Kimonos and heavy metal. It's a combination that few groups have pulled off convincingly. While the aesthetic may have been used last year to turn (or bang) more than a few heads in the West by heavy metal idol unit Babymetal, the tiny trio certainly wasn't the first to attempt it.
Enter Ningen Isu (human chair). The group, named after the 1925 short story by novelist Edogawa Ranpo, celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. The band was originally formed by schoolmates guitarist Shinji Wajima (49) and bassist Kenichi Suzuki (48). Current drummer Nobu Nakajima (48) joined the band in 2004 after the band went through a revolving door of drummers in the 1990s. All three contribute vocals.
Ningen Isu first came to mainstream attention in 1989, after appearing on popular audition television show "Miyake Yuji no Ikasu Bando Tengoku" ("Yuji Miyake's Rising Band Heaven"), or "Ika-Ten." Responsible for debuting acts such as Blankey Jet City, Tama and Jitterin'Jinn, "Ika-Ten" was very much the center of a "band boom" during the late-'80s economic bubble of Japan. At a time when other metal bands were referencing speed and thrash metal, Ningen Isu stood out thanks to its slower, Black Sabbath-esque grooves.