Review: Sadie - Gain

Anyone that remembers Kagerou knows how shit that single was. My opinion hasn't changed a little except for Knife growing on me slightly and the title track a smidgen more but my hopes for that single will forever remain dashed. Gain was originally supposed to be a single and somewhere along the line Sadie decided to give us a little bit more and turn this into an EP. I don't mind the end result, especially since it turned out like this.

01. ever
02. brain core
03. beauty shadow
04. CHAOTIC WORLD
05. 愛しさは孤独の支配者
06. Regret

1. ever: This is the way you start an EP off. ever's composition is similar to that of Ice Romancer except it blends in a bit of this new heaviness Sadie's going after (then again, Sadie's obviously following in the steps of their masters Dir en grey) The guitar riffs are very impressive and it seems that both Tsurugi and Mizuki have finally woken up. Aki has his moments but he's really not omnipresent in this song at all. Mao's vocals obviously improved and are the highlight here, holding the song together and giving it a soft and heavy feel. Many bands have attempted this before and failed but Sadie makes this work.
ever ★★★★★(4.5)

2. brain core: By the intro I wasn't impressed and the verse doesn't help either. The chorus is puts the nail in the coffin and labels this song as mediocre. brain core just doesn't have anything that makes me say "FUCK YEAH! ROCK ON!" It's just another 'ok' song and will end up being forgotten amongst the others on this EP. The slow down part around 3 minutes into the song is really nice though and does go some length to changing up the pace that this song was going at.
brain core ★★★(3.0)

3. Beauty shadow, With some ominous guitar playing that foreshadows what everybody expects to be another failed attempt from a VK band to make a heavy intro, beauty shadow doesn't disappoint aesthetically. But don't let beauty shadow's intro fool you, the song is a beautiful but powerful mixture of Sadie's THE BULLET STORM and more. Mao's verses are slightly annoying but memorable in that "I don't want to remember you way". The way he layers the atypical rhythm on top of the guitars are pretty good but the chorus is just a little....bland? The solo, while short, is damn good, so I'm glad to say this song is different from anything they've done before. I'm glad they haven't really repeated themselves as of yet.
Beauty shadow ★★★★★(4.5)

4. CHAOTIC WORLD: Vocals, guitars, bass, and drumming all work in monstrous harmony here. I have no idea where this side of Sadie erupted but I'm enjoying it immensely. The group chorus is pussy weak and could have been a lot stronger and drags down what could have otherwise been a genius, dark and brutal song. I can overlook the weak chorus. CHAOTIC WORLD's guitar work is masterful and the genius composition goes a long way to assist in the crushing precision present in this song. The song has breaks amongst the chaos that give it a haunting feel and keep it from shitting on itself. If your a fan of Sadie's heavier work I definitely suggest this track for you.
CHAOTIC WORLD ★★★★(4.0)

5. 愛しさは孤独の支配者(Itoshi saha kodoku no shihaisha), Love this song! LOVE THIS FUCKING BALLAD! Not many ballads actually hit my heart like Sadie's ballads do. They are really pleasing to the ears. I love Mao's voice in this song. It sounds so celestial and otherwordly. This is the song that stands out on this mini. Everything works well here but I can't help but feel that it could have been a little more heartfelt and that it was stuck here just to give a sense of diversity before the album ended.
愛しさは孤独の支配者 ★★★★★(4.5)

6. Regret: THIS IS A WONDERFUL FOLLOW UP! This is great! Why couldn't this amount of creativity be put into EVERY FUCKING SONG ON THIS MINI! From the first 20sec. I could already tell I'd love this song. THE CHORUS IS BY FAR THE BEST ON THE WHOLE MINI ALBUM! Amazing vocal performance for this song. The instrumental is spectacular. A great mid range song. Nothing to heavy, but nothing to soft. A perfect ending and yet I'm disappointed by this being the ending song. It makes me want more from this mini album.
Regret ★★★★★(4.5)


Nothing reaches the level of 5 star epic but the last three songs are definitely an improvement over the first half of the EP, which already was an improvement over Kagerou. The sound they carried in Master of Romance is echoed here but it's somewhat different....heavier, more raw yet just as Sadie as always. It's no The Trend Killer but it has something over their other mini's that keep Gain from disappearing into obscurity a la THE SUICIDE MACHINE.

I see Sadie following in the foot steps of Dir en grey, I'm not saying that they are copying Dir en grey, but following their steady format of evolution over the years. Sadie is evolving into a heavier sound very steadily, so it doesn't feel rushed like the GazettE, instead it feels natural, which is very good. Sadie's musicianship may not be the best, but they are all getting better at what they do, and for that I am thankful. Every release by Sadie does better than the previous work, in a way the band as a whole are topping themselves every release.

Though Sadie may not be the best band to surface, they have talent and in Gain they express this. There is nothing that really stuck out to me as a problem on the release, instead, as a whole, Gain impressed me completely.

Review: +D'espairsRay+ - TERRORS + Sixth TERROR

I can't recall for how long Terrors has been sitting on my hard drive unlistened to and it takes a bored me late at night to actually want to fruitlessly Google a cover for Sixth TERROR to gain enough interest to sit through D'espairsRay's first EP. This (and Sixth TERROR) are closer in sound to the dark side of D'espairsRay that we've grown accustomed to so if you're in the need for some gothic rock that can't be called gothic rock then I would already tell you you've found your band.

But if the stereotypical and ill-fitting image of a sad, introverted freak cutting his wrists in the bathtub spring to mind or the no less stereotypical but still hilarious kid with a combover, too much hairgel, and black clothing waft to mind when you hear "gothic rock music", then I suggest you avert your pale little eyes to something more digestable for your frail lower intestine and non-functioning colon.

May I suggest Nega instead?

01. Fascism
02. Carnival
03. ero:de
04. Zetsubou Romance
05. Murder Freaks

Sixth TERROR



(I am not sure if that's the real cover or not but at this point I could care less. If you want a cover for this song so badly take the Ura Mania Theatre one to the right (it's the red one). However I'm not reviewing Valentine here. I'll do that when I get around to Sexual Beast.)
01. "MONOKURO" ni natta saigo no hi

There really is no difference in what you get with the covers for Terrors. One is just the first press and the other is the second press and both are a right bitch to find ^^. Having that said I'll start with Terrors first.

In descending order starting with the most "gothic" tracks we start out with Zetsubou Romance and Carnival. Carnival is the most boring track on this release. With the exception of the distorted drums and some parts of the riff at the beginning of the song the rest of it fades into obscurity because it's overshadowed by the other songs on this release. The fact that this also comes after Fascism doesn't help it stand out any more. Fascism is that song that uses German to cement D'espa's street cred whilst being the beginning of the EP headbanger. Hitler's little speech draws you in like no other track on Terrors can. I'm also going to mention that I can't follow along with the damn lyrics that I see online. Hizumi's vocals stand out here more and his "heil" barks are pretty damn vicious but everything else about the song is a little lacking - it all feels streamlined and repetitive. The way the band fades out as the "Sieg Heil" chants come in is done pretty well but the chants cut off abruptly and go into Carnival, which as I said doesn't grab my attention as much as I want to.

Zetsubou Romance does the exact opposite even though it sounds very similar to Carnival (scratch that: everything sans Murder Freaks can be easily interchanged on this EP). What sets it apart are the eerie sounds that dot the song's soundscape, peaking in brilliance as it rises throughout the chorus. It adds a feeling of awesome and tension but it's broken by the rough transition into another verse. Hizumi overlaying himself because he's too lazy to fix the rhythm on his lyrics is a turn-off. Tihs slip-up is balanced by the insertion of the bass section overlayed with Hizumi's singing before it breaks into the rising chorus again. Some interesting portions are happening in this song but there are slip-ups which balances out all the cool sections. No. This needs to be re-recorded and reworked.

I call for a compilation album. Nao.

All three tracks sound very muddy and indies. The band comes together well but nothing in particular stands out. Zero's bass doesn't assert itself and could be easily omitted due to the omnipresence of Karyu's guitar, Tsukasa's playing on a marshmallow kit and Hizumi's barks sound washed out.

ero:de and Murder Freaks are a cut above but when I say a cut I'm talking a miniscule sliver of space that in the long run doesn't really mean a damn but they both come with extra bells and whistles that make them the best tracks here. Murder Freaks starts out with some rain and a haunting piano and Hizumi speaking to either someone else or himself alone in a mansion before the song kicks in. The re-recording on Born doesn't have the beginning (well it does, but it's attached to the end of the previous track and it goes on for three whole minutes. Seriously Hizumi, shut the fuck up.) However, the Terrors version is just the right length and it works out better in practice than I'm making it out to be. Other than that, the Born version is better mastered and has a better balance of instruments. Eh, we're talking about the Terrors version so I'll stick with that. Other than the fact that Karyu's guitar and Tsukasa's drumming owns everyone else in this track since it's the only audible thing next to Hizumi, the effects that play with your ears aren't irritating (glares at MUCC) and are done well and not every five damn seconds. As a matter of fact, they're so subliminal they fit in with the song the first few times and you might not even notice it because it adds to the song without drawing attention to itself. The ending was lame though and could have went into the stratosphere instead of....doing that. Boo.

My previous complaints still stand.

ero:de does some awesome reverb shit before jumping into the distorted "shinjitsu" and going off at a million miles an hour. I can actually HEAR Zero in this track (somewhat) and there isn't one part of the song that comes off annoying as hell to kill the track. The insane mumbling in this track does get old especially since almost every track has it but ero:de is early on enough for you to not get sick of it. This track's transitions are smooth and the high frequency effects they put in there work well (I do think that portion around 2:30 is a bit WTF though) so I'd have to give this song a recommendation. Wow...it's the only song here I actually recommended.

And now for the one track on Sixth TERROR, Monokuro ni Natta Saigo no Hi was also released on that Ura Mania Theatre demo tape (not like that's any easier to find) but I'll do it now. It's fucking brilliant. The way he sings it, the pain he describes everytime through his lyrics, the pure gothic creepiness mixing with the clean acoustics and distorted guitars, this song alone trumps everything that was on Terrors and shows a great deal of musical improvement in such a short period of time. It's darker and moves at a more plodding pace than anything else here but it's a work of genius. I recommend this.

And so that wraps up these two oldies. I strayed far away from the old cliche for two reasons. One is that it's a cliche and the other is that most of Terrors isn't really "goodies". They're all decent tracks but they fuck up somewhere in their runtime and lowers my expectations. They've got some other releases worth checking out so I wouldn't come running to Terrors first.

Sixth TERROR is another story...I actually have the lyrics for it so here you go.

Monokuro ni Natta Saigo no Hi - The Last Day When Everything Went Monochrome

When did I start to forget the pain and let my heart degenerate into ugliness and wither completely.
I was always afraid it would break thinking that if I touched it, it'd fall to pieces
I learned what hurt and pain meant when I met you.

burn my body with feelings that spring without end
trust me, the one who wanted only you
these resolute feelings haven't changed
they're locked in my heart where they quietly sleep

your warmth, a room without you...
this blank in time that feels so very long
silence my voice, a sigh escapes
softly becoming tangled up
I believed that the time we warmed each other would go on forever.

the memories that stain the body long for you
put upon by the urging of my lust
this body can't forget you it hurts so it's breaking

dare to...wrap your hands around my throat
until this feeling right before me... goes white
because i'll always live on...
in the season the powder snow falls
and the memory


Recommended:

Monokuro ni Natta Saigo no Hi
ero:de

Score:
Terrors: 61%
SIXTH Terror: 81%

Review: Lycaon - Ambrozia

I've really been beating around the bush with this one, so Lycaon is going to be the first artist I actually get around to finishing. I like Ambrozia the most out of all of Lycaon's work, and if I had to be stuck with just one album to listen to from them this would most likely be it. It's got enough going on to be diverse but it all sounds like them. This is the best thing they've ever put out. EVAR.

1.愚を喰らふ。
2.suckin' on a lollipop
3.camelliA
4.alejandro
5.結晶華
6.The end of [Delusion]

愚を喰らふ。	LAME ASS INTRO YEA! I don’t know the translation of this song but it’s not like I really care. It’s some weird, distorted introduction that’s isn’t dull (into the dark) or completely fucking random (Grow). It also moves into suckin’ on a lollipop seamlessly. Other than that, I don’t care for this song and I don’t care about this song. That’s why I didn’t bother to translate.	4/10
suckin' on a lollipop	SUCK MY DICK YEA! suckin on a lollipop isn’t my favorite track on here. Everything in the song is fine right up until they get to the chorus, and then Yuuki’s vocals rise faster than an airplane. He starts up on a falsetto and gets higher and higher until his voice can’t take it and then he drops down and goes back up again and again and again. It’s very irritating, and then the song plummets into some heaviness and the band tries to get all hardcore. Sorry, but your street cred was ruined with the glaring lack of German and the chorus I was just subjected to.	7/10
CamelliA	TYPICAL VK TITLE YEA! I think Lycaon was trying to go for an emotionally epic mid-rocker with the riff that we start out with. It doesn’t tank as bad as the last rendition of the chorus in suckin’ on a lollipop, but it doesn’t quite get there. There are also parts where the band attempted to try and get all ethereal on us, such as the slowdown halfway in, but Yuuki’s vocals can’t handle going that high. The last song just showed us that in the chorus, and this one makes up for it in that “I don’t completely suck” sort of way. It’s simple, catchy riff structure is enough to get your foot tapping, and that’s all I really need to enjoy some music.	8/10
Alejandro	FUCKING FUCK YOU FUCK! I swear I thought I changed bands when I heard this song. Alejandro is one of the best songs they’ve crafted. Ever. The whole Hispanic-tinged acoustic vibe they have before they launch into a two guitar assault with a third twanging in the back before we go into a bass-backed chorus. There’s enough two-guitar action going on here to please any fan of intermediately-complex parts and there are slight use of electronic effects here and there which are almost inaudible. Yuuki’s Engrish is horrible but its inclusion is hilarious and actually makes the song better. If you can wrap your head around that insane concept, it’s about as amazing as Lycaon managing to write a chorus that a) fits, b) doesn’t suck, c) doesn’t rely on falsettos Yuuki can’t reach and d) isn’t sandwiched inbetween two polar opposite riffs. If I could make a prediction, I would bet that this would become one of the signature “Lycaon” songs.	10/10
Kesshou Hana	FUCKING EPIC VK BALLAD Yuuki’s falsetto is used a lot here. He sounds like he’s forcing it at parts but in others it works and that risk pays off. Most of the time, he should just stick with his regular voice because it’s uniquely his and it’s high enough to suffice for whatever it is he wants to do. Unlike most VK piano introductions, its inclusion isn’t solitary and doesn’t pause to get into the track. It also comes with a twin guitar solo which takes the song off of the “ballad” path long enough for the listener to take a breather and listen through the rest. This about as far as I usually listen because of the length of the song. At about seven and a half minutes, it’s requires a nice chunk of your attention but the payoff is well worth it. It doesn’t feel too stretched out and the actual music is less than the seven and a half minutes it implies. That’s because it comes with about a minute of un-needed silence at the end. Kesshou Hana isn’t epic enough for me to need a minute of silence in order to prepare for The end of [Delusion]. How pretentious of all five of you! Bah!	9/10
The end of [Delusion]	MOAR ENGLISH [DESTRUCTION] YEA! Exactly what I need to wake up after the last track. Yuuki growls and squeals like a circumcised pig and the one part where he sings other than the ill-fitting chorus sounds nice but it could have used work fitting back into the growls and screams. Sometimes The end of [Delusion] doesn’t know if wants to be a ‘dick to the brick’ hardcore piece or something brash but restrained, like Alejandro. Since it doesn’t work out its inner turmoil about what it wants to do in life, it doesn’t have as much of a piercing effect as it should. It still ends off this EP with a bang.	8/10

So where does that leave Ambrozia? The most "focused" and "mature" effort this band has put forth yet? If you like using such trite and stereotypical words, then I guess I'll level with you and say yes. I regard it as the only Lycaon CD worth buying because you get so much for your purchase and it comes with so many good Lycaon songs I can't justify buying anything else over this. Screw the first two tracks, everything after CamelliA is what Lycaon needs to keep creating. Well not exactly sample from, but continue with the same quality and sophistication.

Recommended:

Alejandro
Kesshou Hana

Score: 77%