Ruki, the vocalist, stressed that the album should be listened to straight after 'TOXIC', and it's easy to understand why after listening to both 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION' in quick succession. But this album is not a 'TOXIC part 2'. This album is a different beast, in good ways and bad ways. I got the limited edition, where one disc has the Japanese title songs and the other disc has the English title songs, so I'll be reviewing that.
[Disc 1] review.
1. [Depth]
2. Ibitsu
3. Kago No Sanagi
4. Hedoro
5. Kagefumi
6. Yoin
7. [Diplosomia]
Disc 1 is an exciting disc for me, and easily the better of the two. It basically contains the 'ballad' tracks of the album as a whole, and people wanting more songs like 'untitled' will be pleased, as they've chosen to experiment with that sound a whole lot more. It's also nice to see the other band members composing songs other than Ruki. What I'm really happy with is that some of the songs on this disc, like 'Kagefumi' and 'Kago no Sanagi' see a short lived return to their 'STACKED RUBBISH-ballads', such as the song 'CALM ENVY'. A lot of these songs also use little in the way of electronic sounds in contrast to Disc 2.
The disc could've done with a better opening tracks(s), as the track 'Depth' isn't as explosive as 'INFUSE INTO' was, but it does leave you wanting more. 'Ibitsu' is the love-child of 'RED' and 'LEECH' and is an average fast paced song. What is clear though, is that Ruki's voice has drastically improved in such a short time, and he is more controlled. The guitar work has also improved: the song 'Hedoro' has a 'spy-themed' verse riff, and the interplay between Uruha and Aoi on 'Kagefumi' and 'Kago no Sanagi' works beautifully as it doesn't sound as though they're battling it out like it did sometimes on their previous albums. Given that this disc was a ballad-orientated disc, I was disappointed by the lack of a strong bass from Reita, and it sounds like he is playing root notes most of the time.
[Disc 2] Review.
1. [XI]
2. Derangement
3. Required Malfunction
4. Dripping Insanity
5. Attitude
6. Gabriel On The Gallows
7. [Melt]
On a first listen I thought, 'No, The GazettE have ruined their heavy sound'. But after a few more listens, a few of the songs grew on me. The auto-tune on these songs is ridiculously high and a lot of the songs have that 'Gazette chugging riff', found in songs like 'Filth In The Beauty'. Nearly every song starts with an electronic intro, after which the guitars come in, chugging and playing the odd note or harmonic. What really grabbed me about some of these songs were the catchy choruses and the shouted chorus parts. The screams are used much more effectively on songs like 'Required Malfunction' and 'Attitude', especially at about 0:38 on the song 'Attitude', where Ruki answers Reita's screams. The chorus in 'Required Malfunction' is extremely catchy, and Ruki's English has definitely improved.
The guitar work on this disc is nothing special, and I was more impressed with the structures of each song, with each part in the song coming at exactly the right time, just before you get bored of a riff. 'Dripping Insanity' showcases this brilliantly with short verses, choruses, etc: it's the best song on the disc for me, as it's a song similar to 'Chizuru'. I only wish that they could have done more songs like this, as a lot of the songs are 'Headache Man', all-hell-breaks-loose type songs. The only song I don't like is 'Derangement'. It depends too much on auto-tune and there is no clear-cut structure compared with other songs on the album.
8/10
