As I was diving deeper into the Band Maid discography and hearing the wide range of styles they’re capable of, I thought it would be cool to see what they could do in the style of Rammstein. Literally the next song I heard from them was Rinne, which made me chuckle. The Rinne song intro is definitely Rammstein-esque. Not the same. Rammstein’s music is unhurried impending doom. Rinne is fast and heavy. Rammstein leave me feeling a sort of disquiet my soul in a way that Band Maid is never going to (which is fine). Rinne’s chorus is Band Maid doing Band Maid things, but either side, the drive from the drums, the lead guitar work and the bass prowling in the background — if you told me the girls had never heard Rammstein before I would press X to doubt.
Lyrically the Venn diagram of the two bands’ subject matter are distinct circles with no intersection, although both are good at using symbolism and abstract concepts to convey deeper meaning. At least for nihongo, that’s something the language lends itself to. In terms of sound Rinne was close enough to scratch that Rammstein stylistic itch. Now if Band Maid can sort out some plasma ball static electricity lightning fun to round out their tour finale in Yokohama, that’d be perfect.
輪廻 (Rinne) means ‘reincarnation’. The first character 輪 is a counter for wheels. The second 廻 (wa) means ring. (指輪 — yubiwa literally translates to ‘finger ring’ for example).
Taking my time
浮かび 消えて 落ちる
浮かび — ukabi — floating
消えて — kiete — vanish, disappear, cancel, delete, destroy
落ちる — ochiru — fall
マイナスな輪廻です
マイナスな輪廻 — mainasu na rinne — a ‘minus’ reincarnation. A regressive cycle on the path of spiritual evolution, perhaps.
置き去りで巡り巡る
置き去り — okizari — desertion, abandonment
巡り — meguri — circling
abandoned, circling, circling
過剰な心理 嫌になって
過剰な心理 — kajou na shinri — excessive state of mind, of being, emotion
嫌になって — iya ni natte — become fed up with, sick of, disgusted by
I tire of this excessive state of being
嫌になっては 奪いあって
奪いあって — ubai atte — ubau means to forcibly take. Adding ‘atte’ means to encounter, to experience
Even as I tire, it’s stolen away
何の為になるの？
何の — nan no — for what
為になる — tame ni naru — for the benefit of, for the use of
What’s it all for?
The first verse presents a sort of abstract apathy. Resignation of the current shit state of things. This is how it is this time around.
透けてみる秘密なんて
Not more
Stupid yeah
透けてみる秘密 — sukete miru himitsu — This can be read a couple of ways. Try to see through the secret(s), but this seems more like a noun phrase; a secret that can be seen through.
なんて — nante — ‘something like’. Nante generally has a dismissive connotation. ‘A thing such as this’, which is what makes me gravitate to the previous phrase being a transparent secret.
I think Saiki sings ‘no more’, which makes more sense.
Thinly-veiled secrets. No more. Stupid.
Open your eyes
例え息途絶えても
例え — tatoe — to compare, for example
息 — iki — breath
途絶えても — todaete mo — even if it stops
I figure, even if my breath stops,
世界は何にもかわらない
I know…
世界 — sekai — world
何にもかわらない — nani mo kawaranai — nothing will change
Nothing in the world will change. I know.
それじゃ 終われないよ
それじゃ — sore ja — well then / if that’s how it is
終われないよ — owarenai yo — (I) can’t stop
If that’s how it is, I can’t stop.
意味のない過ちでも
意味のない — imi no nai — without meaning, meaningless
過ち — ayamachi — error, fault
でも — demo — even if
Even with meaningless errors
歯車を歪ませろ
歯車 — haguruma — cog (literally ‘tooth wheel’)
歪ませろ — ikamasero — ikamasu means to distort or bend. Ikamaseru is causative (cause something to happen). Adding ‘ro’ on the end makes it imperative (a command). Bend the cogs. In this case it’s more likely ‘bend the clockwork’
bend the clockwork
You know…
秒針は止まらない
Get down
秒針 — byoushin — the second hand of a clock
止まらない — tomaranai — does not stop
You know the second hand doesn’t stop. Get down.
That’s enough
解けない 醒めない
解けない — tokenai — can’t solve it/can’t unravel it
醒めない — samenai — can’t wake up
分離し 殖える 生命が
分離 — bunri — separation
殖える — fueru — to increase
生命 — seimei — life, one’s existence
It separates and proliferates, this life.
転がり 廻り廻れ
転がり — korogari — tumbling, rolling
廻り廻れ — mawari, maware — spinning, keep spinning. Mawari means ‘rotation’. Maware is a command — spin!
tumbling, spinning, keep spinning
何処までも 遠くへ
Go far away
何処までも — doko made mo — no matter how far, no matter where, anywhere
遠くへ — tōku e — go far
To wherever, far away, Go far away
I should zip my lips
心憂いを吐いて
心 — kokoro — heart, mind
憂い — urei — sorrow, grief, anguish, but also less dramatically, worries, troubles
吐いて — haite — vomit, spit up, emit
I should zip my lips, (instead of) spewing up my sorrows
I’ll leave it up to you
声が聞こえた気がした
声 — koe — voice
聞こえた — kikoeta — was able to hear
気がした — ki ga shita — I felt, I had a sense of
I’ll leave it up to you. I felt like I heard your voice.
Close your eyes
例え夢が終わっても
誰も助けにはこない
I know…
夢 — yume — dream
終わっても — owatte mo — even though it’s ending
誰も — dare mo — anybody/nobody
助けにはこない — tasuke niwa konai — not coming to help
Close your eyes.
Even though the dream is ending
Nobody is coming to help.
I know…
これじゃ 眠れないよ
これじゃ — kore ja — if this is how it is
眠れない — nemurenai — I can’t sleep
明け暮れた正義でも
明け暮れた — akekureta — This is a compound verb that combines ‘dawning’ and ‘getting dark’. It has a couple of uses. To be solely focused on doing something — spending all of one’s time doing X. The other is that something that becomes apparent over time. A realisation of X dawning. In this case, the former seems to fit.
正義 — seigi — righteousness, justice
でも — even if, even though
Even in the relentless pursuit of justice
模倣じゃ何も生まれない
You know…
模倣 — mohou — imitation
じゃ — ja — if so, well
何も — nani mo — nothing
生まれない — umarenai — not born
If you (only) imitate, you create nothing.
秒針をぶち壊し
Get down
秒針 — byoushin — second hand (of a clock)
ぶち壊し — buchi kowashi — smash, wreck
Smash the second hand.
Get down.
Reincarnation
Living and Dying
Why？
What do you live for？例え声荒げても
声 — koe — voice
荒げ — arage — raise/roughen (one’s voice). This is an interesting lyrical choice. 叫ぶ (sakebu) might be a more common choice. I think here Saiki/Miku want to emphasise the act of raising their voice as opposed to the sound itself.
I figure, even if I raise my voice
世界は何にも救えない
何にも — nan ni mo — nothing
救えない — sukuenai — rescue, save
I figure, even if I raise my voice, there’s nothing in the world I can save
Honesty does not pay
That makes no senseOpen your eyes
例え息途絶えて
世界は何にもかわらない
I know…..
れじゃ 終われないよ
I figure, even if my breath stops,
nothing in the world will change.
I know…
If that’s how it is, I can’t stop.
解き放って
Get down
解き放って — tokihanatte — another compound verb. toku (untie) and hanatsu (set loose, shoot, set free). Given the context, I think the best way to translate this is
‘break free’.
It’s sink or swim
Shut up！
I’m not entirely sure, but I think they’re shooting for a cross between apathetic resignation and a sort of fatalistic hedonism. I say this mostly because of the repeated use of ‘get down’. A sort of Morpheus-esque ‘the robots are coming to eat us, but for tonight, let’s dance’ sort of middle finger at the world that willfully ignore the realities they are well aware of. There’s a complete lack of agency that pervades up until the ‘smash the second hand’ and ‘break free’ lines.
I don’t think it’s their best work from a lyrical perspective. It could be because I’m damning it by association with a band it wasn’t supposed to be compared with. I’m just not connecting with this one. I don’t know if it’s because I find the kazari eigo more distracting than helpful or that I kind of get vibes of angry teenager in parents’ basement venting existential angst. I get the problem statement they’re putting forward, but they don’t really do a lot with it. The lyrics and music generally match, but I’d argue that the (trademark Band Maid melodic hook) chorus is a little ‘bright’ for the subject matter. They might have been better off going with a whistle. All said, Rinne is a catchy tune whose musicianship I can appreciate. The lyrics I can take or leave.