Overview

overdrive hell 9: Hizumi Tengoku Moeru Maharaja is the ninth in a series of hardcore and experimental electronic EPs featuring Ayako Saso and Shinji Hosoe. While not for everyone, it does feature some interesting music for those fans of this style of electronic music. All of the themes on this album seem to feature track titles that feature elements of Indian culture, as also referenced by the album title. How does this album compare to the previous entries in the ongoing series?

Body

The album opens up with “Lesson.35 Ethno vibration” which, to me, is fairly accessible. It definitely gives me this fusion of Ridge Racer with Virtue’s Last Reward in the fact that the track jumps between hardcore beats and tempos to sultry vocal samples and deep beats. Of course, there are various elements of Indian culture, ranging from instrumentation samples to the actual content of the vocal samples.

“Lesson.36 Curry burns” is a tune that opens up with some really interesting synth choices and rhythms before moving into hardcore territory. The instrumental samples that overlay the hardcore beats is also quite interesting, but can be drowned out due to the intensity of the track. My favorite parts of this tune is definitely the more ethereal vocal sections with the occasional beat and the sections that focus on a nice industrial accompaniment and some catchy melody snippets.

“Lesson.37 Screaming yoga” definitely opens as the most hardcore tune on the album. While it doesn’t do as many interesting things as some of the other tunes on the album, it definitely is an entertaining track in this style and I particularly enjoy the stringed samples and vocal samples in this one as they help add an element of beauty to an otherwise abrasive track.

Lastly, “Lesson.38 Go Go West” also has a similar approach to “Lesson.38” but I find there is a lot more contrast seen in this track. I love the various types of vocal samples used, particularly the duet style samples. In addition, the accompaniment does a lot of fun things, sounding at times ethereal and dreamy while at other times, accentuating the intensity of the tunes melodically, rather than accompaniment wise.

Summary

This album is definitely not for the faint of heart. Fans of hardcore and experimental music may enjoy this album, particularly if they have been following the series. However, for those interested in this, it may be best to try to listen to some of Ayako Saso and Shinji Hosoe's more hardcore music to get a feeling for the nature of this album. Compared to some of the previous entries, I’d say this one is as accessible as Overdrive Hell 7, but it manages to be more cohesive and enjoyable in terms a unifying theme revolving around cultural aspects