God of Shamisen: Smoke Monster Attack (11/23/10)
God of Shamisen: “Last Shamisen Master Attack”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/God_of_Shamisen_Last_Shamisen_Master-Attack.mp3|titles=God of Shamisen: “Last Shamisen Master Attack”]Featuring a pair of members from genre annihilators Estradasphere, God of Shamisen is a boundless project of East/West fusion combining heavy metal, improvised Japanese folk, and much more. The band’s music is built on Kevin Kmetz’s mastery of the shamisen, a slender, striking, three-stringed Japanese instrument, but it has drawn the ire of some traditional shamisen masters for adding thrash riffs and rapid-fire metal beats.
Smoke Monster Attack, the band’s digital-only second release, accentuates that mix. It features a few unreleased originals as well as a handful of video-game and movie covers, including wild renditions of the themes to Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Star Wars, and co-production by Billy Anderson makes Smoke Monster Attack that much stouter.