SHOW-YEN: II

Cover	Release	Style
	2005	instrumental progressive rock
	Label
	musea records
	Website
	www.showyen.com
	Contact

	Playing Time	Cat. N°
	53:34	FGBG 4586
	Review by	Rating
	Christoph	5/10
nederlands	Review
Show-Yen is a Japanese band without Japanese vocals, so that cannot be the problem. They are not bad musicians either. The issue is that their second record lacks compositional skills and damn right fantasy. The band is compared with Rush and King Crimson, but they display nothing of interest that could refer to these far superior powerhouses. All the music is written by guitarist and obvious band leader Yasuhiro Nishio. Well, you can tell, since he’s the only player who is allowed (or better: who allows himself) to stretch out. The drummer has few inspiring parts and handles his job on automatic pilot. Overall, there’s no thrill, no danger lurking. So, is there nothing interesting here? Well, the bass player has some cool bits and sounds the most progressive of the trio. And occasionally some oriental influences do pop up nicely. Their eponymous debut wasn’t a real treat, according to its review on PN. So there’s no rising sun in chapter II. I even had difficulty in fully listen to this guitarist’s ego-trip. The sound recording is satisfactory. But I remember Musea having a finer nose for Japanese prog. On the basis of this far overrated Show-Yen however, the French label isn’t helping its case.
Musicians
Yasuhiro Nishio: guitars Hiraoki Fujii: bass Naoki Itoi: drums
Tracklist
1 - Sakura I (1'15) 2 - Life Game (5'15) 3 - Ceremony For The Evil (5'22) 4 - The Moon Knows Everything (6'39) 5 - Insanity (4'17) 6 - Sakura II (1'26) 7 - Quappa (3'58) 8 - Kirin (3'58) 9 - A Thorny Path (4'48) 10 - Sakura III (1'31) 11 - The Power Of The Earth (8'25) 12 - Sakura IV (1'38) 13 - Rock N' Roll Again - I Can… (4'56)
Discography
Show-Yen: Show-Yen (2003) Show-Yen: II (2005)


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