Review: UnsraW - GUILTY

Everyone who found this disappointing must have pregamed on Abel/Kein/Reborn. The GUILTY EP is not disappointing at all. The new Tetsu/Madoka team works better than the Tetsu/Rai team ever did, and Jin has some fucking beautiful bass lines. Yuuki's growls aren't all that bad either - I'm glad he chose not to layer them in intense amounts of distortion like a ton of other vocalists do. It's the one thing that turned me off of Screw's X-RAYS album a while back.

The opening of ZERO reminded me a bit of Dimmu Borgir's Unorthodox Manifesto, except this isn't as cool. It's just another one of those SE's that really -don't- deserve to exist. Compared to their past SE's though, this is rather cool. The Introduction on Calling was worse than this by miles and end of finale was much, [b]much[/b] more repetitive. Still, ZERO could have been omitted - hidden in the pre-gap and I wouldn't have cared much.

SALIVA OF GOD's introduction is severely disjointed. I like it. As for the rest of the song, I'm not as sold. Random double bass where none was needed mars the heaviness factor and for a song that's heavy it's straightforward and not as varied as it needs to be. Here, Jin asserts his position as a bassist more than Jun ever did and doesn't disappear under the crunchy, downtuned guitars. Perhaps Yuuki's tweaking of the guitar tuning helps this...who knows? Chorus was lame and the change in pace stereotypical, by-the-book VK but harmonized finger tapping saves it the first time around. The second time...just no. It's decent overall.

There's a really prominent, slightly annoying guitar part in ROSE OF SORROW that drags it down a lot, but Yuuki's rapping might turn off some even more. I don't find Yuuki's rapping to be that bad even though I find Japanese rap atrocious but I have more beef because it doesn't fit the tone of the song in the slightest. Whilst this one trips on the verse, it saves itself with that nice chorus. On the same level as SALIVA OF GOD, except I like it a bit less.

Still should have been a ballad though.

I normally can't sit through most of UnsraW's ballads so mentioning that I got to the end of GUILTY - twice - means I like it. I wouldn't exactly equate the end of this song to Jin's magnificent 9/11 divebomb at the end of [i]guilt trip[/i] but it could have been a LOT better. Yuuki's tonal gaps just isn't strong enough to hit those high notes although the lack of him coming back and screaming his guilt out was very much welcomed. The clean guitar is a real nice change of pace from the last two tracks and the solo bit where they harmonize was excellent. Liking this a lot.

WITHERING BLOOD sounds like an Abel/Kein leftover. This is good. It's not overly heavy just to be heavy and the guitars move through a lot of phases instead of alternating through three or so portions (I'm staring at YOU SALIVA OF GOD AND ROSE OF SORROW). The chorus isn't lame either and the transitions are seamless. Oh, and Yuuki doesn't do any bastardization with his vocals so it's all good. Like, love, would make triplets with.

They spiced DAMNED up with some synths and other instruments but it's just one of those piano outro's that have become so stale and overdone. I'm not even going to mention that if you take this and ZERO away you're basically left with a maxi, which makes me question the inclusion of ZERO that much more. It's pretty, carries that "unfinished" vibe and fits in with the tone well but that's it. I'm glad this isn't a heavy song though - this mini didn't need any more.

I liked this quite a bit more than I expected. It's not what we're "used to" but given time a lot of people will come to appreciate this. UnsraW "branched out" with their sounds and the incorporation of instruments that they've tried in the past here and there with mixed results works a lot better now. Instead of throwing in one or two tracks that don't work out too well with some old stale same old rockers and calling this a record they made this whole EP's vibe similar, yet something completely different than any of their past work. For that I have to give it to them.

UnsraW Gt.礼(rai) will depart UnsraW

Now I'm not normally one to post all the news of the world on his blog because I feel that by the time you've heard of it reading it again here is both pointless and redundant. However, I've got a few choice words to say about this piece of news.

As the title depicts, UnsraW's guitarist .礼(Rai) plans on departing UnsraW on February 27th due to "musical differences concerning the direction of the band". Let's re-cap on some of the recent drama concerning UnsraW:

Yuuki contracts Atypical Mycoplasmic Pneumonia sometime in 2007 and instead of going to the hospital he decides to self-medicate like a moron. This action results in UnsraW's delegation to hiatus for at least a year and a half as Yuuki struggles with his condition. The band goes mostly underground, leaving their blogs barer than mine have been over the last few months. Fans awaited news and got nothing. During this hiatus the bassist 准 (Jun) somehow manages to flip his motorcycle and injures his hand and arm so much so that 9 months later when UnsraW wants to reform he's still injured and unable to assume his position as bassist of the band.

Jun leaves.

This news was saddening enough but seeing the photo of UnsraW as a four-piece band somehow gave me hope that the group would regroup and continue and then sometime down the line Jun would re-assume his position and the band would be back to normal.

Rai's departure fucks that all up.

Now our favorite quintet is down to three members: vocalist 勇企 (Yuuki), guitarist 哲 (Tetsu) and drummer 匠 (Shou).Before I wrap this up though I'm going to re-address the point that fans worldwide waited a year and a fucking half for UnsraW's return and you leave because of "musical differences"? Your band has only made THREE TRACKS since 2007. WHAT KINDS OF POSSIBLE FUCKING MUSICAL DIFFERENCES COULD THERE BE?

This is just another situation where the departure may have absolutely nothing to do with the music...but we can't be so sure.

This feeling couldn't have sprouted overnight either. It was pretty clear that UnsraW's sound wasn't going to deviate from the path it was on. REBORN sounds like the continuation to Abel/Kein and Yuuki/Shou have written and probably will continue to write all the music for the band. IF you so desperately disliked the direction that the band was going in in 2007 why would you bother returning to the band at all?

A thought that just occurred to me now is that this tension could have arisen over the past rehearsals/recording sessions that the band may have been holding. Perhaps UnsraW's sound is changing in ways that fans like I cannot possibly understand?

Then again perhaps not. Members leave bands all the time and the sound doesn't change at all. Perhaps Rai wanted a change in their sound (in which case allow me to LOL. He writes absolutely none of the music as far as I know. Want a change? Write some fuckin' music or GTFO. I guess he chose GTFO.) but who knows?

All I wanna see is this guitarist resurface in another kick-ass band. But until then, really, I'm quite disappointed. This band has too much damn drama...

Review: UnsraW - Abel/Kein

Today I have reached the point in my album reviewing business where I have nothing left to review but albums. Singles are really just a waste of time since I'll end up having to do the album anyway. This isn't the biggest problem I'm experiencing though. The problem that is magnifying itself by the minute (other than my worsening internet connection, which is why this is scheduled even though you can't tell) is the fact that I have a few artists left with a bunch of albums to review and reviewing them all in a row would be boring to non-fans. Since I know I have about three viewers that come back everyday I'd like an idea as to what you want to see.

Since UnsraW is coming back with a new single on the 23rd I think now is as good of a time as any to review their latest original release.

01. Social Faker
02. STARVING MOON
03. Platonic Bitch
04. Drain
05. Sakura no Namida
06. CLEAVAGE
07. Sora
08. ADDICTED TO IT
09. S.I.G.
10. ~tsuioku no kanata~
11. LUST
12. EVE

* Lust was on the first edition of this CD. It came from the Starving Moon single (which the first cover seems to heavily represent) and is a Core the Child cover. EVE is only on the second pressing and replaces Lust. I might as well do them both and save myself from doing three unnecessary reviews.

Even though Yuuki has returned to UnsraW healthy (and then Jun leaves with a still-injured hand >.>) I feel that I still need to state the obvious. Yuuki IS UnsraW. He writes most of the music, he brought the band together, and he has one of the more brutal and well-done screams in rock music. What is even more amazing is that even though he has some pretty brutal screams he can and does still sing parts of the song brutally. I haven't come across an UnsraW song that is all screaming and no singing. That fact is what makes me like this band so much.

Abel/Kein is my preferred album release out of them, especially since Spiral Circle was nothing more than a compilation of everything they released up to that point (then again, so is this -__-). It still carries the same signature UnsraW sound while being easier for the listener to digest. It's easier if I get a song to show you what I mean so I'm going to use Starving Moon. The lyrics are no less disgusting and morbid than they were on their earlier releases and they haven't pulled a 12012 on us and started doing pop rock either. It's still as brutal as their earlier works but the production isn't as rough and everyone is dark and heavy without being too loud. Yuuki focuses on singing and screaming almost equally in this song so if you're not a fan of too much screaming this might be tolerable (but if you're not a fan of screaming you aren't a fan of UnsraW) but otherwise I just find this entire song to be made of indescribable awesome.

If you need something filled with more screaming because that's right up your alley UnsraW should satisfy you with Social Faker. It's a good opener and mindless thrasher but not something I can listen to repeatedly since it all becomes very similar after a while. Starting out with some background effects it rushes into a 6/8 headbanger filled with bark-and-call sections, repetitive but functional riffs and gargling from Yuuki. Even the little breakdown is filled with a good deal of whispering death vocals, one particularly long scream and some functional riffs that actually deviate and slow the pace down. The chorus is the best part of the song, where Yuuki's singing and screaming compliment each other.

Platonic Bitch isn't one of my favorite tracks but I must concede to the disgusting lyrics of the track. Here's a nice, translated sample of what he's saying.

"Inserting into the wound, gouging deep, 「rape me」
Locking up the chains, I'll let you cum until you reach heaven"

Did I just kill or make the song for you? That was intentional since the entire song is about incest between a mother and a son who happens to be married and both of them like bondage but I'm guessing someone is.....getting raped. It's all very disgusting and confusing and I don't exactly know what's going on. Then again, I don't think I want to so I'll leave the lyrics at the end of this so you can all figure it out for yourselves (just don't share what you think about this song please). The entire song is hard rock and there are lots of screaming filled with a sung chorus (think Social Faker) and this song sticks with me just as well as Social Faker.

Drain's opening is pretty awesome because it doesn't immediately kick you in the balls. What it does is make you think that UnsraW is going to do something other than hard rock and some thrash, makes you lean in, then kicks you in the balls with the hard guitars at the beginning and lets you know you were right in the first place when you get to the verse. There is no set pattern for the singing and the screaming but the song progressively gets thicker and angrier as Yuuki sings on in the song. Drain also comes with a solo that's pretty cool and the starting riff that they repeat twice in the song is definitely not UnsraW normal but it fits better than expected. The examples of experimentation in Drain mixed with an improvement in what UnsraW is good at is the reason why I like this album so much.

Sakura no Namida is the ballad that signals the end of the Abel portion of this album. It contains some acoustic guitars and some piano so if you haven't gotten this far and you're wondering if UnsraW can be diverse than this song shows you that this album isn't one wall of monotone noise. It's not devoid of Yuuki's signature growls and death vocals but it's inserted in a small part and leads into some angry singing before it goes back to clean vocals, which rule the majority of this song. Yuuki's even got a nice falsetto and quiet, whispered sections to balance out those deeper parts. Usually I hate softer songs since no effort is put into them and everyone loves them since they're the only thing that doesn't sound like loud suck on those stereotypical albums but I will have to say I enjoyed this thoroughly.

Cleavage starts the Kein portion of this album off and it flips the entire formula found in Abel on it's ass. The verses are filled with singing and the chorus is slow growling mixed with higher than normal singing in the background. This doesn't mean that the rest of the song is any tamer; there's a section in the verse with extremely intense screaming altered with some effects and the guitars are suitably heavy throughout. Cleavage also ends off with an abrupt but polished finish that keeps the sentimental dark feeling confined to this song. I also have to recommend this one because it's my favorite after Starving Moon.

Sora's another slower, emotional song with tragic lyrics. It was the B-side to the Lustful Days single and it feels closest to a power ballad. It's the longest song here spanning a length of six minutes but Yuuki's powerful singing and the constant changing pace makes the song interesting. It's definitely one of those songs you shouldn't write off just because it's slower in nature and shows that UnsraW definitely isn't about screaming without a purpose. The boys have found new ways of expressing their "pain" and "love". On the other hand, ADDICTED TO IT is frantic and heavy. It's also about drugs and the dark atmosphere is typical UnsraW. The vocal patterns are also rough verses with a sung chorus. The whispering at the slow-down was pretty sweet and the rest of the song doesn't disappoint (I especially like the guitar part near the end) but there are so many other hard songs on this album ADDICTED TO IT doesn't stand out much.

S.I.G. is just plain heavy. The vocals are hard throughout with little to no let-up at any point and even when Yuuki busts into some quick rapping after some light guitar strumming it quickly goes back into the sack-crunching metal this album is full of. Speaking of Yuuki, there's so much of him in this track it becomes disorienting. He's arguing with himself while he sings and then he screams in three ears all at once and the alternating guitar parts underneath doesn't calm the pace down any. If you're looking for a heavy song that isn't necessarily dark, this is a pretty good choice.

~tsuioku no kanata~ is yet another song patterned after Sora and Sakura no Namida, in that it goes for a lighter atmosphere and puts more emphasis on the singing than on the screaming. What starts to grate on me at this point is that all three of the songs that I mentioned feel somewhat similar and none of them stand out any if you place them all next to each other but individually they all form a sharp contrast to the rest of the album. This track would be the one that goes the farthest to bridging the gap between flat out metal and softer portions. It's even got a few sections where it goes into harder territory but it always ends up restraining itself and moving back into a smoother atmosphere. It's definitely another interesting ride.

I'm willing to forgive all these sharp contrasts on the album since I know they shoved together two EP's to make this easier to buy. They didn't alter the tracklist any either so you've effectively just listened to both Abel and Kein.

If I remember correctly, LUST is a Core the Child cover and with it's placement here it feels more like a bonus track than a proper track all it's own. It's short length and similar sound to many songs here (which did this better) but what this song has going for it is an audible Jun and a slightly different harsh atmosphere. Otherwise, this is really just a lackluster UnsraW mosher. Actually, I can't even say it's an UnsraW mosher because Core the Child wrote this first and it doesn't even feel like an UnsraW piece if you examine it close enough. The ending is also underwhelming so I leave LUST wanting something more and feeling unsatisfied.

And that's where Eve comes in. Eve feels like the perfect ending piece to the Abel/Kein experience simply because it starts off with such a haunting, gothy atmosphere and doesn't subject itself to the "one of two paths" problem the rest of this album seems to have. If you also haven't noticed, Kein = Cain and Abel is pretty obvious and all three of them are related in the Christian faith, but I have faith myself that the readers of this blog caught on to this already since we're all so intelligent. Yuuki sings on cursing Eve (from the Bible) about her sinning and generally fucking over the entire human race and I must note that he does sound a little different here vocally. For the most part, he's relatively absent from this, preferring to croak in the background and then erupt with growls and sing sparingly. His singing is pretty sick though and his ending falsetto notes are great to hear. I have no idea when this was recorded although I think it must have been around the time these two were individually released as two separate EP's and they planned this all along since the first two EP's had a press limit. Whatever, Eve is a better ending track than Lust for this EP and I suggest you pick that one up instead.

No ending comments here: Abel / Kein is a must for all UnsraW fans and enthusiasts of heavy music in general. Go pick it up and prepare yourself for their return and hopefully those three songs will live up to the standards set here.

Recommended:

Buy it.

Score: 87%

Lyrics

Social Faker

Fuck up Fuck up
The pale face, the filthy bills
This era's situations, with the made up events
How is it, the feeling of looking down on someone?

Fuck off Fuck off
The false oath is the reality
"There are no troubles, and about the whitewashing,
go along with it"
I got used to this seesaw.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Raise your fists
Change this era

Be about to hit IT
Give Me Voices of Assent For Fuckin' Witherer
Now, a voice of approval is just cool
reform of the era's situations
Your hands change this era, well let's go

Starving Moon

The Moon light
A winding snake, the hopes I want to bind
Look, they are soaked in saliva
The red moon looked down, in this spring night
The Moon light
The flower petals are a love fallen into chaos, A festering lie
The entwined fingertips are brazen you and the worthless reason
It seems like I cover all of these tied screams and this dark room
Without bein able to hide my inreaching love, I will soon be filled
with clouds.
I'll put strength into this decorated neck
The piled up two of us
The breaking feelings, I won't part from you
Rotten, inside of a cage, the two of us
I'll dream, unable to return

I'm fine with a reality where I don't wake up
The morning sun won't come...

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG
FEAR IS IN MY HEART WHEN IS TOP IT CUZ HE CAN NEVER...
FUCK OFF, I don't want anything anymore.
Rape me you "THE AGONY" I'm ready.
the starving moon would be satisfied
by our decomposed bodies.

Platonic Bitch

Thrusting into the wound, breaking in deeply "Rape me"
I lock the chains and let you cum until you rise to heaven

Suck Me and Erectable again
Which do you like Dick or Dick?
Suck Me and Erectable again.
Which do you like Dick or Dick?

Spinning around, glittering it's my dinner every night
GET INSIDE
Wipe my son
Your Flower eats him.
Radical Sick

Even the taunting tears can't return
The piled up bodies, the piled up lies ah...

Even the exposed tears can't smile
The piled up bodies, the piled up lies are already...

I spread my wings Calling Together...
I can't notice the stupid drain

Garbage & Bitch & Wife

* bodies sung as love

Drain

I can hear it
Stained with bloody vomit, the madness screams
after all, you're as well like this
nothing changes
from this time on, my heart, unable to get used to this pain again...

It's stupid
A circumcised pig shows a nihilistic smile

On this bright day I wished for friendship on the surface
everything turns into a lie.
I'm gonna be sucked down into this spiral again

You don't understand anything about rusted me

I will get rid of everything
Death Like to segregation
Death Life to victimization

I continue to cut my left wrist, the overflowing blood
This confusion of returning to the empty space
and having no place to go...I WANNA UNSUICIDE

I'm gonna be betrayed again...
Die die right now, Yeah, right now
On this bright day I wished for friendship on the surface
Everything turns into a lie, I'm gonna be sucked down into the spiral again "drain"

I just wanna spit all about me, without being able to love it,
I can' forgive it.

I will get rid of everything
Death Like to segregation
Death Life to victimization

Sakura no Namida

In this night time I raised my eyes to, I think I'm always waiting
pass the space and time, reach, this funeral...

Flying I rip the darkness, always keep on shining,
I loved you too much
Fleetingly, I ligght up this life, give eternal happiniess into
these red days

The hidden tears are fluttering
they wil be melting and being sublimated...
Now the late farewell-present does not reach you

In the future, never again...
What did you see, what did you believe there?
This sinking voice is fading away, it's just going to be erased

"It hurts"

In the time when the clear sea got stagnant and black

Even if I escape to the bottome from now on,
I don't think another morning will come.

Flying, I rip the darkness,
so that this "prayer" will reach you some day, forever
Shining, I expand my wings,
to this far away place, this promise...

Sora

In the midst of playing out the left behind, vividly sinking memories
And carving out the last night

Crushed like always
The tightly clutched fragment
My body is rotting away before I realize it
Too pitifully late now

The mass of figures against the fading sunset
I won't bother with anyone anymore
I don't want to believe in anything, anything

Even though I want to go back, I'm still holding on
Reaching out my trembling fingertips
Even as I grieve....

Playing out the left behind, vividly sinking memories
And carving out the last night
Drowning in the comfort of the frightening unknown
Black and white will soon blur together within the 「　」

Unable to be saved from drowning
My decaying mind reflected behind my muddled eyes
I should accept the liberating rain
The conjoined reality lies there...
If I wish for ordinary tears
The past that I'd wronged will probably laugh at me now
Even though I want to go back, I'm still holding on
Reaching out my trembling fingertips
Even as I grieve....

Review: UnsraW - Spiral Circle ~COMPLETE~

Well, somewhere else on this page I'm getting some nice feedback on one of the harsher reviews that I've written and I suppose said people that don't agree with me find that sort of music to be agreeable. I can't change an opinion and it's theirs to keep but I'd actually like to show them that it's not the entire brutal death metal genre I'm against - just that particular band. Now I don't listen to a particular band in that genre but I figure UnsraW comes comfortably close so I figure I'd review one of their albums today. Enjoy? Probably not but hey, if I got you to read this far it's a success in my book. Combine that with the fact that I reference this band a ton but I don't actually have any reviews of them and it becomes perfectly logical for this review to come when it does.

Disc one (CD)

1. "End of Finale (Introduction)" - 2:43
2. "Dust to Dust (New Recording)" - 3:06
3. "-9-" - 3:25
4. "Maria (New Recording)" - 2:31
5. "In the Fact" - 4:03
6. "Kyuumin -Oyasumi- (New Recording)" (休眠-おやすみ- ) - 6:01
7. "Karma" - 4:30
8. "[Rew]" - 3:52
9. "Gate of Death" - 5:16
10. "Warai Oni" (嗤い鬼) - 2:40

Disc two (DVD, European edition only)

1. "-9-"
2. "Gate of Death"
3. "Karma"
4. "Warai Oni" (嗤い鬼)

Maria, Kyuumin -Oyasumi- and Warai Oni are all covers done first by Yuuki & Shou's previous band CoЯe The Child. Combine that with a re-recording of Dust to Dust, the singles -9- and Gate of Death, and the B-sides [REW] and IN THE FACT and the only new UnsraW track is the first one. This looks like more of a compilation to me.

With that all pushed aside...

end of finale	Clocking in at almost three minutes, this feels way too long to be an introduction. It would have worked better if it were about a minute shorter. Also, the techno vibe of this track does not fit in with the tone of the album. You can just skip straight to Dust to Dust if you want.	6/10
Dust to Dust	It does the joint stereo playing I’m fond of and it functions better as the introduction to this entire album due to the simplicity of this song. Even though it’s simple it’s still effective enough to be a pleasant listen. The drums and guitars are solid and Yuuki’s vocal growls are “unique” to say the least. The bass passage 2/3 in is also pretty cool and I can see this song easily being longer live. My only gripe is that there could have been more to the passages and the transition into -9- could have been better. Otherwise, it’s pretty decent.	7/10
-9-	I swear that introduction does not fit with those verses even though it all meshes together perfectly. Said verses sound lifted right out of Dust to Dust but they work better in this song. What really saves this song is Yuuki’s singing during the bridge, which change up the pace enough to keep the song fresh and distinctive enough from Dust to Dust. The last few seconds also feature some electronic effects so none of it feels too repetitive. Technically speaking, it’s better than Dust to Dust although I don’t think it was too great of an idea to put both those songs one behind the other.	9/10
Maria	One of the viewers of this blog said that VanessA covered this song on their CHI[MA]IRA single and although I can’t hear it I can say that UnsraW’s cover of this song was originally done by CoЯe The Child. I can tell too because this song channels more of the thrash metal than the heavy metal. In a change of pace, Yuuki sings the verses and growls up the chorus which works for this song. Said growls don’t sound anything like the ones from the last two tracks which is a plus and the song is the perfect length for its style and atmosphere.	9/10
IN THE FACT	The striking thing about this song is how the verses are sung, which is strangely quiet and subdued. The roaring guitars quiet down into little strumming here and there before all hell breaks loose in the chorus and growls are unleashed. Yuuki’s singing and screaming are used in tandem here and they work side by side effectively, except I can’t help like this song sounds too much like it’s predecessors.	8/10
Kyuumin – Oyasumi-	CoЯe The Child cover number two feels quite out of place but is also quite needed on this album. The last four tracks started to melt together into one loud screaming growl fest of thrash metal. It’s naturally the longest song on the album and its presence is significant to making the album sound diverse. Even with the drastic change in sound I can’t deny that somehow it fits in conceptually. It’s not my favorite track but its inclusion makes the album better.	10/10
Karma	A proper introduction to the dramatic ending of the last track starts Karma out on the right foot. As the introduction makes obvious it’s a harder song but it contains far fewer sections of growling and screaming and relies more on Yuuki’s singing voice. This choice was wise as it eases the transition from Kyuumin into the next track. As a stand-alone track however, it’s underwhelming.	7/10
[REW]	THIS IS WHAT I WANT UNSRAW TO SOUND LIKE WHEN THEY WANT TO BE HEAVY. Thick, heavy guitars supported by nonstop double-bass drums and the consistent bass, it actually feels like the band is playing together for once. My personal favorite off of the entire album due to the kick-ass introduction it has, it’s only made better by the changing nature of the verses before it launches off into an equally as demonic chorus. The middle part is a little underwhelming but the abrupt ending and then lead-in to Gate of Death makes up for it.	9/10
Gate of Death	This is the darker, more ominous side of UnsraW. I love the simple one-guitar opening accentuated by the other guitar before the drums and bass slide in softly. Yuuki’s singing fits the dark mood before the other members pick up the pace and get harder but still keeps the atmosphere flowing. Throw in some judicious use of growling and an unexpected twist two and a half minutes in and we have the closest thing to an epic on this album. Every member stays solid right up until the end, when the dark, moody beginning returns, slows down and signals its departure. Best track on the album.	10/10
Warai Oni	CoЯe The Child cover number three suffers from bad track placement. This track would have benefited being placed between [REW] and Gate of Death, but it’s not the way to end off this album and it doesn’t feel comfortable after Gate of Death. This is meant to be more of a live-centric song with its repetitive, simple structure and it’s reliant-on-energy atmosphere to keep you interested. It's a good thing the length of this song is short because it gets old quickly.	6/10

Well, I didn't expect too much from this album when nothing on this album is something we haven't heard at some point before. Most of these tracks are B-sides or just not UnsraW and the scary thing is most of the covers are actually better than the B-sides and rank up there with the two singles. There's also the Spiral Circle EP's, which are missing Kyuumin, Dust to Dust, and Maria. That rating is below. Comparing this to Abel/Kein, I would advise you to get Abel/Kein, but not to miss out on -9-, Gate of Death, [REW], and a few others here.

Recommended:

-9-
Kyuumin - Oyasumi -
[REW]
Gate of Death

Score (complete): 81%
Score (EP): 70%