FULLARMOR - Cataract 19 March 2008
FULLARMOR is band with an impressive pedigree. First there is vocalist, guitarist, and keyboard player Atsushi Horie. He also performs all three of those roles in the band STRAIGHTENER. And on top of that he even has a solo project: ent. Atsushi Horie, under the guise of ent, created the soundtrack for the 2010 film Solanin, based on the manga of the same name.Next in FULLARMOR is bass player Hinatch. He is another STRAIGHTENER member and spends time touring and recording with Zazen Boys.And finally there is Only, the oddly-named drummer. Like Horie and Hinatch, FULLARMOR is not Onlys sole project. Youll also find him contributing to the funk sounds of the Zoobombs, a Tokyo band formed in 1994 whos spent much more time touring throughout North America than most.Groups like FULLARMOR, made up entirely of musicians from other bands, tend to create music that sounds experimental when placed side-by-side with their normal work. The twenty-six minute mostly instrumental Cataract is full of such experiments and genre juxtapositions. It is brief but compelling proof that FULLARMOR is eccentric, unconventional, and most importantly, just flat-out entertaining. Every member brings so much variety to the table that you may not enjoy every song, but youre almost certain to hear something you like. Such is the wide scope of their trek through various genres.