HANABIE are a really fun and talented all-girl band with surprisingly meaningful lyrics.

 

Harajuku-core is a pretty cool and unique subgenre of metal that I've become accustomed to hearing. It blends the trendy fashion sense of Harajuku, with heavy metal and a little kawaii for good measure. At least, that's what the band that this post is focused on are pioneers in. 

HANABIE are an all-female metal band that started back in 2015, when the girls were in the same music club in high school. Yukina, the vocalist that does the growls and screams, is the one that brought the band together. The band consists of four members. The aforementioned Yukina, Matsuri, the gifted guitar shredder with an angelic voice who also composes their songs, Hettsu, the awesome bassist and Sae, the energetic drummer. Sae joined the band in December back in 2020 after the bands two previous drummers, Kaede and Boa, as well as a few session drummers, had left. It wasn't until 3 years after they formed, in 2018, that they released their first mini-album, Kaika Sengen. Kaika Sengen was a brilliant, heavy mini-album and a terrific way for the band to debut. It helped that they had Gaku Taura, the drummer of Crystal Lake, as the producer. Another 3 years later in 2021, the band released their debut full length album, Otome Kaikaku with Gaku Taura once again producing. Unfortunately, Sae left the band in 2023 due to personal reasons. Her replacement came a short while later with the talented Chika stepping in.

Much like Kaika Sengen, Otome Kaikaku features a lot of heaviness. There's a lot of excellent breakdowns and the best aspects of metalcore. That's a testament to the group as talented musicians as the riffs, bridges and choruses are beautiful. The opening tracks are solid, more straightforward, metal songs then what they're becoming known for. That's fine though as their talent allows them to cover a lot of musical ground should they choose to do so. The production quality is tremendous, the sound being crystal clear. Credit to Gaku Taura for that. 

What makes HANABIE stand out above the rest of the metal scene can be found in songs from the 4th track of Otome Kaikaku, Watashitachi no 7 kakan sensou onwards. Watashitachi no 7 kakan sensou is a song filled with brutal verses full of screaming and rocking riffs before transitioning into the clean, buttery smooth vocals in the chorus. Matsuri's angelic clean vocals are on point and that makes it one of my favourite songs ever made. The lyrics are actually about the 7 day menstruation that women go through and I empathise with them about this, it sounds rough!

What immediately follows Watashitachi no 7 kakan sensou is one of the best songs of HANABIE's discography. Reiwa Matching Jidai is a wonderfully addictive, catchy tune that blends rapping with their honed metalcore elements, such as the clean chorus. What sticks out the most from Reiwa matching Jidai is the lyrics, what might sound like a simple, catchy tune, actually is a great song full of astute social commentary. The lyrics describe the current dating app generation, as the title would suggest, and it hits the nail on the head in describing just how depressing it has become. Yukina refers to the culture as not requiring romance, that people are on their phones everyday scrolling through dating apps to gain that chemical reaction that happens when hooking up with someone new. It basically describes the dating app culture as being self-destructive with it changing the life of a young person in the most negative ways even when they scroll through looking for a serious, positive relationship. 

Conversely, you get addictive, kawaii and fun tracks such as We Love Sweets. We Love Sweets is a song that really mixes in a cutesy delivery in the verses with Yukina's excellent growls and screams whilst Matsuri plays a badass guitar riff. Not to mention the rare vocal performance from Hettsu and she does splendid with what she's given. The song was described by the girls as a group killer because of its' fast tempo and playing difficulty. Matsuri again provides her exquisite clean vocals for the chorus. The lyrics are entertaining and actually deal with sugar addiction. Sugar is described as being like a drug and the girl in the song is constantly searching for her next sugar high. The girl is also concerned that she might become diabetic, but she can't stop as she has become far too addicted to that sugar high. 

In 2023, the band released the single, Osakinishitsurei shimasu. Produced by long-time BABYMETAL producer, Yuyoyuppe, Osakinishitsurei shimasu combines all of the bands best elements into a neat, majestic package. I love how the kawaii delivery of the song's title is used as the pre-chorus, the chorus being harsh vocals. Both were performed by Yukina and she's on point throughout the single. As for the lyrical content and its meaning, the lyrics talk about how stifling the work culture can be and how you're expected to say yes to doing a lot of things that you just don't want to do. You could also apply this to a lot of various situations and scenarios in everyday life as well, which just makes it that much better. 

2023 also saw the girls announce that they had joined the major label, Epic Records Japan, a label which is owned by Sony. Under the new label, the band released a couple of singles, TOUSOU and BE The Gal ~Summer ver.~ before releasing their second full length album, Raise wa Ijin! 

Then you have their random videos that are posted on their YouTube channel. These are fun videos in which you get to see the band have fun and goof around. Some great behind the scenes videos too in which you can see the makings of their music videos. There's also the various covers that they have done as well as collaborations with other artists, youtubers and even wrestlers such as Tomoaki Honma!

I could go on and on about how much I love HANABIE and their songs, but I won't keep rambling. I will recommend them to those who appreciate a solid metal band with a flavour of something different and kawaii. Harajukucore is alive and well.