God, the rabbit hole I went down for this. Japanese kawaii/power/Gothic/alt/symphonic/melodic metal outfit AVE MUJICA seemed — at least to me — Japan’s newest offering to their cutesy, anime metal scene. But no, this led me down a spiral of Wikipedia pages and obscure Japanese websites. AVE MUJICA is a band in league with BanG Dream!, a Japanese multimedia franchise producing manga, anime, short stories, mobile games, and metal bands composed of female artists. Said members are all voice actresses in the anime and video games, and there are currently ten bands in this project; POPPIN’PARTY, ROSELIA, MYGO!!!!! and AVE MUJICA, just to name a few. A fraction of the bands do perform live as well, but most seem to be limited to studio efforts. AVE MUJICA is one of the newer groups to join the fray, forming in 2023, and hopefully watching three seasons of the anime isn’t needed to get the gist of their work, as this is a metal review, not a show blog.
“Divine” sounds like the most badass anime opening ever. This track tightly grips to power metal melodies and drumming style with their double bass drum courtesy of Akane Yonezawa, with prominent keys and synths to give it the symphonic edge, plus pristine, clear vocals from vocalist Rico Sasaki, who’s also absolutely killing it on the 7-string guitar. For being over 4 minutes long, it felt a lovely 30 seconds.
This single really motivated me to further my research into other bands related to BanG Dream!, and more of AVE MUJICA’s work as well. They released an album earlier this year titled “Completeness,” and 21 singles with many additional releases. Every single one of these bands seems to have an extensive back catalogue, and looks very unsuspecting. All single and album covers are just the girls fooling around in pastel backgrounds and vibrant clothes. Not the type of imagery I get when I think of the music they make, but the crazier the better!
AVE MUJICA and others have gathered a rather populous following, music and shows alike. This is a lovely and intriguing gem I’ve found, and the coolest edition to my “recently played” in a long time. Metalheads and anime fans have found a middle ground, and if you’re both, this is one hell of a find.
Written by Mitchell Connolly
Lineup
Kanon Takao – Keyboards
Yuzuki Watase – Guitar
Rico Sasaki – Vocals, Guitar
Mei Okada – Bass
Akane Yonezawa – Drums
