If you’re at least a little bit ‘into’ the ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) genre you’ve probably heard the name 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera) before, especially if you’re looking more in the metal-side of the genre. And if you’ve been following us, you’ve probably seen their work being featured in the news section once or twice as well, or one of their interviews with us, perhaps? Regardless, the band is not a new name for us, since it’s probably the band that I personally pay most of my attention to. At the very least it’s the band that drew me into the genre as a fan. And that’s also the reason why their work has never made it into the review category before, until now.
The band consists of five members, namely vocalist 苑 (Sono), keyboardist 彩雨 (Ayame), guitarist 優介 (Yusuke), bassist 耀 (Yo) and drummer 響 (Hibiki), and was formed by vocalist 苑 (Sono) and former drummer 悠 (Yu) in 2007.
On August 10 the band celebrated their 18th anniversary with a live show at 日比谷野外大音楽堂 (Hibiya Open Air Concert Hall), which unfortunately had to be performed without guitarist 優介 (Yusuke), who was unexpectedly hospitalized and had to undergo surgery for a fractured arm sustained on July 27. According to the official X account of the band 優介 (Yusuke) is recovering well, but there is no date for when he’ll return to the live stage yet.
With the announcement of the anniversary live show (which was held a little later than usual, they normally try to remain closer to early May, when the band was initially formed) also came an announcement for a new release, which wasn’t really a surprise to the ones following the band since they usually have a live limited release prepared for their anniversary. But this time it wasn’t exclusive to the live show, they made it available on their own webshop. It was also released a little later than the anniversary live show.
You’ve probably already guessed, but the subject of today is “AGONY”.
The single was released on August 15, and contains two new songs, namely “AGONY” and “Another Christmas”, as well as an instrumental version of the title track. So for this review we’re going to look at both tracks as well as the music video for “AGONY”.
Are you ready? Then let’s go!
Sink me into the unwavering depths
The first track on the single is reserved for the title song “AGONY”, which is quite true to its title in terms of lyrics. Despite having an overall sad tone, 苑 (Sono) has written the lyrics in a rather poetic wording, which is very fitting for the style the band tries to portray with both their music and their visuals. The cello, which is played by 石井智大 (Tomohiro Ishii) – a violinist and composer inspired by the Polish jazz scene – adds an eerie tone when mixed with the sad lyrics in the introduction, setting the tone before the symphonic metal 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera) are known for kicks in. Neither 優介 (Yusuke) nor 響 (Hibiki) are the type of musicians to favor slow tempos for their instruments, which absolutely shows in “AGONY” as well. Together with 耀 (Yo)’s solid bass lines they create a cacophony of sound that blends 彩雨 (Ayame)’s keyboard and programming in the most subtle way, leaving the way for 苑 (Sono) to use the full range of his voice without overpowering everything else.
When it comes to the MV, it’s once again a difficult one to actually transform into a coherent story. Since while the lyrics tell a story of well, agony… It’s an emotion rather than a situation that is being described. This results in a music video where you see the band performing the song more than anything else, even though the introduction that features the cello does show us more than 苑 (Sono) singing the first verse. The video opens with the ruins of an old building or castle before 苑 (Sono) makes his way through a narrow corridor delivering the first verse, showing the rest of the members right before their instruments kick in. The rest of the video consists of quick shots with digital overlays, filmed in an open area indoors, obscuring pretty much everything other than the members of the band.
Here and there we do see shots of the members (although it’s mostly 苑 (Sono), for the others it’s more of a ‘blink and you’ve missed it’-moment) in front of a mirror in the area we saw in the introduction, and some of the outside of the ruins is shown as well as some quick in between shots, mixed in with focused shots of 優介 (Yusuke), 彩雨 (Ayame), 耀 (Yo) and 響 (Hibiki) when their instruments briefly take center stage sound wise.
Like I stated, it’s quite difficult to transform an emotional state into something visual. While the lyrics manage to give a clear image of the ‘agony’ our storyteller is feeling, there is nothing physical to grab onto for a music video. So they’ve tried to make the music video appealing by featuring the members, highlighting their moments individually. Which is probably the best compromise in this scenario.
The other new track on the single is “Another Christmas”, which was composed by 彩雨 (Ayame) and has a higher tempo that favors the sound of 優介 (Yusuke)’s guitar and 響 (Hibiki)’s drums primarily, but also has more of 彩雨 (Ayame)’s own keyboard sound clearly mixed in than the title track does. A large part of the song features his piano sound, which is surprisingly fitting with the guitar largely dominating the song musically.
The tempo is a lot higher, both instrumentally and in vocals, and although the lyrics are shorter than the previous track, the emotion is similar. Once again written by 苑 (Sono), “Another Christmas” also doesn’t tell much of a story, but more of a sad (and maybe even depressing) emotion where the city is dazzling, enveloped in laughter around the time of Christmas, and the storyteller feels like they’re being left behind, wondering if they can start walking to the person they want to be while pretending to be an adult living a successful life.
While the title implies that it’s a bit of a random choice to appear on this single, lyrically both songs connect to one another, at least emotionally. So it is less of a ‘random choice’ than you might think initially.
Conclusion
“AGONY” is a short, surprisingly fast single to get through, showing the strong, symphonic composition that is almost synonymous with 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera) by now. While it borrows some influence from the full album released in December last year, 六花 (Mutsu no Hana), it’s also a completely different release that stands just fine by itself. The inclusion of the cello intro on the title track matches surprisingly well with 苑 (Sono)’s vocals, especially because it’s an element and not featured throughout the entire song.
Although short (including the instrumental version the single is only 11 and a half minutes long), it does highlight exactly what 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera) are good at, without going into a completely new direction without warning. And while that does raise the commentary of ‘it’s just 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera)’, they do manage to entertain with the sound they’ve eased into over the last few years rather than surprise with something brand new. “AGONY” is a perfect addition to their discography so far, without being overshadowing in any way.
 AMIR-14 // ¥1,500 |
02. Another Christmas 03. AGONY (instrument) |
2025.08.15 Shop: Webshop | CDJapan |
More about 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera)
 (Matenrou Opera)       |  (Sono)   |  (Yusuke) |  (Ayame) |
 (Yo) |  (Hibiki) |
雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years, she's still the one responsible for the interviews and most of the live photography you see here at Arlequin, but the majority of reviews and behind-the-scenes work is also done by her.
The reviews she writes are from the viewing point of an overseas fan, and thus written in English before being translated to Dutch, Spanish and Japanese. In the English versions she also tries to explain the meaning behind certain kanji or song titles to the readers, but what you don't see here is that these explanations are omitted in the Japanese versions in order to appeal to these readers more.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.