Review: Black:List - MELANCHOLY

*sigh*

I'm in that mood where I don't want to write anything out but there's a growing presence of music on my hard drive and I have to buckle down and start on a clean slate before September 1st. Expect to see a fuckton of reviews about the most random shit from now until then as I try to wade through almost 2000 songs in a month. This happens to be one of them, as I just got into Black:List (and all six of their songs) and I feel the need to talk about this single. So, here we go.

01. Melancholy
02. grief
03. Throw Hope Away*

I'm sticking Throw Hope Away here because it's most convenient, and saves you and me from having to click on another page to read about it. I'm trying to get through songs, not boost up the amount of pages I have.

MELANCHOLY	The B-side to their first single becomes the A-side to their last single. How ironic. Another ironic thing I noticed is that even though this band never had an official bassist after 2007, the bass is a prominent part in this song. MELANCHOLY starts out with a pretty memorable electronic effect that I would like to use as an example of a well used, non-repetitive addition to a song. Overall, it’s a slow and (attention: pun approaching) melancholic piece in the verses while during the instrumental reveries it becomes harsh and heavy but still fresh and sharp. Kyoutarou’s harsh vocals (and singing vocals as well) sound better here than they did on illational. It’s a shame they disbanded =_=.	9/10
Grief	Grief is that one song that I can refer to as an example that has Black:List’s trademark sound of balancing roaring passages with extreme musical precision, oppressive drums and excellent vocals. The chorus is the only injurious part to the whole package, because the introduction in is a little startling, but its outro is perfect in moving back into heavier parts. It comes off as a girugamesh + UnsraW fusion with Kyoutarou vocals, except it’s a little too long.	8/10
Throw Hope Away	It’s only form is as a music video on their releases, so that’s why it’s included here. It’s not my favorite Black:List song, as the change from rough to light during the middle is a complete what the fuck trip and the quality of any piece that I have is sub-par at best. For what it is though, it shows “versatility” and “maturity” and “all those other verbs that people throw in to say that a song sucks in some regard but they can’t put their index finger on it”. It’s not so much that it sucks, but that after MELANCHOLY and grief this song just doesn’t compare. I guess that’s why it’s a music video. Aesthetics bump it up a point or two.	8/10

A visual kei band that lasted for a very short time but actually produced some fucking brilliant music. I want some of the less impressive bands to disband, not a band composed of one pair of the legendary duo from SULFURIC ACID and the singer that made illational epic. Damn, they didn't even leave us an album to enjoy. Kyoutarou, get your ass back in the music scene and Tomozo, GET THIS BAND BACK TOGETHER NOW! I just drool at thinking at what this band could have been....

Ahem, oh yes, 83%.