Lynch. <INFERIORITY COMPLEX> Review

1. Moment
2. The Fatal Hour Has Come
3. Mirrors -We're Not Alone-
4. New Psycho Paralyze
5. Anima
6. They're All Afraid
7. Experience
8. Frozen
9. Inferiority Complex
10. A Flare

I won't be doing many reviews or stuff like that, but this album seriously impressed me.

I would say that I am a mediocre fan of Lynch. Their last two albums were okay, and were hit-and-miss in my opinion. However 'MIRRORS' blew me away and so I was very eager to hear their new material.

This album showcases a new, more mature Lynch in my opinion. The production is top class and you can actually hear the bass as opposed to past releases. This album is the first with a full-time bassist, and it is clear that he is continuing the visual kei trend of playing slap bass. They have also become much more atmospheric with their sound since their last release. Instead of the 'tank' approach of 'SHADOWS', they have created a new sound, which firmly places them as a unique band amongst so many similar-sounding Visual Kei bands.

Hazuki's vocals have definitely improved, and from the first song 'MOMENT', you can hear the full extent of his improvement. His cleans are more defined, and his screams seem to have more sonic power behind them.

I also think that they have finally found their 'sound', which they found in the single 'MIRRORS'. Lynch do this brilliant thing where they play heavy metalcore with upbeat choruses; however this is not a 'pop' upbeat, it is still heavy and simply serves to make the song more memorable.

That's another thing, this new album is INCREDIBLY catchy. I've always thought Lynch were great at catchy choruses, but this release steps up the mark. After just one listen, I knew how most of the melodies went.

I'll talk about some of the standout tracks now. I'm really happy with what they did to 'MIRRORS'. Rather than just noise (like the single was), you can hear both guitars distinctly and the drums also. This is also a small point, but I LOVE the spoken bit at the very end of the song, it sounds really professional.

'THEY'RE ALL AFRAID' is also a song I really liked. The guitar work is top work, and it's a nice break from the heavy first few songs. 'FROZEN' is simply a solid track. This song for me is a real improvement on the sound they achieved on 'I BELIEVE IN ME'. The bridge section is immense, with a strong bass and acoustic guitars.

The only fault I found with this album was the song 'ANIMA', which sees a short lived return to their very old sound, before 'SHADOWS', which I find boring and unimaginative.

Rating 9/10

[1] Japanese Film and why I love it.

I've decided to do a 'Japanese (____) and why I love it' type of series where I'll discuss differences between Japanese culture and Western culture.

I've always thought Japanese films are on the whole much better than western films. I have a soft spot for Japanese films which are weird or have a sombre atmosphere.

Some of my all-time favourite films are Japanese, like 'Love Exposure', 'Battle Royale' and 'Kagemusha'. The list is long, but all of these films have a distinctly 'Japanese feel' about them, which couldn't be emulated in a Hollywood remake.

Japanese films tend to also pay more attention to minute details, such as extended shots on facial expressions and scenery. Extended dialogue is also common (about nothing in particular). I watched 'Seven Samurai' by Akira Kurosawa, and although the running time exceeds three hours, it felt worth it and the brilliant cinematography got through even the black-and-white picture (I also love black-and-white films, but that's another story).

Don't get me wrong though, I also like the Japanese films that are adapted from an anime/manga. The most recent example of this is probably 'Smuggler', which starred one of my favourite actors, Satoshi Tsumabuki. This film was a live-action one, and so had over the top fight scenes and was quite violent (as usual).

However, having said all this, only a handful out of the many Japanese films I have watched have made me really think out it or want to see it again. There are a LOT of bad Japanese films. One of the worst I saw was called 'Hanamizuki', an 'epic love story'. It was more like two hours of boredom; predictable and frankly terrible acting. These mediocre films really bring out the brilliance of directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Sion Sono and Beat Takeshi.

Band Music

Hey

Right now I'm working on a song for my band (a metal band). To be honest though, it's more of a 'ballad' type track with clean guitars and strings.

I seem to be able only to write songs that are either REALLY heavy or REALLY soft, there's no middle ground. I've written three songs fro my band so far, two ballads and a deathcore-esque song. :(

I'll post what I've come up with in a bit

Download Festival 2012

(this will be a long post)
Right, so last week I went to Download Festival for five days. The first two days consisted of our group miserably setting up tents in the rain. The three days of music that followed however.... WOW they were good. Rather than going through each day in detail, I'll pick out my favourite moments.

The first band I saw on Friday I had never actually heard of. My friend dragged me to see 'Silent Descent', a trance-metal band that turned out to be amazing.

After that I saw a few different bands such as 'NOFX' and 'Nightwish', but the highlights of the day were 'Machine Head' and 'The Prodigy'. Machine Head were simply BRUTAL. They produced some of the best mosh pits of the festival and 60000 people head banging to Halo was a sight to behold.

The Prodigy was a bittersweet moment however: I loved every minute of it, but nearly all the songs they played were remixed versions. 'Thunder' for example was played as a sort of dubstep remix, which was good, but not brilliant as the original is. To be honest though, I was intoxicated at this point, so I didn't really care.

I saw more bands on Saturday, due to there being no delay in getting in like on Friday. The mud was also clearing up. The day started with a laugh seeing 'Black Veil Brides'. Seeing them getting bottled and booed brought a tear (of laughter) to my eyes, as did the legions of Pre-pubescent fans telling us to 'stop'!

'Trivium' was an honour to see. Although they have a place in my mind as being 'a brilliantly average' metal band, seeing them live showed that they were better than that. I had honestly only gone for the song 'In Waves' to see Matt's face when he screamed, but the whole set proved to be solid.

'Corey Taylor' was another laugh, but this time in a good way. He played a particularly inspiring version of 'spit it out', and instead of 'JUMP THE F**K UP', it was 'HOP ON ONE LEG'. I went to see the new stone sour song, which was as depressing and radio-friendly as I expected, but a masterpiece nonetheless.


There were three disappointments for me on the Saturday: these were 'Metallica' and not being able to see 'Killswitch Engage' and 'Steel Panther'.

The reason for missing the latter two was that I didn't even know that they were playing (despite the poster everywhere and stuff, yes I'm an idiot). Metallica, for me, are a good band in studio, but not very engaging live. Yes it's all very good to have pryos at that point in 'Enter Sandman' where it all goes heavy, but that's all they really have. The only crowd interaction Hetfield does is to check whether Metallica fans are still there. Their choices for their setlists will always baffle me, as they play the hits, but no songs from 'Death Magnetic', an album which is up there with their best. The 'Black Album' is also not a very good one: sure, there are songs like 'Sad but True' and 'The Unforgiven', but the middle of the album is a bit stale, and you could hear it in the audience as everyone simply muttered the words to 'My Friend of Misery' and so on.

Sunday kicked off with a guy giving us about 30 cans of cider and me getting completely drunk (I'm an extreme lightweight). It was in this state that I went to see 'DevilDriver', and went into every circle pit. They definitely should've been higher on the bill.

'Lamb of God' was the band I wanted to see most during the whole festival, and see them I did. 'Redneck' and 'Black Label' were brutal and energetic and 'Desolation' was simply a brilliant opener; it was like driving at full speed into a brick wall (+ Randy looks so metal with dreadlocks!)

The 'Dropkick Murphys' were a real treat, and it was as sweaty and Celtic as I expected (no connection between the two).

I missed 'Black Sabbath' (Yes I know, I'm annoyed too) due to... reasons.

All in all, the festival was a real experience and I met loads of nice people throughout and discovered lots of new bands. My shoes are also encrusted in mud and my face is burnt and bright red. :P

Introductions.

This blog is really more for myself, rather like a notebook. I am using this since I use a computer more than an actual notebook and pen.

I will be posting random things, mostly music-related but also things like books and food.

Oh, and the title 'maniaku' is simply the Japanese for a collector or someone obsessed/knowledgable with regards to something.