BUSHIDO: Bushido (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Borrowing a name from the samurai code of honor says a lot about a band's state of mind. Discipline, commitment, the quest for an ideal... But rather than follow a straight path, Bushido, a French power rock trio, prefers to use contrasts and sonic explosions to sculpt a debut album as nervous as it is melodic.

From the very first notes, the shadow of Muse looms over the album, particularly on 'Animal', where the powerful vocals and slightly unstructured structures recall Matthew Bellamy's trio. But Bushido doesn't confine himself to mere imitation, injecting his music with a rawer roughness, sometimes flirting with the energy of Silverchair's “Diorama” period. One of the band's riskiest gambles is the choice of French vocals, a rarity in such muscular alternative rock. The challenge is largely met, with an expressive, percussive timbre, even if some of the more demanding passages betray a slight fragility. But it doesn't matter, because the intention is there, and it gives the band its own identity.

Bushido's playground oscillates between restrained violence and atmospheric flights of fancy. Terre Divine' embodies the album's most massive side, with thick, cutting guitars, while 'Bushido Transmission' stands out as an instrumental curiosity: an ambient, dreamlike, almost contemplative track that contrasts with the rest of the album and proves that the band doesn't limit itself to big riffs. But it's with 'L'Extase' that the album reaches one of its dramatic peaks. Beginning slowly, with restrained tension, the track finally explodes, heralding a shift into more incisive territory, and above all the arrival of 'Annihilation', a track with sharp riffs that makes no secret of its intentions: powerful, direct rock that draws as much from Muse as from a more abrasive alter ego, at the crossroads of Foo Fighters and Audioslave.

Occasionally, the band slows the tempo to strike a more emotional chord. Ton Parfum' evokes the rock ballads of Kyo, with its palpable melancholy, far removed from the electric tension that runs through other tracks. It's a moment of pause that reinforces the contrasts on an album that constantly alternates between raw energy and introspection.

While this first opus doesn't reinvent the codes of power rock, it does manage to balance power and nuance, fully embracing its influences. Far from being a simple exercise in style, “Bushido” lays the foundations of an identity that is only too eager to assert itself. A convincing first battle, even if the war to establish itself in the genre has only just begun. - Official website

BUSHIDO

BUSHIDO

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ROCK