There is a line in the history of the Wacken Open Air Metal Battle that Japanese metal fans can point to. In 2022 the competition was won by a band from Tokyo, the first Japanese champion it had ever had. The vocalist at the front was Takuya of Sable Hills.
A Band of Brothers
Sable Hills formed in Tokyo in 2015, started by two brothers: Takuya on vocals and Rict on guitar. The lineup around them is Wataru on guitar and vocals, Ueda on bass and Keita on drums. (What Ueda’s bass does to a room is its own story.)
The two founders have led the same band for more than a decade, through three albums: Embers (2019), Duality (2022) and Odyssey (2024).
The Metal Battle
The Metal Battle is the contest Wacken Open Air runs for rising bands: national rounds around the world, then a final at the festival itself in Germany. In 2022, Sable Hills took first place, the first Japanese band to do so. They played Wacken again the following year.
For a vocalist, that kind of final is a specific test. The crowd has come for a whole weekend of other bands. Almost nobody knows the songs. A singer gets one short set to make strangers care. Winning means Takuya did exactly that, a long way from home.
What the Win Led To
The results came quickly. At the end of 2023 Sable Hills signed to Arising Empire, the German label, which released Odyssey the next year. And seven months after the win, in March 2023, the band started something at home: FRONTLINE FESTIVAL, a heavy music festival Sable Hills organises itself at Kawasaki’s Club Citta, held every year since.
Sable Hills was not the last Japanese band to win. The year after, Phantom Excaliver took first place too. But somebody had to go first, and it was this band, with Takuya at the microphone.
Start with Duality, the album from the year of the win, then Odyssey.
