Sunday, June 21, 2009

Review: Gackt - Koakuma Heaven

I believe Gackt is trying to repair his musical inactivity in 2008 with a slew of releases in 2009. This is the fourth release he's done, and might I say this track is terrifying. I can rest my case with Gackt on the cover. I cannot believe he looks like that...



01. 小悪魔ヘヴン
02. My Father's Day
03. 小悪魔ヘヴン (Instrumental)
04. My Father's Day (Instrumental)

Stuffed to the brim with synthesizers and vocal additions, Koakuma Heaven sounds as close to a disco beat as Gackt has ever gotten. If the techno-beat of Ghost turned the heads of his Dears, then this single might send them running in the opposite direction. For all that it's worth, however, the song seems too overdone. I guess it would be better live if we heard his voice naturally and without any alterations to it.

If you can crawl thorugh all the extra additions that he threw into this song, from the trumpets to the background singers to the distortion, then you'll find a catchy, upbeat track that follows in the vein of Ghost and dares to go where he hasn't gone before. It's really one of those love it or hate it deals, but I'm rather fond of it.

After I have my bypass, that is.

My Father's Day is like a muted Jesus affair. Jesus was the rocker that started off this craze and anything upbeat that he's released lately is liable to be compared to it, and so is this. My Father's Day sounds like a mash-up between Jesus and Black Stone, and it's familiar territory that he's done before so there's nothing new here. If you're looking for new though, go to the first track. I suppose he needed something safe so he wouldn't send his fanbase running for the hills, and this track is pretty solid. It's just...familiar.

Like usual, we have the instrumentals, and judging on how you did with the previous two tracks you'll either mildly tolerate their existence or forget that track three ever existed. Unlike Jesus and Ghost, Koakuma Heaven follows in the vein of Journey Through the Decade in that the instrumentals are unneeded and don't serve a purpose. I guess they're always nice extras to have :\

Overall, it's a solid single that shows that Gackt isn't out of creative ideas yet. I'd give this single a 4 out of 5.

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