Great reaction Brian! I am eagerly looking forward to the Angreifer and Phantom Blood reactions to follow on from your Cadaver/Revadac reaction a few weeks ago - hopefully these are still on your radar :)
Shiren's guitar is on a stand because he has issues with tenosynovitis in one of his arms since 2016 and it hurts when he holds his guitar for longer periods of time. It's also the reason why Jill has been taking over some of his solos on violin and I have a feeling also the reason why he has been adding harsh vocals in some songs as well. Only the drummer Fumiya has played in Galneryus as far as I'm aware. I believe he did 2 albums with them, but I am not a huge fan of Galneryus so I might be wrong on that. That said, Galneryus' technicallity and musicianship is a sight to behold, people who like the type of power metal they play (it's just a taste thing from my part), will probably love them. Their guitar player (and I believe main composer) Syu is a beast.
I'll tell you my favorite Unlucky Morpheus song. It reminds me a lot of Rush YYZ. I don't think it's on any official UM channel. I think it's one of their best (Fully Instrumental) Album Version: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PxiWhyYGW-8.html Live version: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vB1NjvmbGr0.html These guys ROCK. I have this odd dream they will open for Yngwie someday. In the US. Where I can pay waaay too much money to see them.
Fumya the drummer ia also plaing in Quadratum' covers. And also has been a stand in drummer for Galneryus. I knov, it is hard to follow all the rutes. Jill ha teamed up with another great violinst from the soLi for project called TONERICO. The other part of soLi is a monster guitarist. Check out that intrumental project!
Shiren used to be the lead guitarist, then he picked tenosynovitis, from over playing. It got to the point that is was so painful that he almost stopped playing completely, but with correct management and time, plus the Strandberg helped, not so much weight. Jinya had to take up a lot of what Shiren was doing, also some was given to Jill. It would be fair to say that they now have 3 leads Shiren, Jinya, and Jill, and they do tend to mix it up a lot. By the way the bassist, Ogawa, is not a metal bassist, he is really a jazz bassist. He learnt his trade under Fujioka Mikio (RIP) (Kami band), The reason he is in Unlucky Morpheus, is that he went though collage together with Shiren, where they became good friends, and they used to jam out together, so Shiren asked him to help out when UM were live before the band went full time. Next try Angreifer ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gGKWgM4IOgc.html it's from a time when Shiren stepped back, and allowed the others to take over.
As far as I can tell, the concept of "lead guitar" and "rhythm guitar" only applies to BAND-MAID. Bands like Unlucky Morpheus, LOVEBITES, D_Drive, Babymetal's Kami Band, and until recently Nemophila has guitarists who simply play whichever role fits the moment.
Cool Reaction! No matter how much I like Shiren in this band it was his work with Yousei Teikoku that made me aware of how cool he is as a guitar player. One thing I've noticed in general when it comes to japanese bands is that, no matter how great the guitar players and in this case Jill and Yuki as well, their rythm section is always fantastic or at least most of the time and this band is no exception. Anyways, keep on reacting.
