Akiba Music – Compassion

This album might appear to be Japanese in theme and you’d be right, but Akiba Music has its origins in Spain believe it or not, read on..

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Akiba Music
ALBUM: Compassion
LABEL: Self Released/Bandcamp
SERIAL: NA
YEAR: 2022

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

LINEUP: Hector Perez (Akiba) – guitars, bass, keyboards * Toni Mayeos – drums * Jesus Espin – vocals (#1, 3, 5, 6, 7) * Chris Aguilar – vocals (#4) * Carlos Lozano – guitar solo (#3)

TRACK LISTING: 01 Love Will Not Let You Down * 02 Creative Determination (instr) * 03 Give It Up * 04 The Light Will Come * 05 Sandpaper Of My Soul * 06 You’re Still Alive? * 07 You Will Die

RATING:

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

This album might appear to be Japanese in theme and you’d be right, but Akiba Music has its origins in Spain believe it or not. Akiba Music is the project of one Hector Perez, who has enlisted the assistance of 91 Suite alumni Ivan Gonzalez who recorded and mixed this 7-track album, while singer Jesus Espin sang on five of the songs. Yes, apparently the album is based on Japanese gaming culture and is mostly melodic rock with a small hint of synthwave.

The Songs

The seven tracks are packed into a 28 minute bundle and I’ll admit it is diverse. In keeping with the gaming aspect, you’ll hear snippets and effects of audio game play on some songs. ‘Love Will Not Let You Down’ kicks it all off, a standard melodic rocker the sort of thing many of you will be familiar with. ‘Creative Determination’ is the first point of difference being an instrumental with cinematic and soundtrack quality. However there is lot of guitar noodling among the keyboard work.

‘Give It Up’ is a return to melodic rock, a punchier effort than the first track. The guitar solo from Carlos Lozano is kinda killer too. ‘The Light Will Come’ is a symphonic ballad, the sort of tune you’d see/hear on [insert Country] Got Talent. Didn’t do a lot for me unfortunately and at 5 mins I hit the skip button. ‘Sandpaper Of My Soul’ is keyboard laden, while the ‘hey hey’ gang chants didn’t quite have the desired result.

The gaming audio makes an appearance on ‘You’re Still Alive?’ and despite this along with the short 2 plus minutes runtime, the track is more melodic rock than synthwave. Final track ‘You Will Die’ continues the predominant melodic rock approach. It was moderately racy, good guitar work but questionable synth sounds – was it bell, a percussion instrument or perhaps a tin can that was used? I jest..

In Summary

Released back in April 2022, this is another Bandcamp project that might have legs but it depends on how the material is pitched and to what audience. My guess is that it will have more traction in Japan than Europe, though that remains to be seen. Probably not an essential listen, but for those of you that are interested, take a listen on the Bandcamp page listed above.

Video

Give It Up

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