One Man Show at Shibuya O-WEST – The Recording of the DVD

DESTROSE, a girls’ heavy metal band with a highly accomplished sound and performance, performed a solo live at Shibuya O-WEST on 14 November 2013. The event was also a celebration of the release of their latest single ‘Rin / MAZE’ and the two-year anniversary of the resumption of their activities under the current line-up. （The group had been active for some time, but two years ago all members except the leader, Captain Mina, left the group. The group has since renewed its members and resumed its activities).

In 2013, DESTROSE experienced a major tailwind. The band appeared at the “NAON no YAON” event for female rock musicians, released their first full-length album and held their first solo live performance. And the one-man show at Shibuya O-WEST, which we report on here. In a previous interview with “DESTROSE”, the 13th artist in the BEEAST Taiko-ban series, the girls had set their sights on a one-man live performance at Shibuya O-WEST. After a year, this has become a reality. What kind of live performance did DESTROSE give at their first one-man show at Shibuya O-WEST? Let’s report on their performance.

Destrose Members

Marina (Vocal), Captain Mina (Guitar), Narumi (Guitar), miho (Bass), Haruna (Drums)

Concert Setlist

MAZE · Skykiller · Lifer 13 · Hearts Grave · Fenixx · Headless Goddess · Destination · Romancer · Fade Out · 霖-Rin- · *Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row Cover) · *FAIRLY (SHOW-YA Cover) · Nostphilia · Sword of Avenger
ENCORE : Deathless Memories · 破壊の薔薇 · MAZE

*Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row Cover) and FAIRLY (SHOW-YA Cover) was recorded but not on DVD Release.

One by one, the girls appeared on stage with the SE ‘The Generations of Chaos’ as their entrance music. This was the moment they had been waiting for. Looking around the venue, the girls’ faces were full of smiles and high spirits. The crowd cheered loudly as the girls’ first words were played on drums, bass and guitar. Marina’s shouts echoed through the audience in the intervals, more elongated than ever before. The stage opened with the number ‘MAZE’ from the new single. It is a straightforward heavy metal number that all their fans would agree is “typical DESTROSE” in terms of rhythm and sound pressure. Although it is a new song, it has already been played as a regular song on stage since last year’s “WOMEN’S POWER Vol.55”, and the rhythm of the chorus was met with furious choruses from the audience, further increasing the pressure of the sound. One of their best-known songs, ‘Skyskiller’, followed, with Marina stirring up the crowd into a furious, headbanging storm.

As ‘Skyskiller’ ended, Marina shouted: ‘Good evening! ‘Good evening, we are DESTROSE!’ The MC then expressed her gratitude for this long-awaited day and for the successful release of the new single. The next numbers were “Lifer 13” and “Hearts Grave”, a series of killer tunes that fans would love to hear. The first step of DESTROSE’s revival, their debut live, was also held at Shibuya O-WEST two years ago, so the girls were able to perform on this stage in two years as a one-man show. As if to show the strength of their feelings, they burst onto the floor with the number ‘Fenixx’, which was announced as a signal of their revival.

The stage broke once for a fun-filled member introduction, before moving on to ‘Headless Goddess’, another classic. Marina’s voice has the sharpness of a blade, but one of the voices in this number is a vicious death voice. From the one act that created a gripping development, the perfection of the performance and performance is further showcased here. The band’s reputation needs no handicap, such as the fact that they are girls, to be considered. The songs, sound and stage performance boast a high degree of perfection. The band’s perfection as a band was on display on stage as they played in a way that made you think, “There are not many Japanese heavy metal bands that can play to this level”.

Their heavy, aggressive sound is their speciality, but it was Mina’s solo that really shone through, as she knows DESTROSE inside and out, and her solo was not just a showcase of her technique. After the flowing phrases, there are always chalking and vibrato phrases that show a strong sense of singing and appeal the image of “a guitarist singing”. Furthermore, the twin-guitar harmonies that he and Narumi displayed in combination made the impression many times clearer, and showed a great presence.

The stage moved to the middle stage. On the stage with the lights dimmed, the girls were waiting for the right moment to play next. The timing was created by the narration that played. A new song, “Rin”, was released for the first time on the day. The song is a song that Marina says she has never projected so much of herself into a song before, both in terms of lyrics and composition. This was the beginning of her strong desire to move forward. This song was written from such an inspiration. It is a number with a dramatic development that has not been seen in DESTROSE up to now. The audience watched the performance closely, feeling the uncontrollable impulse from the song’s image.

While ‘MAZE’ had already been played on stage before its release, ‘霖-Rin-‘ was not played until this day, perhaps because of the great ambition to show a new step forward for DESTROSE. When the curtain firmly closed on the emotional world of DESTROSE with Marina’s final shout, the crowd gave a loud “Oh! and the floor erupted in applause, as if in praise of a wonderful orchestra performance. To show another new side of DESTROSE, they played cover songs: ‘Youth Gone Wild’ by SKID ROW, one of the representative hard rock groups of the 80s, and ‘FAIRLY’ by SHOW-YA, a band they admire and respect, as well as a number of other interesting songs that tickled the curiosity of rock fans. The audience was again entertained by an interesting selection of songs that piqued the curiosity of rock fans.

And finally, the last part of the show. Marina looks back on a turbulent year with “NAON no YAON”, the US tour, the release of their first full album and the one-man live, and talks about her new resolve for the future. The crowd cheered and head-banged to her high pitched shouts. The heavy 8-beat rhythms and profound harmonies filled the venue with an atmosphere that made the audience feel “good”. them. They decided to end with a headbang, which was perfectly synchronised with both the stage and the floor.

The audience called for an encore, which went up so high that it was impossible to tell how many times the words had been echoed. DESTROSE came on stage again to the sound of the SE, and the band members thanked the audience for making this day possible over and over again. The girls played their hearts out for the encore, which was the second encore of the night. The last song they performed was ‘MAZE’, which they had also performed at the beginning of the day. The girls’ sound and performance were driven by the joy of being here, their belief in a bright future and their various thoughts. The energy released from the stage reached its peak and closed the day’s stage.