[English Translation]
CROSS VEIN - "Royal Eternity"
Interview & text by Tetsuo Yamaguchi
“I wanted to make an album which would bring much more joy to existing fans and also reach potential fans. I wrote whatever I wanted to in the lyrics, so I didn’t really care too much about general appeal in that way. But gaining new listeners was one of my challenges in the production.” (JULIA)
CROSS VEIN has a good reputation for the singing skill of JULIA, the vocalist and the only female member in the group, as well as the band’s brilliant technique of playing out melodic speed/symphonic metal. The band calls venues ‘theatres’ because of their medieval European royalty and titled nobility motif. This sextet with the pronounced concept and visual has delivered us “ROYAL ETERNITY,” their first full album from a major label. To explain this piece in one phrase would be, ‘This is CROSS VEIN.’ You’ll see a colossal old castle rising in front of you as soon as you listen to the solemn introductory sound effects. Then, it rushes into “Eternal Dream,” whose thrash beats and stirring developments remind us of fierce fights in battlefields. As you see, the 12 tracks are thoroughly dramatic and cinematic.
“I’ve always wanted to create works that listeners feel as if they watched a movie after listening to the tracks, so I guess that aspect is prominent this time again. Rather than ‘cherry-picking’ the tracks, there are prologues, new encounters, battles, and then a credit roll. As we place importance on this ‘introduction, development, turn and conclusion’ structure, we also try to bring high-quality to each track.” (Yoshi)
“Eternal Dream” is the core of this album, but other factors appear here and there as well, such as in the medium tune “Kohaku no Chikai (meaning Amber’s Oath)” in which sounds of the organ and choir adds a colorful touch to the song, or the track “Suite Museum” that gives you a glimpse of their jazzy aspect and which JULIA comments fondly with a smile ‘Once again, I realized that all the players in our band are really skillful’. Among those tunes, “Brightest Hope” that sends out magnificently divine lights would probably give listeners a massive impact.
“Originally, symphonic metal is heavy, but CROSS VEIN can add sounds like melodic speed metal. That’s one of our strengths. Yoshi’s taste for music, such as Helloween and Gamma Ray, is well expressed.” (MASUMI)
“We heard comments that ‘“Brightest Hope” sounds good’ the most when we released the trailer of the album, -that’s my impression. Most of CROSS VEIN’s songs used to be minor and dark, but I’d like to put forward more tracks like these infused with our own color”. (Yoshi)
Though their sounds are orthodox, CROSS VEIN still properly responds to the needs of core music fans. And yet, the determination to willingly approach casual listeners comes across perfectly, not only from JULIA’s comment at the beginning, but also from this album in which beautiful branches and leaves are spreading from the tree called CROSS VEIN that grows with an unshakable world-view .
“We will keep on expressing what we want to, but we don’t want to be complacent. We’ve always tried to and will try to make our works live up to what our fans expect.” (Yoshi)
“I feel hard music is gradually gaining acceptance of the general public. Amongst that, CROSS VEIN has pop and catchy elements. I may sound greedy, but pushing forward these elements, I’d love to go for a tie-up with anime song(s). CROSS VEIN has an anime mood, you know (laughs.)” (MASUMI)
“Nowadays, genre segregation is hard, and I hope to remove such barriers. We want to be a band that can touch many people, regardless of age or sex.” (JULIA)
