Youka - SEEK

妖花
SEEK
1992/11/21

01. Still as yet
02. I・H・Y
03. VICIOUS CIRCLE
04. Part for life
05. AN ETERNAL
06. ALONE TIME
07. Manipulate
08. CruSh
09. SEELA
10. IN MIRAGE

Even though their name hasn't exactly lived on like some of their peers, Youka managed to deliver a potent mix of visual kei melodrama and heavy metal fire on their sole album.

Last year I got it into my head to check out some bands on the old Free-Will roster, as I wasn't too familiar with those early groups. I browsed through stuff like COLOR, Kamaitachi and the like, and I must say I wasn't too captivated by what I heard... but Youka stood out. I'd already heard good things about them from online acquaintances so the seed was planted. Seeing how they released only one full-length, it was an easy choice to pick.

On top of having only one album and just a handful of demos, none of the members went on to do anything after they disbanded either, except for their first bassist who rose to fame as the vocalist of CASCADE, so that's an interesting bit of trivia I guess (he's not the one who plays on this record though).

As soon as you hit play, the guys assault your senses with a good ol' fashioned aural attack of scorching distorted guitars and fast-paced drumming. What really cuts through though is that delicious thick bass! That, and some cleverly sprinkled sparkly-clean guitar notes already signal that this won't be typical heavy metal.

The general formula of the band might seem quite clear-cut at first, but they inject their mostly uptempo metallic tunes with a certain elegant finesse and passion similar to the more standard VK bands of the time. This adds a welcome sense of depth to the mix. It also helps that the production quality is quite excellent, very powerful and clean-sounding for a record that's almost three decades old. There's not much to say about the individual songs, they blend together as a cohesive unit without any noticeable dips in quality.

If I would have to place the style and general vibe of "SEEK", it would fall somewhere between the raw old-school heavy metal vein of early X and the more sophisticated, intricate compositions and mysterious aura of DEAD END. In other words, you could say it's atmospheric visual heavy metal with slightly proggy tendencies? Quite ambitious, but something like that. It's definitely an album that's worth seeking out for at least one spin if you enjoy the traditional metal side of visual kei. You won't be disappointed!