Violet Eternal release their second album today. Azure Stardust comes out through Rubicon Music on CD, catalogue number RBNCD1479.
The band is two people working across two countries, singer Ivan Giannini in Italy and guitarist Jien Takahashi in Japan, and it has existed only since 2023. Reload the Violet arrived in 2024 and a live record, Under the Violet Tokyo, followed in 2025, so this is the third release in three years and the second studio one.
Ten songs: The World Beyond the Door, Azure Explosion, Into the Deep Blue, I Can Hear Your Heart, Weekend, Singularity, Techno Optimist, Mars, Arianne and Re:Gradational Sky. The titles run from a door to the solar system and then to a song about liking technology, which is a wider spread than most power metal albums attempt in one sitting.
What makes the band worth a second look is the shape of it. Two members, two countries, a Japanese label, and a catalogue built at a pace that suggests the distance has not slowed anything down.