UVERworld <THE ONE> Review

1. THE ONE (SE)
2. 7th Trigger
3. Don't Think. Feel
4. LIMITLESS
5. 25 Word
6. KINJITO (LIVE intro ver.)
7. THE OVER
8. Koko Kara
9. REVERSI
10. Barbell
11. BABY BORN & GO
12. AWAYOKUBA (LIVE intro ver.)
13. NOWHERE boy

UVERworld are a band that many will simply 'brush over' given their accessible form of rock and anime image. Whilst this description is certainly true of their first few albums, their most recent offerings showcase a mature, modern and yet 'old' sound, which shines throughout on this record. This is a strong record, with UVERworld utilizing (almost overusing) aspects such as rapping and saxophones which have made them such a unique band in the Japanese rock scene.

The album starts off on familiar ground with the opener '7th Trigger', which is a good track listing decision, given the explosive effect of the guitars kicking in followed by one of the catchiest choruses ever composed by UVERworld. This song shows what this album is about: catchy songs and the overall chemistry of the band altogether, which has improved since 'Life 6 Sense'. There is much more emphasis on guitar work on most of these songs, with acoustic solos + riffs galore, as well as nu-metal style chugging riffs. The singles ('7th Trigger', 'THE OVER', 'BABY BORN & GO') definitely show this the most, with the guitars governing the direction of the song and whether the song will go heavy or soft.

Standout tracks for me are 'LIMITLESS', '25 Word' and 'REVERSI' (out of the new songs). 'LIMITLESS' has a oddly satisfying fluidity about the whole song, and Takuya's voice is soothing and he uses a brilliant mix of rapping and singing (I think he also has an effect on but I'm not sure). This song is very modern, taking influence from contemporary rap to contemporary rock (the chorus especially). The saxophone is used to great effect here, with a fast paced solo at the start, followed by a beautiful short acoustic interlude. If this is one of the directions UVERworld could go in, I'm absolutely fine with that!

I heard a leaked version of 'REVERSI' before the album came out, and it caught my attention instantly. It has a 'metal' overtone to the song, and is like 'Just Melody', 'Gekidou' and 'THE OVER' mixed with poison; this is a dark track for UVERworld. The drums on this song are great and you hear the drums being hit with a ferocity not heard before. Don't get me wrong, this is still very much UVERworld, and again there is a catchy chorus and the singing is lighter than the music.

'25 Word' is an interesting song, as it has a flute (or similar) in it, laying down the foundation. It has a 'lounge' feel to the song, like something you would listen to on a plane or somewhere relaxing. I absolutely love the vocal melody on this song, and the phonetic emphasis on certain words, especially in the chorus (TENgoku, etc). The outro caught me completely off guard and is almost jazzy, ending the song on a relaxing note.

'NOWHERE boy' and 'Koko Kara' are two songs that I am not really a fan of. I found them hard to get into and they didn't captivate me from the get-go. I feel bad, as I skip them almost instinctively when they appear on shuffle.

Sorry for this short review, but I'm slowly losing time to do this, as I'm about to leave school and there's a lot of work to do.

8/10