深淵 · Shin’en Vol. 01 — 自業自得 · Jigō Jitoku
深淵 · Shin’en · Vol. 01 · Metal Opera

自業自得 · Jigō Jitoku

You Reap What You Sow

A World invites Judgement, and gets it.

Listen

自業自得

Jigō Jitoku : what a society sows, it reaps.

A World that works for some, increasingly inhabited by people beholden to demons. A call to action, a last righteous battle. A battle that threatens the Order and is mercilessly quashed. Now the World works for fewer and fewer, until there is nothing left to lose for the many. A demon's playground is born, and the inevitable final straw beckons the Judge. A sentence is passed and carried out. A return to nature as it were. The Judge laments what once was.

Japanese rock and metal as a soundtrack to a story inspired by the Mary’s Blood song 女神の裁き~Death Queen’s March~.

Runtime ≈ 58:37 (11 tracks )

自業 · Jigō

One’s own deed

The cracks can no longer be ignored

≈ 20:30 · 4 tracks

  1. 01
    A beautiful World. Or is it?
    陰陽座 — 地獄 (Jigoku) 3:45
  2. 02
    The natural order of man?
    人間椅子 — 踊る一寸法師 (Odoru Issunboshi) 6:29
  3. 03
    We must be better
    Mary’s Blood — Counter Strike 4:44
  4. 04
    Will they be remembered?
    LOVEBITES — Thunder Vengeance 5:32

転落 · Tenraku

Downfall

The descent is quickening

≈ 19:33 · 4 tracks

  1. 05
    Remember your place
    聖飢魔II — 蝋人形の館 (House of Wax) 4:04
  2. 06
    There is nothing for us
    DIR EN GREY — 凌辱の雨 (Ryoujoku no Ame) 4:03
  3. 07
    There is nothing to hold us back
    陰陽座 — 百の鬼が夜を行く (Hyakki ga Yoru o Yuku) 5:52
  4. 08
    The final straw
    Unlucky Morpheus — Opfer 5:34

自得 · Jitoku

What is due

The inevitable judgement arrives

≈ 18:34 · 3 tracks

  1. 09
    There will be no redemption
    Mary’s Blood — 女神の裁き~Death Queen’s March~ 6:08
  2. 10
    The natural order of man.
    人間椅子 — 羅生門 (Rashomon) 7:03
  3. 11
    Lament for the world that was
    Mary’s Blood — In the Rain 5:23
Act I — 自業 · Jigō: a wet modern city street at night; beauty above a small crack of broken glass; elite party in a glass rooftop restaurant

The first time I saw Mary’s Blood play 女神の裁き~Death Queen’s March~ on blu-ray I wanted a Metal Opera from them. This sit imagines one: three Mary’s Blood cuts (action, march, lament), never back-to-back, in theatrical Japanese heavy and power metal. 陰陽座「地獄」opens below opera volume; In the Rain closes the night. Listen in order. If nothing clicks, the opera isn’t yours.

Why these cuts
  1. 01 · 陰陽座 — 地獄

    Softest 陰陽座 studio cut that still belongs in an opera — near-lullaby, 3:45. Opens below metal volume so Act I can rise as a gain and tempo change, not more of the same hush.

  2. 02 · 人間椅子 — 踊る一寸法師

    First high-gain of the sit. 人間椅子 doom-hard rock, 6:29 — thicker low end, slower gait than 地獄. Puts a body under the lullaby so the hour has a floor before power metal arrives.

  3. 03 · Mary’s Blood — Counter Strike

    First Mary’s Blood, first power-metal tempo. Mid-fast twin guitar after the 人間椅子 grind — the sit’s first sprint. Spine cut #1; cannot follow with another Mary’s Blood or the three clump.

  4. 04 · LOVEBITES — Thunder Vengeance

    Faster and brighter than Counter Strike. LOVEBITES as Act I peak — more double-kick, higher vocal, no 人間椅子 weight. Caps the rise. Act II has to clamp or the opera has no drop.

  5. 05 · 聖飢魔II — 蝋人形の館

    Opens Act II. 聖飢魔II theatrical hard rock, 4:04, mid-tempo. After two power-metal sprints the sit needs a groove and a sneer, not a third twin-guitar chorus.

  6. 06 · DIR EN GREY — 凌辱の雨

    First extreme vocal. DIR EN GREY, same runtime as 蝋人形の館 but harsher attack, less pageantry. The drop after the theatrical clamp — cannot follow with another scream cut or Act II becomes a pit.

  7. 07 · 陰陽座 — 百の鬼が夜を行く

    Back to 陰陽座, but 5:52 procession — folk-metal march, more sections than 地獄. After the grind we need enclosure and air, not another DIR EN GREY room. Oni as arrangement, not a scream.

  8. 08 · Unlucky Morpheus — Opfer

    Technical/symphonic power metal, 5:34. Faster and more ornate than 百の鬼. Last straw as virtuosity before the Judge — a different band so Act II doesn’t end on a second 陰陽座 suite.

  9. 09 · Mary’s Blood — 女神の裁き~Death Queen’s March~

    Spine in the middle of the opera, not the opener. 6:08 theatrical march — Mary’s Blood at full weight. Act III starts here so the verdict is a tempo and arrangement change after Opfer, not another virtuoso cut.

  10. 10 · 人間椅子 — 羅生門

    Longest cut, 7:03. 人間椅子 doom-hard after the march — mass, not another power-metal chorus. A punch this long cannot close; the sit still needs a dissolve.

  11. 11 · Mary’s Blood — In the Rain

    Third and last Mary’s Blood. Ballad, 5:23 — lower energy, sustain, no scream climax. Bookend to 地獄: hush in, lament out. Closes the spine in a different register than Counter Strike or the march.