Japanese Gabber: Sonic Dragolgo's Iconic 'MY SWEET HONEY BUNNY'

SONIC DRAGOLGO: MY SWEET HONEY BUNNY

SCORE: 75/100

MY SWEET HONEY BUNNY is a sharp, loud, and abrasive album that I have been meaning to revisit for quite some time. This album is a project that has grown on me by tenfold along with the Gabber genre as a whole, and the intensity held by this album is something that cannot be beat. 

Hearing a Japanese take on Gabber yields interesting results, with this album having a mix of Japanese samples and imagery alongside dark and intense Gabber music that is much more aligned with Speedcore than most. It takes the Japanese hardcore scene and turns it into one of the most well-recognized and acclaimed Gabber albums of all time, and the fact that this came out in only 1999 is astounding to this day. 

This album is fast, loud, and something that takes an acquired taste to love. It's rough around the edges and is certainly not for the faint of heart - and these qualities are what make the album truly worthwhile in every right. 

The mix of Gabber, Power Noise, and Industrial Hardcore is a near-impossible combination to create, but Narita made this sound and style seem entirely natural to him and his innerworkings with an album that feels so entirely crisp and put together despite being so intense. 

MY SWEET HONEY BUNNY is an album that is wonderfully formatted and structured to perfection. It doesn't falter, but it does occasionally slow and leave breathing room to make the album much more consistent and less harsh (although it is incredibly harsh regardless). These pauses in energy allow for the album to buffer and ride out; and it creates a needed front-to-back listening experience that makes it an album that really feels like a consistent project rather than just a collection of songs.

It's rare that an album can be so messy, yet so consistent - but Gabber is one of the best genres for organized chaos. This album does the genre right, with distorted kicks being at the forefront while blaring out various unique samples and repeated grooves to make something that is almost too fast for traditional Hakken. It sits right between Gabber and Speedcore; and you truly do get the best of both worlds on MY SWEET HONEY BUNNY.