HAGANE - 天下五剣 (Reaction) First time hearing this band and I love them!

[@rasi2020]

I give you a somewhat clumsy translation of the lyrics by Google Translate: "The Five Great Swords of Japan In the deep darkness, alone, A demon stands, Chasing after the shining blade In my dreams The "door to my soul" is locked Tonight's battle, only the moon knows The darkness is just around the corner The cherry blossoms sway and fall Until this life burns out Fleeting, beautiful, and smiling With you, like a flower Now, open your "door to my soul" Dancing down on the full moon Cutting through the flames To protect all that is precious Even the tears that fall Will disappear into bubbles Let's go to a distant era Raise the signal fire The path of victory At the mercy of God A broken kaleidoscope is sucked in These days, when all I could do was cry In the blood-stained past The starry sky shines brightly I want to continue to light your path Brightly and gently enveloping With you, like the sun Throw away your "soul" Slash into the future! The cherry blossoms that fell on my hair faded and disappeared The spring wind runs down my cheeks I let go of your hand without looking back... Bloom in full glory Are you ready? No matter how red you are, I will protect you Even the tears that spill out Will disappear into bubbles Let's go to a distant time Raise the signal fire The victory lies God's will" The lyrics correspond pretty well to the situation Sakura (guitarist, band founder and leader, composer, lyric-writer - the musical soul and genius of the band...) to the situation HAGANE was in 2023: Three of their members (vocal, second guitar, drums) had left the band and just Sakura and Sayaka (bass) were remaining. And they formed "out of the ashes" this new wonderful line-up! Now this is (for the time being) my favorite band - especially because I love Junna and her drumming too (I have met her in person, had a very short conversation - my Japanese is after three years of learning still pretty poor - and got an autograph - yeahh!) and I followed Sakura and her growing too for several years now - she is definitely in the top five or so of these wonderful female Japanese rock and metal guitarists. And after following Sayaka now too : She is an amazing bass player (often a bit overlooked) and an wonderful person too. Sakura the musical soul of HAGANE and Sayaka the spiritual soul. Check out the "making-of" video of Tenka Goken on HAGANES channel, there is this emotional moving moment when Sayaka after the shooting is silently praying in front of the Buddha/Kami (???) in this true and beautiful temple. And of course I have to mention Nagi the singer too: her voice is beautiful and has some real magic incorporated; the more you listen to this song, the more you wish to hear it again and again. Nagi put some spell on us poor listeners ...😅. So, I hope I could give you some hints for discovering more of HAGANE!

[@bocatampere]

Phenomenal song 🔥❤ So glad that Sakura(gtr) and Sayaka(basist) decided to continue after break up before, they found Nagi(vocals) and Junna(dr) makes me even happier 🔥 Great great band. Magical band 💥

[@stevecastiglione8901]

Sakura and Junna are a great match...

[@hiawatha.g]

Thank you for featuring Hagane (pronounced HA-ga-neh). They have to be considered one of the hot, up and coming groups, though they had to go through a major reboot in 2023. They were originally a five-piece with dual leads; they have recently re-formed as a four piece (more on that below). The initial lineup came together in 2018, just as they were all finishing high school. Founding guitarist Sakura had been posting metal covers on youtube since she was 14, and gained notoriety as a technical beast with a taste for ferocious shredding. That is how most of the other band-members found her. Original lineup: Vocal: Chiemi Guitar : Sakura Yoshida (also writes and arranges most of the music) Guitar : Mayto Bass : Sayaka Drum : Kanako Takahashi (b. 2001) In 2019, Chiemi left and was replaced by Uyu. The band released three concert DVDs and a full-length album (“Code 9021”) during her tenure. From that lineup: “Soul Beats”: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWmxhYWAlN6Hrrs The rhythm line seamlessly melds rock and funk throughout. The guitar solo is classic jazz fusion, but with distortion. The heavy use of minor and diminished scales gives it a vaguely middle-eastern vibe, but jacked up to searing intensity. “Super Villan” kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3TUq6Bmo7qrmK8 Huge guitar duel, with give and take and a lot of experimental ideas. “Black Cult” kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnTLlnxsYrKKnrs From their most recently released album, another with lots of musical ideas, more guitar dueling, and powerful vocals from Uyu. In early 2023, the band announced the departures of three members-Uyu, Mayto and Kanako. They spent the next year rebuilding. They have re-formed as a four-piece, with the already famous Junna on drums. Junna was previously with Kakumei (later rebranded as Trident), and has a popular youtube channel where she posts hyperactive solo drum covers of metal songs. New vocalist Nagi has replaced Uyu. This is her first professional gig. Guitars: Sakura Bass: Sayaka Drums: Junna Vocals: Nagi Hagane are clearly playing in a similar space as groups like Mary’s Blood, Bridear, Nemophila and Lovebites-melodic, hard, heavy and technical. Early on, however, they developed their own signature sound, built around exotic scales, syncopated rhythms and the aforementioned high-octane shredding. The songwriting is mature, far beyond what you should be able to expect from a bunch of people this young. The new lineup have released an EP, “Life Goes On”, with five tracks including an instrumental. Despite not having the dual attack, it looks like they haven’t lost a step-Junna is insane as ever and Sakura is just on fire. Other bandmembers: Uyu already has her own band, which is largely focusing on covers of other metal groups, especially Babymetal. She is also working with Mayto on a project-we’ll see if it turns into something long term. Both Mayto and Kanako have worked on other projects. They are elite musicians and should have no trouble landing with other bands if they choose to.

[@thedocofrock1890]

i believe that it is 'the 5 swords of japan' . this band has great things ahead of them with this lineup. the guitarist and bassist are original members. the vocalist is new along with the insane drummer junna - one of the most prolific drummers i've ever seen. i also am unconcerned about not understanding most of the lyrics but ever since discovering japanese girl groups in 2016 i was so blown away by the music i did not give one rat's ass. first song i ever heard back then was BAND MAID -'real existence ' mv. i would have never expected that the japanese language would go so well with the heavy music. but over the last 8 years i have been obsessed with learning the language. i know a lot of words - and that really helps - but i still can't put them together for complete sentences. it's a lot more complex that english

[@TwistedGunZ]

Junna is definitely the highlight of the band for me personally. I love her showmanship and energy she brings. I feel similar with discovering Japanese metal. Mine was recent, about 6-7 months ago and honestly, I rarely care to listen to anything else excluding what I react to of course lol. Im learning the language also. I know a fair amount of words and feel I can "mostly" form a sentence. Its むずかしい (difficult) but in a way, thats what makes it more rewarding when you notice progress.

[@michaelmunno]

this entire EP is pure fire. they are all awesome musicians. NAGI's voice is 100% perfect for Sakura's vision. genius that they found her and Junna to pair up with Sakura & Sayaka. Sayaka is an under-rated awesome bassist. you can hear her shine a little clearer on DATT (instrumental) I love this song the most from the new EP, followed by LIFE GOES ON, then DATT & HERO TIME> so much good music already. Black Cult * Wintry Sky are my two favorites from the old lineup. IMO they picked up where they left off, leveled up and are moving forward from the ashes reborn and refocused. let's go! GANBATTE HAGANE! (you nailed the group name and the song name IMO) thanks for checking them out and helping get them, out there for consumption. This band needs all the love, very hard working awesome kind and beautiful women. let's go!

[@TwistedGunZ]

I'm really happy I discovered them myself. I DEFINITELY plan on returning to them with the hero time song coming out. Gotta do some catching up, time is hard to manage but Ill get there!

[@NemusVetus]

The kanji are ten (heaven) - ka/ga (under) - go (five) - ken (sword), meaning the "five swords under heaven". To quote Wikipedia, "The Tenka-Goken are a group of five Japanese swords. Three are National Treasures of Japan, one an Imperial Property, and one a holy relic of Nichiren Buddhism." BTW, there is a TV live version on youtube of their songs Hero Time and Tenga Goken, and it has English subtitles throughout, also for the song lyrics.

[@pm7461]

I saw a few of these out there from the J-MELO show on NHK world. Definitely worth a watch.

[@lion19557]

I'm Taliban i love japan metal band 🤘

[@kc1fan2012]

I'm glad you touched on getting hooked on the lyrics instead of enjoying the music. Turn off the cc on 1st reaction and then go back and re-watch with captions. This is a must do with Band Maid.

[@omniglot]

Nice reaction. Great song. The title is 'Tenka Goken' and does mean 'the 5 swords of Japan' or literally 'Five Swords under Heaven'. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenka-Goken

[@TwistedGunZ]

@@omniglot im surprised I was able to read 3/4 of the kanji considering I only know about a dozen 😂. Absolute amazing band. How do you feel about them with the new drummer and singer?

[@retroislandboy9708]

Glad youre checking out HAGANE. they are in my top 3 of the all lady bands. Ive heard so many lady bands but the ones that stick with me are Gacharic Spin ...Bridear...and Hagane. I also really like Lonesome Blue and LOT SPiRiTS . that makes up my top 5 .

[@TwistedGunZ]

@@retroislandboy9708 ah I did a lonesome blue reaction. "Face the fear " I believe and I absolutely love that song. Was listening to it today and I believe I did a lyric breakdown for it also.