SIAM SHADE and Prog Rock
Prog rock (aka progressive rock) is a sub-genre of rock music that were first popularised in Britain with acts like The Who, Pink Floyd, YES and Led Zeppelin, in the 1970s. Prog rock bands typical pushed songs beyond the verse-chorus based structures through exploration of extended musical structures and thereby pushing through the typical technical and compositional boundaries imposed on the rock genre. Instrumentals were common for prog rock bands, while songs with lyrics were often littered with lots of musical interaction, with the vocal appearing as just one of the melody, often dictating conceptual or abstract ideas.
In the J-Rock scene, there are a number of acts that are associated with the prog rock music. Yet, none really stand out more than Siam Shade. Apart from their more popular songs, such as 1/3の純情な感情 (sanbun no ichino junjou na kanjou) and 曇りのち晴れ(Kumori nochi hare), their pieces would definitely feature the flamboyant playing of Daita Itoh on lead guitar that appear in non-solo sections, thus making their music feel crowded but never loud. And the most telling sign of their prog rock roots is in their instrumental songs that are usually featured in each of their album; songs that would otherwise be ignored by singles lover obviously, due to the length of these pieces, or the lack of the radio-worthiness without the vocals of Hideki.
Yes, instrumentals are easily ignored by our senses. But thanks to the wonder of video, these instruments can hopefully be more appreciated today. For instance, check out on Daita’s crazy tapping in their song “Triptych”. Check out their crazy head-banging action while you’re at it too…
It’s a pity that my favourite Siam Shade’s instrumental, “Solomon Seal” is not found on any video site. Nonetheless, their “Virtuoso” (featured in my favourite Siam Shade album, “SIAM SHADE IV-Zero”) is another great piece that provided great balance between crazy and flamoboyant guitar, with solid rhythm section (drum and bass).
Numerous sites stated that Siam Shade is heavily influenced by one of the great prog rock bands in the 90s – Dream Theater. While they are definitely not the crazy Berkley grads (Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci and John Myung), they were comparable in numerous ways to the DT. And more importantly, Siam Shade unique brand of music brought in new identities within the J-Rock scene, which is still seeing the blends of prog rock today.
