Does metal fit on Abunai!, for many known as an anime convention? After several performances by pop and rock musicians in previous years – we don’t forget the loud rock band X Made Alcoholic Santaclaus – FAKE ISLAND was next to blast with metalcore with two women at the front.
The metal band is striking because of the two frontwomen, who alternate in the various singing styles they maintain, Erica does the grunts and YuuriBjoux the clean vocals. The audience of Abunai! was prepared for a fierce show, in front, they were still warming up a bit, while in the back the music lovers went for the music by dancing and headbanging. It resulted in an interesting mix of metalheads, cosplayers and other convention-goers who are not afraid of listening to good music from Japan.
The temperature went up as the show progressed, as the music of FAKE ISLAND made the audience mobilise more and more. With a result of headbanging and flowing hairs. YuuriBjoux provided a surprise with a very intimate goosebumps moment in which she started singing a cappella, all eyes were on her and it became very quiet, the audience seemed to hold their breath, which was followed by a fierce start of the song Hang onto my dream. This was the moment when the audience was finally warmed up and started to accept the band more and more. There was little room to stand still, because FAKE ISLAND overwhelmed the audience with stunners like Throw Down and a Butcher Babies cover, an ode to the inspiration for FAKE ISLAND.
Still, such a performance at a convention that attracts a diversity of people is tricky, because the music that FAKE ISLAND makes is loud, but melodic. The two different singers complement each other well during the performance and provide a nice balance. But this music genre is not everyone’s taste. The band had an advantage, they were scheduled earlier in the day, because of the performance of their tour buddies High Tech Low Life, this gave them an opportunity to attract more audience than their predecessors in previous years. But this isn’t the only reason why the hall was filled, because the audience that came to see what the attractive package that is called FAKE ISLAND had to offer, already seemed to have an interest in loud music where you can go all out.
And with this, it is also clear what the answer to the first question in this article is: yes! Especially with the theme of this year’s convention, called High Tech, Low Life, the band fitted in perfectly. Especially since they also include cyberpunk elements in their lyrics, but also because the band was very convincing towards the audience and this caused the more response from them. Especially when both singers decided to take a plunge in the audience.
Enjoying the performance is possible thanks to the video made by Abunai’s house video and photographer (and coincidentally also our partner), Miyako Studio. You can also read the interview we had with FAKE ISLAND.
Setlist:
1 WALLs
2 No Solution
3 Small Island
4 Hang onto my dream
5 0→1 (Zero to one)
6 Throw Down
7 Normal chaos
8 Magnolia BLVD (Butcher Babies cover)
9 SN(新曲)
10 Connected
11 SSBencore
12. Throw Down
Photography: Francisca Hagen (AVO Magazine)
