30 posts tagged “album”
Release date: 16.9.2009.
Price: ￥3,990
NO: LPO-014
Track list
1.LAST Shell
2.FILMY [PV]
3.BLAZE
4.VENOM
5.Needle
6.Reservation
7.ATHENA
8.IN RUBBISH
9.M.D.M.A
10.MIGRANT
11.DETOX [PV]
12.Breathe trees
After existing five years on the scene, the hard'n'heavy Visual kei band -OZ- released it's first full-blooded album. Along with the powerful singles VENOM and DETOX this is the third release that this band has given us this year. For those unfamiliar with -OZ- ; the quintet has formed in 2004. with the members including the vocalist Natsuki, guitarist Tama and Aki, bassist Nao and drummer Zukki, this band slowly but surely started gaining fans from the start with their furious, heavy rock music often on the boarder of metalcore with grinding guitars, pumped up rhythm and interesting vocal lines as well as one of the best growls delivered by their singer and lyricist Natsuki. The band has been delivering in a slow but still regular tempo various releases and their songs have been featured on a lot of omnibuses. The band is currently signed on the label LOOP ASH and is as such their most hardest band.
The album begins with the guitar flickering intro to LAST Shell before exploding in a sharp and hard mass of riffs. The verses are slow, mesmerizing and with a thick, ominous mood. Damn it's just the kind of verses I like and the kind of verses I'd make if I was making music, damn you -OZ-. The song builds up tension in the pre-chorus and stretches in a huge, powerful and wide chorus followed by an excellent, vibrating guitar solo. If anything these guys know how to deliver energy and how to soar with their songs sky high. And LAST Shell is not just an great example of it, it is a great song.
FILMY starts off with this really twisted riff and rages with grinding distorted guitars and hoarse, brutal growls. The verses go in a fast pace with high guitar tones over it, following a growling pre-chorus and again a soaring, shining chorus. Really FILMY seems like an intense follow up to the excellent song DETOX. Right before the bone-breaking breakdown is a groovy bass solo, following a wonderful guitar solo. This song is simply intense and doesn't calm down, not a second and such are more-less all the songs on this album.
BLAZE's main riff sounds like stone breaking, powerfuuullll. The pre-chorus is dangerously in the extreme metal territory, just as the short solo after the quite inappropriate bright chorus that somehow just pops-out and sounds almost "gospel" because of it's mass chore feel. VENOM comes as a small reminder on this years, same-titled single that has got really good intro riff before going into some really strange verses and very tight packed chorus, though I have to admit sometimes -OZ- does deliver songs which have parts that don't really seem to have a logical melody or logic at all and VENOM is one of them, though saved by really excellent and hard riffs.
Needle brings some heavy groove to the record just as Perfect Ruler did on the single VENOM, but Needle's groove is more worked out, cooler and moodier. Interesting the verses could pass as real metal thanks to their guitars while the chorus delivers this pretty cathartic, wide and intense feel like one of their songs Fade which I really love when it comes to some Visual kei songs. One of my favorites here. Reservation seems to continue onto Needle but it is more faster and more vicious. And again the heavy guitars come as irresistible for fans of distortion. Reservation gives a lot of growling and a pretty upbeat chorus that pulls out the best of Natsuki's pretty high pitched vocals.
Interesting enough was to see their almost pure-metal song ATHENA coming on the album, but the excitement was somehow watered down by the fact that this album version had way blander singing than the original and less dynamics, but still brings some diverse and dynamic guitars this band has to offer. Sadly the song had to experience some changes because the original really kicked ass. On the other hand I am glad S.I.N didn't make it to the album because it was quite average. IN RUBBISH opens up with some fast and razor sharp riffs and again I feel like a total sucker because I absolutely adore the brutal guitars this band has along with their raw, explosive energy. IN RUBBISH also emerges as a gem on this album with an excellent pre-chorus where Natsuki's voice comes out very raw and very clean, which is cool enough to make this song stand out. The rest of the song develops in this usual, catchy growl-distortion storm that is bound to torment you all the way.
M.D.M.A is another mosh-grind fest but with this oriental touch in guitars as well as dark, almost demonic verses and a sweeping, big, interesting chorus that blows anything in it's way. MIGRANT has got this one downbreaking, dark, fucking epic riff that would be an excellent bas for a fucking killer song, but in MIGRANT it doesn't seem to have this strong role unfortunately. MIGRANT has got this really odd vocal melody lines, just like VENOM for which you don't know whether to love them or hate them, while the rest of the song has got this usual, brilliant guitars.
Following MIGRANT comes the excellent, uprising song DETOX which came from the same-titled single. With it's anthem chorus and character, powerful guitars, bright as well as dark moments DETOX is sure to lift anyones spirits up as well as encourage. Really excellent song.
The beautiful, glimmering Breathe Trees serves as an excellent, yet reminiscent ending to this album as well as it's one of it's best songs. The pre chorus and chorus remind me on some Visual kei song I can't really recall, but I know I have heard this bright vocal line coupled with sustained chords. Overall the song lifts us once more sky high and loudly as well as strong ends this exceptionally strong album.
It's enough to be a fan of fierce, hard Visual kei songs with distorted guitars, blasting rhythm as well as with a lot of bestial growls and soaring choruses altogether packed with unbeatable energy because it's the basic formula all songs of the album Versus are based, almost without any exception. This is really awesome if you are a fan of the band and their effective, although not very original riffs. So if you're hooked on them, you'll have no complaints to this album. But to be somehow objective about it, this album most of the time sounds like an undifferentiated rage and loudness fest that blends in into almost one track. You will know how the whole album sounded overall, but you won't remember the individual tracks (not before spinning it a lot of times), so it's not very versatile in terms of song construction and innovation.
But what this album does deliver is the very best this band has to offer and every song is filled with such energy that it's almost impossible not to feel at lest a bit excited about it. Their live performances must really be an exhilarating experience because by just listening the songs on the stereo you feel almost overwhelmed by their raw energy, which isn't held back not even for a moment.
So overall -OZ- really gave the best of their brutal style and met with all of their fans expectations, not going beyond them but also not delivering anything below. -OZ- fans as well as the fans of the harder Visual kei bands such as UnsraW, Sadie and similar really have a reason to be excited with VERSUS. So if you're looking for an energy and rawness driven soundtrack you're no better off with anything other than -OZ-.
Price: 3780￥
Track list
1.「剥離」(Hakuri)
2. THE INVISIBLE WALL
3. A MOTH UNDER SKIN
4. LEECH
5.泣ヶ原 (Nakigahara)
6.「エリカ」(E RI KA)
7. HEADACHE MAN
8. 紅連 (Guren)
9.「子宮」(Shikyuu)
10. 13STAIRS[-]1
11. DISTRESS AND COMA
12. 「感触」(Kanshoku)
13.白き憂鬱 (Shiroki Yuuutsu)
14. IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS
15.「朦朧」(Mourou)
16. OGRE
17. DIM SCENE
It's almost hard to put into words how actually agonizing it was to restrain oneself from listening a possible milestone release from ones favorite band. Without overdoing it, at certain points it was almost physically nauseating. This showed me how much I need their music, or rather how much I depend on it. Surely my world wouldn’t be the same without their music.
It’s quite unavoidable to intro this review without looking back at the previous albums and also the history of this band.
Reita (bs.), 流鬼 Ruki (vo.), 戒
Kai (dr.), 麗 Uruha (gt.)
Active since: 2002.
Status: Indies (self proclaimed)
Lable: PS Company
● pscompany.co.jp/gazette
Album Discography
DISORDER NIL STACKED RUBBISH
[13.10.2004.] [8.2.2006.] [26.6.2007.]
Previous Releases
DISTRESS AND COMA LEECH 紅連(GUREN)
[25.3.2009.] [12.11.2008.] [13.2.2008.]
Upcoming releases
BEFORE I DECAY [7.10.2009.]
DIM CM
Buy DIM
● Amazon (JP)
● Brand X (JP)
● Colloseum records (EU release)
● CD JAPAN (International)
The loud and rebellious character of the band reached it’s peak with the release of their first album, auspiciously titled as Disorder. The album was a bunch of really loud, distorted to the maximum songs, to a point going almost in the field of dissonance, delivering just a few if “soft” moments, that would make even the hardest of all punk rockers go envious. Nevertheless Disorder was an album that showed how even, what usually would be considered as chaos and noise, could be seen as “melody”. Order in disorder. The “chaotic” attribute to the band became even stronger.
2005. the band brought up the releases that, in a way, marked the transition from the chaotic, untamed, loud rock band Gazette to the great, sophisticated, mature and even darker band known as the GazettE. You could compare that as a “growing up” from a loud, extrovert, opposed to everyone rascal to a less chaotic, but vague, dark, introvert and opposed to the rotted world of oneself person. Nevertheless, the releases that came from this transition period brought this band closer to the fans than ever before, bringing songs that sounded the most “human” in terms of reflected life experiences and straightforwardness of all human feelings.
It was the 2006. that became the most important and redefining year for this band. Though never truly confirmed by the band itself, due to their explicit desire to be addressed as indies, the band is considered to have gone major with the single Cassis released in the late 2005. In February 2006. the band has released their best album called NIL. What made NIL stand out of every other release before and following was it’s balanced out, incredible song set that featured various songs being very different one from another but yet being united under the banner of “Nameless Liberty”. Not just the brilliantly compositions and versatility made the songs shine, but also their honesty, rawness in expressing the basic as well as complex feelings in their most true, essential forms. NIL was followed by a name change to the GazettE and peaked at the tour final in Budokan. But it didn’t stop there and the GazettE emerged on their first overseas performance in Germany and crowned the year with two singles REGRET and especially FILTH IN THE BEAUTY, whose multi genre blend and new elements such as vast chorus, worked out powerful guitars and occasional background female vocal addition, single handedly launched the band into the heights and became a core for each following “single” songs to come.
2007. brought another highlight single Hyena before the release of their third album STACKED RUBBISH. It’s no unknown fact that the albums are the ones that define the band the most, basically because they bring a much larger set of songs other than singles and mini-albums, as well as they are made with much more work by the band and faced with much higher expectations by the fans. And just a year has passed after NIL, and even less after a series of very strong singles. No doubt STACKED RUBBISH faced a lot of expectations. Unfortunately STACKED RUBBISH didn’t manage to match them. It had a set of very bipolar songs ranging from some harder ones, with a strong nu-metal touch going to lighter, rock ballade like ones, without any inner cohesion, but most of all, shred to almost no depth that NIL had. STACKED RUBBISH was a compilation of pretty experimental, but yet strong sure shots, which could only be appreciated after a lot of listening, but always leaving a bitter aftertaste. Maybe for the first time, the band has faced a stagnation that not even the overseas tour could have overshadowed. It took a while, but the band did admit that STACKED RUBBISH didn’t turn out the way it should, though the reasons for that never did came out, it can be assumed it was their labels hastening and the pressure to bring out a lot in a time tight space.
2008. was the “breathing” year, with the band releasing only the singles Guren and LEECH which both provided slight redemption for their STACKED RUBBISH album, being shed off the elements that made STACKED RUBBISH stagnate in it’s quality. The single DISTRESS AND COMA launched a final preview and speculation material before DIM’s release in 2009.
Even before it’s release DIM faced a lot of expectations, since it had to redeem somehow for STACKED RUBBISH’s downfall, but somehow brake the chain of releases that sounded way too sure in their core. Can DIM truly take GazettE onto a new stage of development and what is it’s significance?
「…」
THE INVISIBLE WALL is very tight, with amazing and intense guitars soaring, roaring and silencing with each moment, full and powerful riffs, thundering drumming and bass and Ruki’s voice being vast and bright, as well as delivering whispering and violent screaming. THE INVISIBLE WALL is a showcase GazettE song indeed, though slightly more passive and deeper than DISTRESS AND COMA is, but way more powerful when it comes to expression than it. Heavy and melodic at the same time, slightly vague, THE INVISIBLE WALL is the NAUSEA & SHUDDER of DIM.
The silence of THE INVISIBLE WALL’s marching outro is broken with a thick bassline in par with something you can call heavy-funk guitars. A MOTH UNDER SKIN bursts out as a hybrid of FILTH IN THE BEAUTY with BURIAL APPLICANT and ZETSU’s explosiveness, but even more aggressive and for the first time since FILTH IN THE BEAUTY correctly used female backvocals which make an adequate contrast to Ruki’s twisted and fierce vocals. The breakdown brings BURIAL APPLICANTS main riff flashback before bursting into a mass of chaos. Catchy as hell, slightly sexy, twisted and totally unchained, A MOTH UNDER SKIN is GazettE chaos at it’s best.
The intense mood is even pumped more up with LEECH, a last year’s single with such versatile guitars changing from hard rock, heavy metal, alternative, thrash metal showing the true genius of the both guitarist Uruha and Aoi. The rapturing chorus has got this almost cathartic feel and Ruki’s intense vocals are well complemented with gentle yet not so harmless female backvocals.
With the intensive and expressive, almost crying riffs and dark basslines we come to the longest and first ballad, Nakigahara (The crying field). Usually long ballads somehow tend to stretch out too much, but this is not the case with this beautiful masterpiece brought to perfection both in expression and in technical sense. It’s so raw and yet moving and vivid, without pretending or being pathetic, expressing sadness, hopelessness and pessimism like no other ballad before. Taion had hope, but this is peeled off any hope, sounding as all hope is gone. The vast and tragic chorus, the calm and broody notes in the verses, the antique koto in the background of the pre-chorus as well as the drowned in rain, slightly withering outro contribute to Nakigahara being one of the most emotionally intense songs, most likely since NIL or maybe Chizuru.
Erika sets out an pulsing and haunting outro to Nakigahara, giving the final, almost horror like seal to it on before moving to the explosive, hymn of chaos known as HEADACHE MAN, another song from the single DISTRESS AND COMA that made it onto DIM, for which I’m really glad. The song explodes in some very deeply tuned guitar madness and yelling, you’d shudder and think of Slipknot at first, moving onto a melodic bridge and exploding in an anticlimactic headbang fest. But it doesn’t stop there and the chorus explodes in a true hardcore Rock’n’roll manner! If you’re not going to go insane in this hymn of madness than you should really ask what’s wrong with you.
Though a bit strange in the set, following HEADACHE MAN’s madness is the wonderful over a year old, ballade Guren (Crimson Lotus) which has been re-recorded and a bit changed on a couple of spots, sounding now even more like the live version of this song. Overall, Guren still manages to enchant with it’s gentle, moving tone and flow, violin enhanced chorus and grandiose guitars with Uruha’s solo bringing out the best of the song. Even more beautiful than any crimson lotus.
Shikyuu (Womb) can be considered either as the terrifying outro to Guren or the intro to the next song. Shikyuu does give goosebumps because of the distorted horrifying baby screams, that exceed even Dir en grey’s Masochist of Decadence’s horrid baby cries.
Moving onto Uruha’s composition 13STAIRS[-]1 which represents one of the highlights of the album. The song begins with stretched out, distorted to max riff mass, over lined with even more mood riffs sounding mechanic, dirty, lustful. Yes, lustful would be the best way to describe this song because of it’s seductive, dark, lustful mood. Just a moment after another soaring the moods change, the riffs become clearer and more vicious bursting into a scream and growl fest in the chorus. It’s almost incredible how well this song tightens the mood, becoming intense with each second as well as faster until reaching it’s climax and slowly relaxing into the initial riff’s slowness. This song is sex. Literally.
Following 13STAIRS[-]1 is DISTRESS AND COMA which was released on the same titled single earlier this year, being another intense song with a balladesque touch, but powerful guitars bearing a metal touch onto them which is amazing. DISTRESS AND COMA brings on a pretty secure song structure for GazettE, but the strong riffs and intense, repeating chorus make this song another intense experience before moving onto the calm intro to Shiroiki Yuutsuu, Kanshoku (Sensation). Kanshoku provides some calming with it’s gentle guitar tones in couple with synth drums, having a slight R’n’B feel but perfectly setting up the mood for Shiroiki Yuuutsu (White Melancholy) probably the lightest GazettE song ever.
As far as Shiroiki Yuuutsu sounds beautiful with it’s coupling of fresh acoustics, emotional violins, present electric guitars as well strong drumming, reminiscing a lot on WITHOUT A TRACE and Junana sai as well as LUNA SEA’s masterpiece Gravity but even more lighter; Shiroiki Yuuutsu simply doesn’t fit in the dark, aggressive mood of DIM and Ruki unfortunately offers the weakest vocal performance on the album. Shiroiki Yuuustu is nevertheless a beautiful standalone song, being neither joyful or sad, but having a lot of reminiscence and warmth, perfect for those light days on which time seems to have ceased flowing.
Following Shiroiki Yuutsu is IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS, the most likely most intense and complete 3 minutes you’ll ever experience in your life. IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS is the combination of punk, hard rock and turns into heavy metal in the second half. The guitars seem as they’re racing against each other, the chorus explodes in the hymn like manner and the song changes paces on each moment. From Kai’s drumming, Reita’s basslines and everything, this song is a true gem. They’ve even managed to squeeze a solo into it! IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS is like the GazettE version of MUCC’s Sora to ito, but shorter and way more fun.
Morou (Dim) will be familiar to people who have dropped a visit on GazettE’s homepage when DIM was promoted, this screeching like a broken radio sounds combined with a scream representing the transformation to a monster, make way for OGRE, GazettE’s Reiketsu Nariseba and Stuck Man at the same time. This is the most fierce song these guys have done ever, dark, twisted, with mincing riffs, bestial growling, being harder than DISCHRAGE ever was. Really brutal song that sounds like the soundtrack to hell.
The album closes with the core-song DIM SCENE, that sounds like a funeral march for the GazettE. It’s heavy, dark, with passive rainy riffs I associate with Ryojoku no Ame by Dir en grey, but with even more weight. On DIM SCENE, speaking of Dir en grey, the whole band comes the closest to what you’d call a Dir en grey song and Ruki’s singing is awfully similar to Kyo’s, that you almost have the feel it’s Kyo singing with another timbre. The slow pace of the song in combination with the lagging guitars give a withering feel, and the bursted chorus with flickering in the background is very alike to Ware yami tote… DIM SCENE is the most serious song you’d ever hear from GazettE and presents a perfect, dim, dark ending to a such album. Perfection.
DIM is a pretty conceptual album and all the songs really do have a dim element in their core but there are differences between them. The songs that were previously released on singles are pretty similar in terms of having tension building verses and a vast, stretched chorus charged with feelings. Though GUREN, LEECH, DISTRESS AND COMA and even THE INVISIBLE WALL vary quite in their approach, the basic structure and idea is nevertheless pretty similar. Not actually criticizing that, but it’s pretty obvious how only “sure shots” are bound to head the singles, while all of the other songs are reserved for albums and B-sides, at least when it comes to PS COMPANY bands.
The new songs are really unbound to any rules and truly show how versatile this band is and how it isn’t afraid to explore new boarders and try out new styles and executing them well. Technically speaking each song will leave you amazed, whether you like drums, bass, guitars or just singing. It’s hearable how each member is developing in it’s own way, some more some less. It comes out pretty clear how this album was given a lot of thought and work, compared to the slightly hastened STACKED RUBBISH. I can only imagine how well STACKED RUBBISH would have been if it has been given “time to think about it”.
Aside the anti-PSC songs, songs such as 13STAIRS[-]1 and OGRE contribute to the anger sewn into DIM thanks to their fierce guitars and heavy growling. But the ballads such as Nakigahara and DIM SCENE deliver a strong touch of bitterness, disappointment and almost resignation to a certain point. All of these aspects carried in the songs contribute to the heaviness of DIM, with even “lighter” songs such as IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS or Shiroiki Yuuutsu having a certain bitter-frustrated note in them.
DIM is GazettE’s Uroboros.
Somehow comparing DIM to Dir en grey’s latest Uroboros isn’t without base. It’s very hard to actually see where this connections comes from; was it inspiration, homage, tribute, copy or just an independent style evolution that just matters to have similarities to the one of the other band. I believe in the latter. Not because I love GazettE or anything, but because rather than for DIM sounding as a rip off it sounds more as a complementary album to Uroboros. After listening to both and trying to find a comparison, an influence, I have seen how both albums extraordinary complement each other. After listening to DIM, Uroboros seems to be more comprehendible, but Uroboros provides that certain counterbalance to DIM that is left to be filled out after listening to DIM. In short, it’s pretty hard to fully understand one without the other. Which is quite interesting, considering that those are basically two quite different bands.
Though the sound of it is very close to Uroboros, I think this album is to GazettE what Vulgar was to Dir en grey, a boarder album that marked a transition to a more complex sound and a stronger musical affirmation. Interesting though, Dir en grey has long ago abandoned it’s visual style and definition as well had an almost complete change of mind in order to achieve the complexity of sound that DIM and Uroboros have, while GazettE more-less stayed the same Visual kei band, still somewhat accessible to it’s listeners and still playing their old songs on their lives unchanged.
DIM isn’t far from perfection, with almost all songs perfectly portraying the basic idea of the album, surely getting rid of some elements that seemed to be overflowing in the recent songs as well as implementing some new elements. Also the album as a whole delivers a versatile as well as a balanced out set of songs, not overdoing with one or another kind of songs, though less balanced than it was with NIL. Though there are some minor, but more less “digestible” flaws unlike it was with STACKED RUBBISH. The obvious “downer” is Shiroiki Yuuutsu, but not because it’s a bad song, in contrary it’s a very beautiful song, but it just doesn’t fit in DIM’s set because it’s so “light”. If there was a need for such a song, WITHOUT A TRACE would have been a better choice or no song like that at all. Also the production at some songs seems pretty loud as well as there are somewhat not necessary elements in certain songs such as too much violin, which is a rather nice touch but doesn’t make the songs benefit too much. The album also has got this certain distance and thickness in it resulting for the album to feel a bit “off” but not unreachable, but still more distant than the previous albums were and as such is much less of an “easy listening” experience, though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Though it’s quite early to say this, at least until the next single UNTIL I DECAY (with very symbolic title) comes out, I feel that DIM is definitely a new and revolutionary step in this band’s sound and that with it the GazettE have reached this certain maturity and sound quality that way surpasses the borders of Visual kei bands and a sound uniqueness that the band may claim as their very own. DIM is most likely the best and expressive release this band has released and created and which significance can only grow with time. The GazettE brought to perfection and I feel that it’s just the start.
Images and promotional video copyright by the GazettE, PS Company, King Records 2009.
Please do not use, reproduce, alter, publish or claim any part of this review without the owners permission
...receives.
From left to right: the GazettE - DIM (album), UnsraW - Abel/Kein (compilation), the GazettE - REPEATED COUNTLESS ERROR (DVD)
I bet you all have no idea how my emotional IQ has risen and , to the point where I felt almost physical pain, how I have restrained myself from listening to the most likely best album of my favorite band.
The feeling of holding the actual CD in your hand.
The thrill of listening it for the very first time on your CD player.
The quality of sound that can't be unmatched by any rip.
Some things are worth the anguish.
I also ordered the REPEATED COUNTLESS ERROR DVD by the GazettE which I actually wanted to order last year (but I received my guitar then soo...) and as a bonus I received a free cd from UnsraW (because I've ordered two or more items over at CLJ) called ABEL/KAIN which is the compilation of those mini-albums plus the single LUST, which is cool since I like UnsraW quite. Not to mention that the releases are almost 40% cheaper than the Japanese versions and they include an extra translated lyrics booklet.
Those anticipating a review will have to wait though, I'm going to the sea tomorrow and won't be back for about a week. This order came just as planned and I still can't explain my happiness about it.
Track list
1. Parade
2. Can you do it? [PV]
3. Mr.trash music
4. NAKED LOVE [PV]
5. MASQUERADE
6. MELODY（original ver.）
7. Cynical Re:actor
8. ジャイアニズム究 (Djaïnism Kyuu)
9. Nothing you lose
10. Lost in Blue [PV]
11. シンプライフ (Simple Life)
12. クロニクル (Chronicle)
Hand on heart, I have heard a lot of Nightmare songs and almost all of their albums and I have really endured and toleratet their frequent lack of originality and innovation in some of their songs, especially choruses, but I've never had such an URGE to erase each and every chorus like I've had on this album, I don't even want to start commenting them because it always goes down on one: repetition, same progressions, same melody patterns, same singing style... How much you'll enjoy this album depends on how much recycling you can handle and how hardcore of a Nightmare fan you are.
The album starts with the unexciting rock'n'roll march named Parade, pompous on each step, stretching way too long to be an effective intro, but being too short to be an actual full-blooded song. Can you do it? comes along shimmering, bursts with a mass of trembling riffs (the ones they pull off the best) tensing up to the chorus that tries to burst but doesn't and leaves a "this is familiar..." feel that will haunt you on every chorus. Mr. trash music is actually Nightmare? Right? Right? Because the jumpy, distorsion, horrid trash fest will make you smash your CD player onto a wall.... horrid...
NAKED LOVE gives a better impression here than it does on the same-titled single. The slow-tempo, funky guitar flaired, seducive piece hits the sexy mood right in the middle, subtly crawling under your single until you're struck with the usual, but passable chorus. Wish they did something else, a bit less explosive there, but it works and passes, unlike the most choruses on this album. The funky feel on MASQUERADE is actually really fun and I could easily imagine this track as a great, energetic summer hit, yeah if it wasn't plaqued with THE GENERIC CHORUS. The jazzy-breakdown-switch of this song is really cool and another plus.
Melody brings some beautiful acoustic guitar melodies but that is almost all that is to this lovely, half-melancholic piece. The deep-rooted genericness can't be overshadowed, not even by the amazing guitar that stroll around this album. Cynical Re:actor is a very interesting blend of harder guitars and english female talk set in the foreground that reminds on End of Sorrow by LUNA SEA... when I think about it the guitars DO sound like a harder version of LUNA SEA. I could even close an eye on the chorus cause it doesn't beat the song to the ground like the rest of the chorus-gang. Djaïnism songs are almost a standard sure-hit on each Nightmare album, and Djaïnism Kyuu isn't an expection, though slightly weaker than the rest of such songs because of the generic and predictable elements. I'm really glad to hear Ruka smash that double bass for once.
Nothing you lose glove-slaps the GazettE for a ballad duel, but doesn't really stand up the fight because of the lack of deeper expression, more tension and slight originality. They could easily be head-to-head with the GazettE in popularity if they'd just be a bit more versatile, original and not killing themselves with generic melodies, progressions, choruses and similar. Lost in blue brings a reminiscent and melodic feel, excellent bass-lines but turns a bit bland halfway, but is overall a tense and pretty expressive song. Simple life is a lazy lying in the grass staring in the sky on a sunny day, progressing slowly, without any sudden nor strong jumps, but lives up to the carfree, unexciting mood. Chronicle is a bit more present than Simple life, but is just as light, hitting a hrad not here and there but being overall slight reminiscent and relaxing.
Fact is Nightmare haven't managed to top their previous album Killer Show, but frankly not even any other of their albums, making majestical parade their weakest long player. The sadest thing about it, as mentioned on the start, are the generic choruses that basically and reservelessly water down every song, giving them a generic and unmemorable seal, even though some of the songs like NAKED LOVE, MASQUERADE and Cynical Re:actor as well as Nothing you lose aren't that half bad and have really great instrumentals. I wonder do these guys ACTUALLY listen to their songs because the repetition of certain elements is obvious even to half-deaf people. And it's more like their aiming for quantity rather than quality.
If you're a diehard Nightmare fan or somebody to whom this album is a first contact with this band then you'll probably be pleased with it, while other should rather get ready for a generic-fest if they don't plan to skip this one this time.
Release date: 1.4.2009.
Track list
1. ぱらいぞ (Paraizo)
2. 渦 (Uzu) [PV]
3. 蓮 (Ren)
4. 嘆美なる死への憧憬 (Tanbi naru shi e no shoukei)
5. 桜月夜 (Sakura Tsukiyo) [PV]
6. 鬼哭啾愀 (Kikoku Shuushou)
7. 咒葬 (Jusou)
8. 素晴らしきかな?人生 (Subarashiki kana? Jinsei)
9. 永遠に、、、(Towa ni...)
10. 鬼灯 (Hoozuki)
Kagrra, deliver their first and most likely only release this year with their sixth studio album entitled Shu meaning jewel when translated. Their previous album Core featured their most experimental output side by side with their traditional song styles. So what does Shu bring us from Kagrra, this time?
The album begins with the vivid, vast, Japanese instruments and sounds colored Paraizo that rolls off as an perfect show reel of this bands sound and capabilites fusing harder rock guitars, Japanese music inspired melodies with a rich, beautiful chorus and wonderful instrumentals. No doubt Paraizo is one heck of a perfectly executed sure-shots and a great way to begin the album.
Uzu reflects once more the wide, ethnic flaird sound of this last year's single. The vast instrumentals unusual for a rock song, would most likely impress anybody as well as Akiya's tight, amazing solo that gives another hard edge to this "epic" piece. Ren introduces us to the song with a gentle melody and then emerges in a koto verse that had some Satsuki reminiscence. The pre-chorus tightens the mood before the usual, expressive and thick chorus. But then again it sounds more-less like every other expressive songe they've done which will keep fans satisfied, but those wanting more a bit empty-handed. Tanbi naru shi e no shoukei just lifts up the tempo of Ren, but follows the same mood type but shamelessly ripps off their older song Rin on an almost identical chorus. I'm used to other bands copying each other but that one band recycles ones songs so darn obviously is really surprising, especially when we're speaking of one really creative band like Kagrra.
Sakura Tsukiyo closes the first half of the album which we could mildly lable as generic. I can't believe that they made a PV for this because this is the most generic song on the album, starting off with a lulling, nighty verse and going onto the upbeat-but-not-quite chorus very similar to one in the song Kaze off the album Shizuku. Even my limited Japanese knowledge easily detects the very usual and slightly overused sugary imagery of cherry blossoms in the lyrics of the chorus.
Kikokuu Shuushou (I apologize if the song titles were wrongly romanized) ties on the glimmering riffs of Sakura Tsukiyo, but sounds more firmer and harder. And I hope I'm not the only one who thought that Isshi's balls dropped on the explosive, strong, melodious chorus where Isshi's deep singing sounds simply amazing, very expressive and much more confident than when he sings in the high registers. There is something simply strong and rapturing in this song that makes it stand out more than the other songs on the album. A nice way to start the slight "not-sogeneric" half of the album.
Now the rest of the album made me think about Kagrra, sneaking into the secret vaults of other PS COMPANY bands and grabbing some of their unpublished materials and modifiying them slighty. Jusou has got this thick, thick mood, thicker than it was on their album Miyako and way more sinister on the verses before emerging in the powerful, IN-YOUR-FACE chorus which style somehow brings GazettE allusions to the head. And it's one of the rare spoiled choruses that isn't spoiled by the vocalist, but the guitarist playing it in a scale that's a bit too "bright" for a song of this kind, as such discontinuing the excellent mood delivered in the verses and singing. But overall Jusou still emerges as a hit on this album.
Subarashiki kana? Jinsei is just way too weird, unmatching and unappropriate with it's saxophones hitting into something that wants to be subtly hard and very upbeat at the same time. But yes the saxophones are what is annoying me the most in this song, because despite all the rocky, metaly edges on this band they were always a rock band with a strong Japanese sound. SAXOPHONES DO NOT BELONG THERE (with all do respect)! This song sounds more like the attempt to freshen up something that was left to be a filler track, but unfortunately the Miyavish, enhanced track doesn't do anything good to the album other than just capturing your attention for a couple of moments (either in positive or negative way).
Towa ni... would pass as an Alice nine. track thanks to it's upbeat, playful, riffs but when you hear Isshi instead of Shou on the mic, well that's when you realize it's Kagrra. And again the chorus just horridly reminds on one of their other songs, in this case Kamikaze (seriously if you don't believe me compare the choruses). Eien ni... is not bad in it's intention, but it provides way too familar stuff other than trying to bring something new. The album closes with the wonderful song off the single Uzu called Hoozuki where I simply can't find adequate words to describe it's melodious chorus, the reminiscent and swaying atmosphere, the way the song simply goes through you, ah, like sunbeams through a dark cloud after a rainy day.
Though Shuu has got a jewel or two and the songs overall are not bad, very well produced and polished, but compared to their previous albums this is their weakest album and not just of one reason but because of several reasons. The songs resemble a lot not just with one another but also with some of their older songs sometimes to the level where it sounds as a thoughtless self-ripp-off (like on Tanbi naru shi e no shoukei). A lot of them simply lack the direction, start off in one way and develop in another and then return back and forth, making them sound less certain. But that all could have somehow be overshadowed if there was at least some excitement or some innovation to them. I really love Kagrra, but I really though there would be more to the album than this.
But if we look at it's bright sides the album features the unmistaken, unmatchable Kagrra, sound and expression, fuses wonderfully the traditional Japanese sounds with powerful rock music and a feel as if their music is meant solely for the sake of beauty. Also the songs Paraizo, Uzu, Jusou and Hoozuki count not only as jewels on this album but also as gems in their discography, making this album a worthy listen even to the most demanding Kagrra, fans.
With all it good sides and those less sucessful sides Kagrra, still manage to deliver a recognizable sound and mood on their album Shu. Even though without any surprises nor will for experimenting Shu represents an excellent spring soundtrack which not only will Kagrra, fans enjoy but also fans of Japanese music overall. Still we do miss San and Miyako... quite.
Date released: 11.3.2009.
Track list
1. Lizard
2. BRILLIANT [PV]
3. REDEEMER [PV]
4. 琥珀 (Kohaku)
5. KAMIKAZE [PV]
6. Lost in re:birth
7. R.E.M-冬の幻聴- (R.E.M-Fuyu no genchou-)
8. HORIZON [PV]
9. MASQUERADE
10. 夜空 (Yozora)
11. PARADOX 5
12. HEAVEN'S COLOR
Two years have passed since the Visual kei veterans D'espairsRay have released their second album Mirror. The last year's frequent single output has announced that there is a third album on the way and also left a hint about what the third album will be like. The curious title REDEEMER gave somehow hopes to some older fans because with years and especially last singles D'espairsRay's sound has grown less characteristically dark, became more lighter and less wild.
So did D'espairsRay managed to redeem themselves with REDEEMER?
The album opens with the fierce, dark, industrial metal piece Lizard that will pull out a huge smile on every hardcore D'espairsRay fan. It's dark, energetic, vicious and everything you'd associate with D'espairsRay from tense guitars, powerful beats and soaring choruses. Lizard is what DAMNED was to MIRROR, a generic D'espairsRay track set for suiting the older, puristic fans and as such will undoubtuly be one of their favorite tracks on the album.
Right after Lizard we come to BRILLIANT, a track that lives most of the part up to it's name and that was the first single in 2008 since more than a year of release-void since MIRROR. BRILLIANT still sounds bright and rapturing as it did last year, even though this track is more of a sure-shot and with style more bound to the energetic character of the MIRROR era. Nevertheless it's wast guitar parts and hymnic chorus will surely enchant many.
The third track and the undeniable title track of the album is REDEEMER that already caused for a hype before the album release thanks to it's amazing PV. REDEEMER counts to the best tracks on the album and is a sort of a redemption for the light singles of last year. REDEEMER's every second is filled with energy, oscilating between madness, darkness and energy! The track has got BALLS! The riffs are so amazing that you'll be taking your guitar instantly and trying to figure them out, the rocky beats just invite for jumping and moshing while Hizumi's strong voice holds the strings of the song. REDEEMER lives up to it's name and brings D'espairsRay in their most raw core.
We come to the first ballade of the album, Kohaku or amber, which opens with an tense industrial flair and Karyu's typical tense power chords. Kohaku kinda plays it on calm and tense, a bit on the edge of light and dark and the expressive yet somehow unoriginal chorus shows Hizumi's wide vocal range. Unfortunately Kohaku is a bit unexciting and lacks a certain something, a certain uplift, sadly because Tsukasa has composed it and he has pleasently surprised me with a lot of his compositions like LOST SCENE and especially SCISSORS.
And again we face another single, this time KAMIKAZE which esentially delivers excellent and innovative guitar parts and verses while the chorus is pretty much unspectacular, predictive, pop-rock and overall bad ruining that way the original charater of this song. Of course we don't have to wait long for redemption because Lost in re:birth kicks in. I think Lost in re:birth somehow represents the album but most of all a new style of this band very well. Lost in re:birth starts as a melodic death metal tune, well at least up to the rocky pre-chorus.The guitars are very sharp, fast and expressive, the singing soars up into catharsic heights but most of all the thick instrumentations and mood give of a more refined, more layered feeling expression than any of their songs before marking this new, present D'espairsRay sound of REDEEMER.
After Lost in re:birth we come to our second ballade R.E.M-Fuyu no genchou- (Winter's auditory illusion, why does every song with winter in it's title have to be a ballade). R.E.M is fluent, somehow calming but powerful and tense. The chorus soars into heights, delivering a very beautiful melody. Though not as tense nor innovative as some of their other ballads, it's still very touching and interesting (especially the violin touch in the second part) and will surely touch many.
Horizon as the last single on the album shows off a pop-rock side of D'espairsRay, very much sounding like L'arc~en~ciel. Horizon isn't bad by itself, but it's not D'espairsRay so it's quite understandable that it's one of their most hated tracks. How much you will like this bright, positive, light track depends on how much of a dark D'espairsRay purist you are. After the last single interruption we come to MASQUERADE which generally sounds like a more melancholic, darker and thicker Trickstar (oh and I will kick Hizumi in the nuts the next time he uses a verb with out in it like break out, flake out). The guitars are pretty tight as well as the chorus but again, it sounds like there is something missing and if the horrid English won't make you at least a bit pissed (as an English speaker) as well as the lower-than-average growls then... MASQUERADE has got something, should have had something but it seems as though there is a huge unfilled void in it.
We come to the OFFICIAL DOWNER of the album... ladies and gentleman Yozora! I think every D'espairsRay purist, dark, gothy fan took out it's shotgun and , if they didn't shoot themselves in the legs, went to Japan to shoot D'espairsRay. Yozora or Nightsky (totally unsuitable because all I hear are rainbows) is a upbeat, fast, pop-rock track that sounds it has been taken from Alice nine's secret wault, sprinkled with Ayabie's cuteness and glimmering chime and fasten up to sound like Dir en grey's resented JESSICA. Oh yeah this song sure brings Oshare D'espairsRay images into the head, dressed up in candy, rainbows and Hello Kitty. The worst part of it is that it's a must-be ENDING song for lives which means two things: a) it's irritating by default, b) it's unavoidable on lives. ....Daaaaamnn.
We face the last and probably most expressive and memorable tracks on the album, at least in my opinion, which are both quite contrast compared to one another but both very storng in rendering the feelings sewn into them. PARADOX 5 is a really unusual D'espairsRay track and sounds like more melancholic, guitarless D'espairsRay tune (like Screen but different in expression) mixed up with a tribal, ambiental feel of Deep Forest (a French ambiental, world music group that combines the ethnic sounds of Africa and other continets with a chillout, ambiental, electronica music). Since I like both of the bands (and Deep Forest is always very reminiscent for me) this song is a favorite in my ears. The song sounds very wast, almost as if it embraces the whole world, the echoing, female backvocals give off a dramatic seal, but at the same time it sounds distant, cold, sad, somehow helpless as if it is caught in a eternity of hopelesness and transience. PARADOX 5 is definitely one of D'espairsRay most unusual, but very moving and expressive songs.
(Samsara (in Jainism, Japan) : mundane existence, full of suffering and misery and hence is considered undesirable and worth renunciation. The Saṃsāra is without any beginning and the soul finds itself in bondage with its karma since the beginingless time. )
Heaven's Color is on the other hand almost an complete contrast from PARADOX 5, a bright,light tune which on the first glimpse sounds like HORIZON 2, but...different. The interesting mood of the song, a watercolor blend of happy, sad, yearning gives of a very strong reminiscent feel. But this reminiscence doesn't sound sad or bitter at all, it sounds so warm and comforting that you can almost feel how this song flows into you and spreads it's warmth all over you. I didn't expect that such a light song I'd usually despise at D'espairsRay would end up be my favorite on the entire album, better than all of the dark, brooding songs. It owes it's honesty and warmth as well as reminiscent feel that somehow sounds like "Life isn't perfect, but what we had and we have is a reason enough to feel happy in life", sort of.
In a way (as I have predicted it, meaning either I have ESP or I read people really well) REDEEMER is a slight bipolar album because on one hand we get thick, dark, pretty heavy tunes like Lizard, Redeemer, Masquerade and on the other light, bright, positive tunes as Kamikaze, Horizon, Yozora, Heaven's color and some of which are neither bright nor dark like Kohaku and R.E.M. Their last singles were somehow bipolar with a bright A-side and a rather dark B-side (sadly, they should have taken the better B-sides which outmached the A ones in many ways). This polarity does show some versatility this band posesses but at the same time breaks a certain cohesion that would bind the songs, just like it was the case on [Coll:set] and Mirror. But that is not the only flaw of this album: almost every song is like a lit firecracker that sparkles all over but doesn't go out with a bang, making potentially excellent songs and classics sound like there should be something but isn't.
Also the songs with the charactersitic sound don't really flow naturally like they did before, The industrials are somehow blandly used, the growls are pretty insecure and the charming, strong yet simple riffs are drowned in several guitar layers that somehow blend into one mass.
REDEEMER doesn't really bring total redemption by D'espairsRay, but it certainly has got it's virtues. Primarly it's this certain sound and mood thickness which gives up more complex layers of feelings, more worked out than it was before. REDEEMER brought partially the mood back that was lost in the loudness and energy of MIRROR, but it still isn't the cohesive and brooding mood [Coll:set] had. The best thing would be if the elements of all three albums would be combined in a way so the songs would be filled with energy, with a strong and clear atmosphere but thick sound that allows a lot of flexibilty to the songs emotions.
Though not their best album, REDEEMER is definitely a must listen for every D'espairsRay fan, regardless of experience. As for D'espairsRay, REDEEMER is just another step on the border between what they are and what they want to be.
Track list
1. GI・GO
2. Friction XXXX
3. under-world [PV]
4. 赤い靴 (Akai kutsu)
5. 月食 (Geshoku)
6. 演説~シュールレアリズム~ (Ensetsu~ Surrealism~)
7. [human farm]
8. ピラニア (Piranha)
9. 片道切符 (Katamichi kippu)
10. カナリア (Kanaria)
11. 閉ざされた楽園 (Tozasareta Rakuen) [PV]
12. 激声 (Gekisei) [PV]
13. 冬のカスタネット (Fuyu no Castanet) [PV]
Underworld is more than a fitting and literal title for the what is probably the most weirdest Merry album (cross that, probably the most weirdest album of the year). An incredible and potraying mix of repulsing yet alluring atypical tracks you'd ever come across in this band's discography.
Now everybody probably knows that Merry is one of those bands everybody listens but is not particularly wild about and that this band usually plays it on a safe card, being occasionally experimental, but mostly going down by one and the same formula. But Underworld is undeniably different.
The syncopated GI GO with metal echoing drums, squealing almost caricatured guitars and a strange Japanese flair sets up a strange drum roll for the sharp edged, deranged punk piece Friction XXXX. Friction XXXX actually does a very good job with it's almost underground guitar madness, but the collective Lalala chorus bring back to the major (read: commercial) nature of this band. Damn.
Under-world as the unproclaimed title track of the album strikes out with very hysteric drumming but mood yet good riffs. Gara's screaming vocals are put behind, almost as he is captured in some torture. Under-world is certainly something that I'd colorfully describe as a Oni-party-unleashed. Akai Kutsu brings even more weirdness. The ska-guitar enforced, jumpy, over-theatrical, almost cartoony piece brings me the images of some strange Wild West happening, combined with a circus atmosphere. Confusing as hell, totally strange, but entertaining nevertheless, not the track I'd expect to like, but I'm liking it (or I'm just strange...).
We come near the pretty good middle with Geshoku that sets up laid-back guitars, with a sinister touch to it and some more Gara distortion, which makes me wonder on which part of the album did this man sing without effects. Geshoku is pretty neat because of it's present-yet-distant dark-swing style which is utilized here well. Oh and you've probably noticed here that the guitarists Yuu and Kenichi have realized that you can deliver nice melody lines with the guitars other than just thwack-thwack with it (AMEN). Ensetsu invites to a crazy riot by Gara, the groovy guitars will invite you to nod with your head like-you-don't-care and the interesting bass lines just pump up more the groove.
[human farm] is just...woa... Just by hearing the vicious guitar lines in the beginning the images owerflow me (but then again, I'm slightly synestesic so...) and the mad screaming verses bring the insanity and the chorus softens it a bit, preventing it from turning into a one way ticket to a madhouse. Very vivid and slightly insane, if you're not going to feel a bit hyper after this, then I don't know what... Piranha makes you simply gasp more and it's probably THE BEST song on the album, a unique combination of underground touch, oriental atmosphere and incredibly alluring guitars. It describes this album perfectly: A bad opium that causes addiction, even if you know you shouldn't be taking it.
Katamichi Kippu is somewhat decent, but marks the rather weaker ending of the album. The guitars are like dancing around and Gara is screaming his soul out, up to the waltzy chorus. Kanaria has a lot of pointless-yet-meaningful thwacking at the start before it launches into a mediocre-at-best Merry tune with a catchy (yet repulsive, and here we come to the bad opium part again) chorus.
For the end are reserved the single title tracks of the last year: the rocking typical Tozasareta Rakuen, the 15-minute Merry ephos Gekisei and the gingerbread Christmas ballad Fuyu no Castanet. In my opinion, they should have ditched those single tracks because the somehow break the underground, twisted mood of the album.
On the first listening you'd might think that Underworld is the most unlistenable Merry album to date, which isn't far from the truth, but with each listening you'd be sure to discover more details and, as in my case, see that the album isn't as bad as it wants to be. Although not really delivering catchy material, it makes up for some of it's flaws with it's uniqueness and (can't believe I'll ever say this for a band as generic as Merry) originality.
If you're really into something different (hence different) than you'd might find this album really refreshing. But if Merry isn't on your list of favorite bands and catchyness is your drive, well... don't even bother. But for those ready to listen to something definitely unusual, Underworld is the album to check.
Hello everybody! How are you doing?
Yesterday came the first issue of the Web-magazine Pleasures Principled out with the theme Looking Back on 2008 and I have contributed one article to this pretty cool Japanese pop culture (primary music) oriented site:
My theme was Visual Kei Albums that Marked the Year 2008. It was pretty challenging but I'm glad with the way it ended. I hope you readers will like it too, so go and check the article (as well as other articles, they're really insightful) on Pleasures Principled.
On a random note... My friend showed me a link where Miyavi said that he would like to visit Croatia (among other countries) in the next ten years. I LOL'd hard. Bet he went randomly over some countries and has chosen the countries that sound exotic. Like seriously... Croatia... LOL. Unless he means Croatia = Dubrovnik (a monumental city on the south of Croatia known for it's city walls, antique touch and prospering elite tourism) like the rest of the travel-happy world, then yes Miyavi would like to visit Croatia.
Date released: 14.1.2009.
Track list
1. the beautiful name
2. 百花繚乱 (Hyakka ryouran)
3. RAINBOWS
4. Kiss twice,Kiss me deadly
5. CROSS GAME
6. 昴 (Subaru)
7. www.
8. Drella
9. MIRROR BALL [VANDALIZE EDITION]
10. イノセンス(Innocence)
11. Waterfall
The pretty much awkwardly titled third album by the pop-rock oriented Visual kei band alice nine. Even though last year's single output was pretty much disappointing, one thing I've learned when I was listening to their second album Alpha was that when it comes to albums, alice nine. don't really dissapoint. Zekkeishoku packed quite a punch with it's bright yet powerful song pallet, Alpha was similar but on some parts more intense. The main question is: Did VANDALIZE follow the same path?
VANDALIZE opens with a wide and wast the beautiful name which can be almost described as Viva la vida by alice nine. These guys sure love to rip-off songs for their album openers. The globe-hugging, bright chorus that soars in the air combined with background epic strings sure birngs some Coldplay reminiscence, but such style really emphasize a rather irritating trend these guys are following: loud, flashing choruses coupeled with playful pop-rock melodies into songs that sound all alike.
The album lifts some hope with Hyakka ryouran that delivers a really good Alice in Wonder Land reminiscence, the electro flair gives a special kick and it all sounds great until the copy/paste chorus that calls back to reality. God damn, it's like Shou can't sing the chorus in any other way than on this soaring, loud way that seriously irritates. The choruses were more creative back at the time when Shou didn't sing so well like now, at least he tried to compensate his vocal limitations with something new. Now he simply sings every single god-damn-chorus in the same way.
Then we come to the disco-power-rock anthem Rainbows which sounds just as surprisingly powerful and refreshing like on the single version. Following Rainbows is this very interesting and groovy garage-club-rock'n'roll piece Kiss twice, Kiss me deadly with a laid-back, seducive feel and I must admit that even the obnoxious female backvocal abuse sounds here more than fitting and it works! (Unlike with some other bands *coughgazettecough*). Despite some really good ideas Kiss twice, Kiss me deadly lacks some certain excitement even though the different approach does make it kind of memorable.
CROSS GAME reminds us on the uninspired, formulized same-titled single that was released a month or so ago (don't know nor care) being totally tiresome in it's flashing INYOURFACE chorus and flow (the song quality of alice nine. singles is unfortunately reversly proportional to the guitar quality). Subaru has got this quiet, almost ambiental intro and it moves to a glimmering guitar intro fitting for the starry song title. What starts pretty much atmospheric (the ambiental start reminds me on Mugen, bet Saga wrote this one) turns just into another alice nine light song like Eraser, but less memorable.
But then www. and Drella come...
My God.... www. and Drella would have made the BEST ALICE NINE SINGLE EVER.
www. may seem to have a strange title at first but in this song this title has a complete other and insightful meaning (World Wide Warning / World Wide Despair). www. has got the riffs and guitars as if they were taken straight from the GazettE's last single LEECH, especially the main riff reminds on the one from HOLE. Even though somehow reserved on the verses, the song has got a intense, incredible chorus with expressive guitars in the back and Shou delivering one of his better performances. And the guitar solo is simply beautiful, simple but very expressive and it just strenghtens the overall bitter mood of the song. But the jawdropping continues on Drella which is a pure metal song! It's got the chunky grinding riffs, it's vicious, hard ground-shaking piece with some serious attitude. Though Shou's relatively mild vocals don't exactly fit, but the way he sings and how his voice is distorted it all leaves a crooked, mad kind of feel. An unexpected metal surprise from this POP-ROCK band.
As a break from the intense album middle comes MIRROR BALL but in a piano arrangement which brings the song's feelings a bit closer. I've seen this arrangement for the first time on their last DVD as a live performance and I really liked it and I'm happy they've used this version for the album (the original version would have simply too much Shou's chorus bombs for me).
The album ends with a generic alice nine pop-rock piece Innocence and Waterfall which sounds like Subaru which sounds like atmosphere which sounds like Eraser... yeah it's alice nine recycle time. If people would have recycled trash as alice nine does songs, there wouldn't be any ozone holes (caused by the very hairspray abuse by Visual kei bands). Waterfall is, despite the promising intro, the ARMOR RING of VANDALIZE, a ballad-at-the-end that doesn't want to end.
VANDALIZE is indeed the weakest album from alice nine., not because of the song quality but because the fillers on this song outmeasure the songs that are actually really good, even amazing. Alpha and Zekkeishoku didn't have such power-tracks like www. and Drella on Vandalize, but their other tracks were worth more the while than those on Vandalize. Despite that fact Vandalize still offers more listen-worthy material than 2008 alice nine singles did and doesn't really fail on the premise that Alice nine albums are worth the while.
Date released: 19.12.2008.
Track list:
1. HAUNTING [PV]
2. SPLENDID WORLD
3. GOD forsaken~僕は君の着飾った身体を共有する世界の隣人などでは無い~ [PV] (GOD forsaken ~Boku wa kimi no kikazatta karada wo kyouyuu suru sekai no rinjin nado dewa nai~)
4. Silence of Sorrow
5. 硝子の海 (Garasu no umi)
6. day after day [PV]
7. INSTRUMENT OF HELL
8. 独裁 [PV] (Dokusai)
9. last dance [Album Version]
99. 断頭台は誰が為に揺れる [PV] (Dantoutai wa darega tame ni yureru)
Dictator is the first album of the hard Visual kei band Dio ~Distraught Overlord~.
The album begins with HAUNTING, one of the best and most refined tracks from this band up to date! The intro and the guitars have D'espairsRay-at-best (heck, it even sounds more like D'espairsRay than D'espairsRay does nowadays) written all over, the literally haunting (nice title pick) mood, mystic and dark layers, the tension which doesn't hold still, not even a second make this track a powerful and breathtaking way to start an album making you want more! Seriously, this left my jaw hanging.
And the blast and excitement doesn't stop on SPLENDID WORLD a bone crushing, grinding, mincer of distorsion and growling. Fast and furious with riffs that invide you to bang your head off and mosh to death anybody next to you! And again I feel some D'espairsRayness in it, but way brutal than D'espa would ever do it. I propose that somebody should send these first two tracks to D'espairsRay and say "Now make your new album sound like this", that be great...
And then we come to the familiar track GOD forsaken. I was a bit pissed when I saw that half of the album are the songs I have already heard, but all of the new songs are rearranged to sound new and fresh, while still sounding familiar. GOD forsaken has had it's production quality lowered on a some semi-trash version which really makes the song benefit from it because it sounds more raw, less dimmed and more intense than in original. Garasu no umi is also mixed the same way and I like how the pre-choruses have been lifted up a bit, making them more expressful, whereabout day after day has been altered to a minimum, but still left as a intense, feeling coloured piece metal-rock piece.
Silence of Sorrow is a fine dance between profound piano tones, strong bass and loud guitars. It's a very good balance between blasting violence and emotions sewn into the verses and chorus. Unfortunately this intense piece is the most unmemorable piece on the album, maybe because it draws links to some other of their songs, or because it laks a certain memorable phrase, I don't really know...
Besides the relatively normal day after day, the second half of the album is somehow a bit bizarre at certain parts. INSTRUMENT OF HELL is an awesome fest of brooding darkness, brutal growling, D'espairsRay dark industrial vibe and mood, until we reach the chorus and Mikaru gets too Hizumi frenzy and goes with the Infection like meowing in singing which neither Hizumi nor Mikaru can pull off and this nu-metal style (From what I have heard all these nu-metal bands always add this additional vocals to words so it somehow sounds like meowing to me, you know like mei instead of me etc...) in the chorus is death to this song which might have been an excellent piece of darkness. God damn Mikaru, God damn *slaps him in the face*.
Then we come to DOKUSAI an almost puristic brutal death metal (yet with slightly more sense, than most of brutal metal pieces I've heard) piece with growling, frantic riffs and double bass all over, being one of the most berserk death metal pieces in Visual kei, as far as I have heared. Oh well, one song of this kind on a album is somehow good for a violent anticlimax but listening to such songs all the time is a certain headache.
We come to THE MOST OCCULT song on the album, Last dance. Why? Because it sounds like a relaxed, POSTIVE and OPTIMISTIC piano and synth drums ballad with Mikaru sounding like some boyband dude who went on a football match and shouted his voice out so now it's hoarse (but still pretty). This song simply gives you the WARM and FUZZY feeling and it's placed between two most brutal songs I've heard this year. It's like putting Yokan between AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS and Reiketsu Nariseba on a Dir en grey live (wait! That's actually more awesome, I'd eat both of my legs to see that). I suppose this is the way Dio makes a joke with us right? RIGHT? (because no normal being would DARE to put a sugary sweet pop ballad in between brutal metal pieces or?)
The last track is Dantoutai wa darega no tame ni yureru which sounds like a directed angry mob with knives slaughter fest would sound. You can simply hear those arteries squitring, blood spraying all over and organs flying all around. Downright awesome. A brutal and violently chatarsic way to end this very good album.
Damn, DICTATOR is simply awesome and a great showreel of the new and old Dio so you can consider it as some Best-of LP by this band. Though with a few downers like the lack of surprise tension due a large number of old songs, some not so well excecuted or memorable parts, this album still manages to deliver powerful and exciting metal flaired rock pieces (some going as far to be actual real extreme metal) presenting the overall talent of each member (especially Mikaru, his voice is one of the best around!). Overall Dictator was a very enjoyable, metal fused, dark Visual kei album I know I'll return to. Visual metalheads, don't hesitate at this one!
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