RIZE - K.O. 16 April 2008
Seems like it’s been a while. But I’m back with another stack of albums from last decade to rip through.K.O. is the sixth studio album by RIZE, a rock band who debuted in 1997 and has gone through various line-up changes since. The band is currently a trio, although two of the members have been a part of RIZE since its inception: frontman, guitarist, and vocalist Jesse McFaddin aka. Takenaka Sorato, and drummer Kaneko Nobuaki. Currently KenKen is the bassist, but that role has been turbulent. As a Japanese-American, Jesse has spent a lot of time in both countries and since he is the lyricist and vocalist for RIZE you will hear that duality reflected in their music. For example, part of K.O. criticizes George W. Bush, whose presidency in the U.S. was ending as this album came out. RIZE has also participated with a number of hip-hop and rap artists, both domestic Japanese musicians and foreign, pre-dominantly American ones. The band unmistakably incorporates elements from those genres into their flavor of rock. I think it will be easy to see why RIZE has always been more popular with younger listeners their entire career.I’ll be trying to upload an album a day once again, although I might upload a few at a time if I’m expecting to be away for a few days. My thanks to everyone whose seeded all of my uploads since I last posted. And as always I hope you all enjoy the music!