The GazettE -FADELESS- Single Review

A disappointing effort from The GazettE

For the past few years, The GazettE has been storming through the visual kei scene, leaving behind many of their peers. They've released something every year, which is something most bands find hard to do, and they've played some of the biggest shows in Japan including slots at Summer Sonic and now Europe is on the horizon with their tour extending to countries such as France and Russia. After the successful 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION' and now the announcement of a new album in October 2013, The GazettE has set the bar high for themselves and they have a lot to live up to; sadly this single doesn't deliver.

'FADELESS' is a single made up of three tracks which weirdly all sound like B sides rejected from 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION'. The title track is an incredibly boring song which follows a basic riff, with no sudden changes or breaks. The sound is more hard rock unlike the electronic sound that was present in 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION'. The guitar work from Aoi and Uruha is particularly disappointing and uninspiring; the song reminded me a lot of 'ROTTING ROOT' by DIR EN GREY; both songs fail to pick up any pace and end up sounding like extended jam sessions. 

'QUIET' starts off with a very promising intro, reminiscent of other GazettE ballads such as 'Kago No Sanagi', 'Cassis' and 'Guren'; however this is the problem. 'QUIET' sounds too similar to 'Kago No Sanagi', so much so that I was able to predict Ruki's vocal melodies the first time I listened to the song. The chorus is forgettable which is a shame, given the promising intro I mentioned. Ruki's vocals and vocal melodies are actually disappointing in both songs; they're not catchy or interesting, and if the singing were to be omitted from the songs nothing would be lost. 

I really hope that this isn't a path that The GazettE are planning to continue on and is just a glitch in the system. These two songs are missing the unique and innovative sound that was explored on the last two albums; don't get me wrong, I'm all for change in bands but changes need to be introduced subtly and gradually, and this is is too quick for my liking.

3/10

*I'm not reviewing 'FORBIDDEN BEAVER'

Missing Dir En Grey for the THIRD TIME.

The first time I came into contact with Dir En Grey was in 2010, when a friend asked if I wanted to go to their gig at Koko in London. At that time I didn't really know them and so I politely declined.

As you may or may not know, I am a HUGE fan of Dir En Grey, but my much-delayed border-line obsession with their music only begun in August 2011, right after their second gig at Koko in London. I was kind of annoyed I had missed them again but I figured that they would be back.

And now as I write this rather pointless and pathetic (in the truest sense) post, I am missing them yet again in 2013 whilst they play at Download Festival. Even though it would only be a 1/2 hour set, words cannot describe how badly I want to see this band.

I just hope that they'll do their usual August Koko gig...

Maximum The Hormone New Song + Album Announcement

HURRAH! After six years (of no albums) MTH are back, with new material. 

They released their new music video 'alien' through a frustratingly time-consuming campaign released 02/06/13 which involved clicking on tons of clicks to find the 'Atari' (correct) link. 

The song 'Alien' is probably one of the craziest MTH songs, yet weirdly one of the most accessible. The first half sounds almost like a mess, kept in line through Ryō and Daisuke-Han's vocals and there are breakdowns (incredibly heavy ones) galore. The lyrics are as weird as ever, referencing Jedis at one point. The first half closes with a much-missed slap part from Ue-chan. The music video shows them playing to an audience. 

Now, MTH are known for their unique mixture of hardcore and j-pop influenced music. HOWEVER it would be safe to say that the second half of this 'Alien' is one of the most j-pop choruses to come from MTH. The music video also changes, showing an blond anime princess while the drummer Nao takes over, singing the word 'Alien' in her most teen-idol way possible. It's almost like a lullaby. The song then progresses into a huge sing-along of 'Winny stop' (Winny is a p2p site in Japan), with the band playing on stage as if on a Japanese music show. This theme is further continued when the whole video ends with MTH logo shown in the style of the NHK logo. 

Finally the video ends in classic MTH style with an joke-y argument between Nao and Daisuke-Han on 'Winny'. 

A new album was also announced, for a release on 31st of July 2013, with 15 new songs!!

The GazettE -DIVISION- a look at the limited edition... (Very Late)

I wrote this post last year, but I had forgotten that I had drafted it for some reason so here it is (rewritten and amended).
Like the limited edition of 'The Unraveling' by DEG, 'Division' also comes in a book format, but much bigger and bulkier. It's quite an impressive thing; however, most of the content is pictures, which is okay but there are definitely way too many pictures. They could have done member interviews or something.
Picture 1: The front cover, I think it's the same as the cover on the normal CD box.

Picture 2: These are the sort of pictures included. They're very nicely done and most are either pictures of water or the geisha-type girls.

Picture 3: This is the way in which the CDs are encased. (Here it is Fragment[Vein])

Picture 4: Each song has a double page to it. Here it shows 'Ibitsu' with an accompanying picture.

Picture 5: This is the double page for 'Derangement'.

Picture 6: This is perhaps my favourite page of the book, the pages for '[Melt]'. I think the picture captures the sense of the song perfectly.

Picture 7: Various interviews from the band.

DIR EN GREY -THE UNRAVELING- a look at the limited edition

So being a huge DEG fan and all, I bought the limited edition of 'THE UNRAVELING' which finally arrived today! It's really cool and it comes in a nicely packaged book format.

There are three parts to it: a cover box, CD case and a book. The lyrics in the book are in both English and Japanese (here it shows Kasumi). And lastly, most annoyingly, this is the ticket to the special gig on the 24th of May, but because I live in England I can't go!!! :'(

DIR EN GREY -THE UNRAVELING- Album Review

1: Unraveling
2: Karma
3: Kasumi
4: Karasu
5: Bottom of the death valley
6: Unknown.Despair.Lost
7: THE FINAL
                                                        
1: MACABRE
2: Unraveling (Unplugged)
3: THE FINAL (Unplugged)

DIR EN GREY are back with better production, a solid set of songs and a recovered Kyo. 

Now, there's a definite divide amongst fans regarding this album/EP/whatever you want to call it. There are those who love the 'new' remakes, praising the experimentation, and there are of course those who are inevitably shouting 'you shouldn't have changed a perfect song' etc etc. I couldn't care less which camp you might fit into; all I ask for is that you listen to this album forgetting your attachment to the original version of a song. Because with a fresh approach as a listener, this album is definitely one of the best by DIR EN GREY instrumentally as well as structurally.

From the first prog-y, accentuated notes of 'Unraveling', it's clear that this album is not going to be a continuation of the marvellous experimentation that was 'Rinkaku'. The feel of this whole album is akin to that of 'DUM SPIRO SPERO', but with the structural orderliness and brilliance of 'Rinkaku'. For me, although 'DSS' was a brilliant album, the riffs and structure were all over the place and there was a sense that this was a band who were not yet used to their new axes. On this album however, DIR EN GREY have cleverly decided to play it safe and consolidate their 'DSS' sound, whilst adding more elements of their whole discography (something that 'DSS' lacked in). This altogether creates a very mature DIR EN GREY, and showcases a band firmly on their feet.

The first thing that struck me when this album was announced was the track-list  There was a mixture of some their most famous songs (THE FINAL, Kasumi), fan favourites (Bottom of the death valley) and more 'obscure' (if you'll pardon the pun) songs (Karasu, Karma). I was intrigued as to how the band would go about remaking these songs, especially the well known ones. So it actually came as no surprise when I heard that 'THE FINAL' and 'Kasumi' had hardly been changed at all, apart from a few new riffs here and there. 'THE FINAL' is an immense remake, and in my opinion blows the original out of the water. Everything simply sounds better (thanks to modern production), especially the guitars and you can now distinguish between Kaoru and Die's playing...

...Now, onto the guitar work on this album. Given that Kaoru is quite a shoddy guitarist live (sorry, love you really) I feel sorry for when he has to play these songs live, as the guitar work on this album is amazing and is more complex than on 'DSS'. There is a solo on almost every song, some done amazingly (Bottom of the death valley) and some less so (Unknown.Despair.Lost). They have nailed the breakdowns as well on this album and they are easier to headbang to compared to songs on 'DSS', where I felt the breakdowns were lacking somewhat. 'Unknown.Despair.Lost' has an excellent intro, starting with a simple acoustic passage which soon descends into a breakdown almost reminiscent of thrash metal.

Toshiya (bass) is definitely back as a leading member of the band after taking a backseat approach in 'Rinkaku' and his playing here is hard to miss. He leads most of the songs and creates interesting counter-melodies with the guitars; this is most obvious on the lead track. During the bridge, Toshiya plays an almost solo-like run together with Kaoru's acoustic lick, which adds a unique warmth to this ambient section. The bass intro in 'Bottom of the death valley' has also been changed, whilst still managing to retain the sense of the original. Toshiya has certainly matured from his 'play-every-note-possible' approach in the early days.

I'm not a drummer myself and I admit that I know next to nothing about drumming, so I can't really comment on Shinya's playing here (it's definitely good though!). However, what is clear is the production quality is much higher on the drums than on previous records. I knew Shinya was a brilliant drummer, but I always thought that the production quality was holding him back (especially the sound of the snare drum). On 'Different Sense' on 'DSS' for example, amidst the deathcore-esque riffing, all I could hear was Shinya's weak snare which sounded more like a tin can. 'Karasu' exhibits said snare drum most effectively.

Then there's Kyo's singing... Well there really are no words to describe it. You can hear he has much more control over his singing than he did on 'Rinkaku', with every note being hit with force and control. Some of the vocal work, especially on 'Kasumi' is not to be missed.

I'm going to talk about two more things before I wrap up. The first is the song 'Macabre'. This remake is perhaps the best one on the whole album, despite it being found on the bonus disc. The original was a masterpiece anyway, but this one surpasses it in every way. It doesn't just retain hints of the original; it retains the WHOLE sense and feel of the original, so much so that if you listened to the album 'Macabre' and then this new remake instead of the original, you would probably think it was just one whole album. On top of this, there is an extra 6 minutes added.

Lastly I will talk about the tracks that, sadly, did not impress: 'Karma' and 'Kasumi'. Due to the original 'Karma' (the really badly recorded one), I have never been able to like it or really connect to the song, and so I was quite sceptical anyway about the remake. The remake was uninspired and the instrumentation was uninteresting. I have also never really liked 'Kasumi' as a song (Shock! Horror!). I find it to be one of DEG's most boring songs and I don't understand the absolute devotion towards it. The remake was largely unchanged, as was my opinion.

Apart from a very few slip ups in my opinion, this album is a stomper.

9.5/10

Last minute update on -The Unraveling- DIR EN GREY

Right, so I know that it is either already out or nearly out, but I stumbled upon a news article on MSN Japan about 'The Unraveling' which gave snippets of the reviews done by members of the public during the reviewing sessions set up by the band about a week ago. I'll translate:

1. Unraveling - 'I have no idea what just happened, but I feel as though I've been overwhelmed by a confusing and intricate world that [the band] have created' (male, 26)

2. Karma - 'Everywhere there are hints of the original song, but it's impressive how much they have been able to mix old with new' (female, 27)

3. Kasumi - 'The original is one of my favourites and has a special place in my heart, but this [remake] was also special' (female, 28)

4. Karasu - 'I was shocked at how different it was to the original and what I thought it might be' (male, 29)

5. Bottom of the Death Valley - 'It has the same feel to the original, but is more beautiful and mysterious. I would like to see it live' (female, 24)

6. Unknown.Despair.Lost - 'A lot of the feel and groove of the original remained in this remake, and it was emotional to hear Kyo [in the present] singing those old melodies' (male, 29)

7. The Final - 'I feel that this song has changed from a song that conveys life's hardships and strengths to one that inspires courage' (female, 29)