Samurai Attack

I pulled together Samurai Attack because I wanted to document what happens when you stop treating the guzheng and metal as separate worlds and let them actually fight it out in the same space. These pieces aren't compromises—the guzheng doesn't get toned down for the metal context, and the distortion doesn't soften the classical weight of the plucked strings. You get both at full intensity.

“The result is immediate and slightly unsettling in the best way—your ear never settles into expecting either tradition to lead.”

What tied the collection together was pursuing specific moments: the attack transients of metal riffs layered under the guzheng's natural decay, the way Eastern modal scales hold their own against Western power chord movements, how traditional string dynamics can anchor a breakdown without losing anything. Komurasaki and Pirate King lean hardest into that collision, where the guzheng melody stays rhythmically independent from the guitar underneath it, creating this productive friction. Captain brings in vocal presence without breaking the instrumental logic—the voice becomes another metal element, not a departure. Big in Japan and the title track Samurai Attack sit somewhere between pure aggression and melodic clarity, using the guzheng's sustain to catch moments where the metal rhythm opens up.

The production keeps everything front-facing: you hear the individual string attacks, the pick scrape against the guzheng's bridges, the drums landing hard without washing anything out. No reverb doing the work that arrangement should be doing. The result is immediate and slightly unsettling in the best way—your ear never settles into expecting either tradition to lead.