Jupiter was brought to life after the successful symphonic metal band Versailles announced their hiatus in 2012. With HIZAKI and TERU as guitarist, MASHI as bassist and YUKI as drummer pretty much all of Versailles (with exception of vocalist KAMIJO, who started a solo career during this time) was active under the name of Jupiter. In 2013 they released their first single, titled Blessing of the Future, in which “new” vocalist ZIN could showcase his talents.
With five “ex-Versailles” members it’s not unusual that Jupiter has a similar sound, but despite the many sceptical opinions about ZIN Jupiter has conquered a clear spot within the current visual kei scene. MASHI and YUKI announced their departure from Jupiter in 2015, and from April 29 2016 Jupiter was a 3-member band. In February 2017 the band announced to have recruited a new bassist (RUCY, ex-KILLANETH) and drummer (DAISUKE, ex-ROACH), who both instantly started to work on this mini as well.
Tracklist:
01. TEARS OF THE SUN
02. WE AGAINST
03 – The Crucifixion
04. Guilty as Sin
05. TOPAZ -symphonic ver.-
This mini-album contains three new songs, one known song from the single The spirit within me (released in January of this year) and a symphonic version of TOPAZ. Overall this mini continues the “standard” that was put down by the previous single with fast rhythms and vocals with a classic rock influence, which mainly returns in ZIN’s vocals during the song The Crucifixion. The symphonic influence is still clearly audible in the guitars and extra instruments in the background though.
This is a high-tempo mini-album which you roll into and go through in one go until the symphonic version from TOPAZ slows you down again and puts you back on planet Earth. The original version was already a ballad-like song, but it is even more now. What has also changed is ZIN’s vocals, which are a lot clearer in pronunciation, including the parts sang in English.
Jupiter clearly tries to make their own identity and get rid of the “Versailles without KAMIJO” image. The ugly duckling in this tracklist is without a doubt The Crucifixion, which has an entirely different style than the rest of the album due to the classic rock vocals which certainly influence this song. It’s something you have to get used to, especially because ZIN normally only showcases this kind of vocals during live versions of ARCADIA, but due to this new studio influence, this song grew to be my favourite of this album. (Guilty as Sin not included, because The spirit within me can’t be topped in my opinion.)
Rating: 85/100
