Is the best rock group of our time this "girl-band"?

 

If your answer is "no", who do you think is better? 

Unlike many Japanese bands, Band-Maid were not assembled by a studio.  Their founder had worked in a studio-based "idol" group, but was personally a fan of hard rock and metal.  She had also worked in a "maid-cafe" where the shtick is that the waitresses dress as maids.  So she came up with the obvious idea of a band dressed as maids who would shock people with loud, technical, hard-rocking music.  Unlike most dreamers with a crazy idea, she actually pulled it off.  She managed to recruit three of the best musicians to come out of Japan’s elite music academies, and the four of them then recruited a lead singer with a bigger vocal sound to match the instrumentation.

 

“The Non-Fiction Days” (April 2016)

They did not write this, but their studio writers clearly understood that the band needed harder-driving, tougher songs.  As always, Akane does magic on the transitions with fast, complex drum fills.  A straightforward, thumping bass line drives the song.  Unusual interlude with some chanted vocals and another short, punchy solo by Kanami.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItYN-ri1NPs

 

“Dice” (March 2018)  Erasing genres

Take the raw energy of punk rock, add extra half-measures, tempo changes, mini-solos a bar long…few rock artists have ever done it like this. If nothing else, the song is worth listening to for the hand-off between the bass solo and the lead guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpAYnVJX9CY

 

“Take Me Higher” (Live, 2018) Like the Rolling Stones, but better?

(This deserves headphones, because the mix is amazing, especially for a live performance.)

Starts off like a long-lost Rolling Stones song, complete with the dirty riff and distorted rhythm guitar, and then really takes off.  Strong punk vibe, hints of Guns ‘n Roses, and an incongruously jazzy bass line.  The call-and-response on the instrumental break is to die for.  Besides the female vocal, the biggest difference between this band and the Stones is that Band-Maid are better on their instruments.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7mf96vcxlgkui0/BAND-MAID___05.%20Take_me_higher%21%21_Live.mp4?dl=0