physical single, Kawaki on April 27, 2022, which included 4 tracks and was mastered by Ted Jensen whom had previously working with The Eagles, Green Day, Billy Joel, Evanescence and Alice In Chains. Their first studio album, Fetish, was released on August 31 with all lyrics written by Kyo-san, most compositions by Miya-san with antz credited with 4 compositions and Yukihiro-san with 1. Their first tour was held between 5 locations from September 8th to 21th. The tour was called Resonance of the Corpse and to coincide with the event, the group announced the street fashion brand named after the band. Fetish was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic and as such, most of the band recorded their parts separately. The exception to this was Miya-san and antz, whom recorded together. Kyo-san has stated that this is his preference as he knows when his voice is good, often recording at 3am or between 7 and 8am before sending his vocals to the others.

It's incredibly difficult to give a label to the supergroup's sound and that's a good thing. The members of the group have all given various different answers as to what they believe the sound is. Miya-san has stated that he believes that Kyo-san's vision for the group was more hardcore than simkply heavy metal. He also speculated that Kyo-san wanted to experiment with a combination of his usual loud, intense sound with Yukihiro-san's punkish drumming style. antz has stated that when the group go together that loud rock and nu metal from the 90s and early 200's came up in conversation. 

The band do have something unique as no 2 songs sound the same. There's a neat blend of raw, aggressive heaviness and catchy, melodic choruses. Kyo-san showcases his range as he goes from his incredible growling to angry, speech like vocals to full on, beautiful cleans. The band's style also changes from the rather heavy guitar riffs in songs such as Gion, Isolated Spiral and Hiningen, Douhaku ni arazu to the ultra catchy punkish riffs in OBEY and even mellow, zen-like calming work in come to a screaming halt. 

Gion sees Kyo-san return to a familiar subject. He has mentioned the city previously such as in the incredible DIR EN GREY song, Kasumi and also in [KR] Cube. The aforementioned crunchy guitar riffs combine extremely well with Kyo-san's aggressive growls and overall approach to his vocal delivery in this song. 

Shuchou ni Te wo Nobasu Shura is one of my favourites as far as the heavy tracks from the group are concerned. The brutal guitar riffs in combination with the competent drums flow expertly into the otherworldly tone of the chorus. Kyo-san sounds a combination of frustrated with the world and anguished in his delivery. He's one of the best vocalists as far as emotion is concerned imo. 

Koku is another favourite of mine as it's a much more industrial sounding song whilst being less heavy than most songs on the album. The chorus is beautiful with Kyo-san bringing out the fantastic clean vocals as the band plays a beautiful melodic number. The payoff of the chorus is tremendous as it comes after Kyo-san's crescendo of heavy screaming and growling. 

come to a screaming halt changes everything the first time you hear it. In contrast to the rest of the album, you are greeted with a majestic electronic sound as synths are combined with a dainty keyboard piece as Kyo-san delivers soft, calming vocals. The guitars are featured, but in such a way that they don't overpower the rest of the ensemble. The same can be said of the drums. I also love the subtle way in which the song ends in the same way as it begins. 

I guess that overall, Ryosuke Tarakane of Mikiki described the supergroup best when he wrote that whilst based in a blend of nu metal, industrial and alternative rock, their music is unrestrained by genre boundaries and has an eerie experimental spirit. If you're a fan of experimental music or heavy songs then I'd urge to to at least give Petit Brabancon a listen and see if you enjoy their work. The same goes for if you're a fan of DIR EN GREY or Sukekiyo and even if you just enjoy any of the member's other work. Kyo-san is one of my favourite vocalists and he brought me to both Sukekiyo and Petit Brabancon, something that I am grateful for and don't regret at all. 

(Please note that all images that I use belong to their respective owners. I do not claim the images as my own.)