Rather, as I do my weekly scroll through my old reviews to come across comments that I could read, I realized that in the span of just six months my musical taste had gotten incredibly expansive. Taking a glance over several old reviews, I realized that my opinion wasn’t necessarily the same anymore and that a re-write of some of the older reviews was definitely in order to accurately display what my new viewpoint was.
Coming from someone that hated VanessA in June, listening to this single almost every day for a month straight shows you how much this band has changed in my ears. As I type this I tell you right now, I have no idea what it is I heard when I first popped CHI【MA】IRA back in my ears in June, but it definitely wasn’t this.
01. 散歌 -RETROSPECTION-
02. Arlequin
03. 【MA】RIA
02. Arlequin
03. 【MA】RIA
Even six months later I don’t actually know what 散歌 is supposed to mean. The transliteration to “chika” remains. However, my original opinion on this song is definitely different. Its miles above alive=terror, which I have to say was admittedly average and really just not my cup of tea. 散歌-RETROSPECTION- is, however. As of this moment, being the last of the truly angry, crazy VanessA the fans love, 散歌-RETROSPECTION- does not let down. Genki’s death vocals are savage and his eagle scream contrast nicely, although all traces of heaviness disappear by chorus time (which I still have to say DOESN’T FIT. REALLY MEN, C’MON.IT’S NICE AND ALL BUT MOAR HEAVY, ANGRY SHIT). This will please the newer fans of VanessA who probably aren’t expecting something of this magnitude out of this band after world. is. my. mind. The solo with the high pitched squealing is not good for my ears (or anyone’s for that matter) and I sort of wanted some more of Genki’s growling after the first verse. Does it push the envelope of different and unique? No, not really but for a brutal death metal song with a lighter chorus and a deafening solo you can’t really do better than this one. It’s at the top of VanessA’s list of “songs you should listen to”.
I don't care what anyone says; I've heard Arlequin somewhere before. Genki's singing is annoying in the first verse (but catchy) and the growls in the second verse aren’t as savage as RETROSPECTION, but at least it isn’t as badly processed as B.M.METAMORPHOSE –murder side- (which really does have some bad sections with the vocals). The chorus uses Genki singing overlaying Genki shouting and that's perhaps the best part of the song tied with the jump into the breakdown/superfluous riffage. I'm also unsure if they threw female vocals in there somewhere, and I think I hear them so I'll call it fair play and say it makes this track better. Arlequin is the catchiest song on this album and probably is many a listener’s anthem. It sure as hell is mine and probably is the only thing that kept me from throwing this single away the first time around.
But like I said it’s not original. I’ve heard this somewhere before and Haruki definitely took some “inspiration” if you get my drift.
ARLEQUIN moves smoothly into 【MA】RIA. My original rip wasn’t EAC so my comment about the clunky transition can be blamed on silence that didn’t belong at the beginning of this track. I consider 【MA】RIA to be a bonus track due to its short length, because if I considered this a real song I’d be disappointed in how a kick-ass monster like this can’t top two and a half minutes. In case you’re wondering, it’s not an UnsraW/Core the Child cover. It’s its own song that shares the same title. Don’t you see the brackets? It’s definitely different.
Back to the song, if you need a quick fix of VanessA this could do the trick. However, it works much, much better when paired with the previous track since the roar out the gate hooks me in every time. It’s of a more violent breed than its A-side brother and if you really look at it it’s a condensed RETROSPECTION without the oddly fitting chorus. I don’t quite get the coughing at the end of the track but I bet if I had the lyrics (or a scan of the book) I could make sense of it.
So, far and away CHI【MA】IRA is the best single VanessA’s ever put out. I can’t find a good quality rip of P.S.D./Feel U (those rips floating around the alphabet blogs sound worse than YouTube rips) and at this moment I haven’t heard primitive. my. mind. so I can’t pass judgment on if that single brings back the schizo.
Anyone looking for a new breed of heavy, crazy, brutal shit needs to take a look at this single since it doesn’t get any better than this.
Nao’s departure is definitely the worst thing that’s happened to the band thus far.
No comments:
Post a Comment