Sadaharu
Resist. Revolt. Reclaim. (2007)
Brian Shultz
Sadaharu are a lot like a watered down, pre-Muse-worship Vaux meeting the (International) Noise Conspiracy's aesthetic. A little hardcore influence, lots of rock'n'roll swagger and verbose revolutionary promises make up the throaty, screamed verses and sung choruses on Resist. Revolt. Reclaim., making for a decent if not totally familiar listen.
Maybe these comparisons aren't totally fair, at least the former, considering Sadaharu have been around for, oh, seven years now? But simply put, their new album here just reeks of those characteristics, most/all of which have have been already adopted by others a little more smoothly. Resist. Revolt. Reclaim. also wheels and deals on largely the same dimension, though with partial detours like (big breath now) "This Is Less a Protest of What Is, Than a Celebration of What's to Come" with its rapid call-and-response segment and some keyboard use that's, well, reminiscent of T(I)NC, frankly. But most others fire on an identical cylinder, grabbing your attention with intense verses and a head-shaking chorus, both tempered with some groove to spare. "Self vs. Society" gets a little ridiculous with the vocal inflections, though. Like, almost Blood Brothers goes nü-metal ridiculous -- with weird, dirty southern riffs accompanying.
A little confusing at some points and almost too recognizable at others, Resist. Revolt. Reclaim. has enough creative flourishes and grandstanding to make it a pretty interesting 35 minutes or so.