Review: VanessA - CHI【MA】IRA

Dear readers of my blog, I must confess: I have sinned greatly.

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

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.

Review: VanessA - world. is. my. mind.

VanessA softened up :O

I actually expected this to happen though. Here's why.

The two composers of VanessA used to be Nao and Haruki. Both of them have very different compositional styles. Here's a quick list of a few of the songs each composed.

Nao -
P.S.D.
Retrospection
LUCY
[MA]RIA
I am Psychopath.
B.M.METAMORPHOSE-murder side-

Haruki -
Memory Lapse
Arlequin
alive=terror
Feel U
Danger
NEW WORLD
jack off
axina


Now that Nao left and Koichi doesn't write music, this band is relying solely upon the compositional merits of Haruki, who traditionally came as "second composer" when Nao was leading the band. Those that liked "old VanessA" liked Nao's version of brutal metal with lots of screams. We're probably never going to hear that again. That isn't excusing the single any and I'm going to download it now, but that's really why I expected world. is. my. mind. to be a big slap in the face compared to CHI[MA]IRA (trust me, it's been a while since I've reviewed that and the CD's grown on me a LOT. I just don't feel like editing it at the moment).

I can understand why some people are upset at the change of direction that VanessA's taken and I'm going to say something completely radical here: they haven't actually changed all that much. When it comes down to it, the only thing this CD is missing is Genki's roars. Sandwich any two old VanessA tracks in between any random track on this single and none of these would "sound out of place".

What seems to upset everyone greatly is the lack of ear-bleeding, esophagus splitting screeches that VanessA has become increasingly renowned for since alive=terror. Even though Haruki did compose alive=terror and ARLEQUIN the dymanics of the band have changed since Nao left the band and You took over. Nao probably told Haruki to cut shit like jack off out and stick with composing rough, speedy compositional numbers while You embraced a change in direction (because in all honesty if they kept the shtick up long enough they were bound to repeat themselves AND Haruki usually had the best song on the last two out of the three maxi's they've released so....yeah.)

So now on to the review:

NEW WORLD is definitely the softest A-side they've composed so far and it's not without it's schizo section. I think this song has the only time Genki uses something other than clean vocals (and I also lol at the fact that this was their preview on their OHP). VanessA knew we weren't going to like this at all xD

This sounds like a sped up version of FEEL U in many places. Still sounds like the other half of VanessA to me. 7/10 because even though it was digestable I was still missing some of the death voice that Genki used to have all throughout his track. Some more of that was definitely needed here.

jack off words can't describe how much I dislike this track. Perhaps I approached it hoping for it to be a harder song or perhaps something that didn't sound like a longer, less inspired version of NEW WORLD with some jazzy influence. However, I'm with everyone else that went "what the fuck happened to this band" on this track. In NEW WORLD. I could sense some of the old VanessA mixed in with Haruki's style but here it's just . Why the fuck does every VK band have to do some lame jazzy number that sucks anus? 4/10 for the solo, the portion after it and Koichi's nice basslines.

-axina- is more like what I want to hear from this band. Even if they decide to soften up their sound I do not want them throwing away their heavy metal roots. I sense some Vortex influence in the verses and I really do like the ominous bell over their guitar lines. If more of the single was like this instead of NEW WORLD./jack off I think a lot more people would enjoy this (I enjoy 2/3 of it just fine anyway). Oh, and I was wrong before - Genki does some roaring in this song before the second verse and during the fade out I think the members of the band attempted to do some screaming before failing and just spazzing out. What I DON'T like about this track is the bit of silence before the song starts up again a minute later for approximately 10 seconds before ending. It's completely pointless >.>

8/10 for axina

This single gets about a 6/10. There is no question that CHI[MA]IRA was better than this but if I give it a few listens I think parts of this will grow on me. I just can't bear to think that we'll never get the truly heavy VanessA back again because even though I liked this, I liked THAT a whole lot more.

Review: VanessA - Vortex

I haven't done a VanessA review in a while, and of course since I noticed I was going backwards this single is what would have come up next. I'm not too crazy about this single overall, but it has it's good parts. Those good parts being not the first track, which I would mark down as one of the worst songs they put to music ever. The other two, well, they're digestible...

Did I mention how atrocious and putrid this album cover is? They didn't even try...

1. Vortex
02. another CHAOS
03. B.M. Metamorphose - Another Side-

Vortex	I realize as I say this now that I have a lot of “I don’t like” tracks by VanessA, but this one manages to repulse me in a completely unique way. I prefer alive=terror to this track, and I prefer a lot of things to alive=terror. A turkey sandwich? Sure. Sex? Of course. A passing course in one of my college courses? Most definitely. But this? THIS? No, I do not. The entire beginning, where it sounds like Genki’s strumming his lips is a complete turnoff and fails trying to sound insane. The chorus is better than the inaudible verses marked by random growling that would fit in if I heard some words that weren’t whispered or muttered under Genki’s breath, but the falsetto in the chorus is annoying and atrocious. The singing at the end should have been what was going on the whole time, but if I have to wait that long for it to get decent (and then the kuchibiru-strumming returns -_-) I’d just skip. Which I do. Regularly. And so should you, because this is not VanessA.	4/10
Another CHAOS	It starts out with a rising noise that launches into some rocking guitar, which is exactly what I’m looking for. Genki’s vocals are closer to his safety range and he doesn’t try anything experimental that would ruin the track. It’s not like he had the time to anyway. This song isn’t the longest and the instrumentation may not be the most awe-inspiring but for the two minutes it goes it does everything it can to try to make you forget about the last track. It has passages that race along as you try to keep up and others that feel like they’re descending from the clouds, all throughout keeping a sense of urgency as if the ending has something great waiting for you. It doesn’t, but it doesn’t screw up at any point so I take that as a positive.	7/10
B.M. Metamorphose –another side-	The –murder side- version of this song slaughters eardrums and isn’t a worthy comparison to this one. This completely trumps the A-side and runs the gamut from slower, acoustic-backed portions to feral screams backed by hard guitars. Genki’s screams also come in at some of the most unexpected parts here, but it goes from a sparing use at the beginning to a near overload at some parts, which isn’t exactly the best route to take with a song like this. He didn’t screw it up too much, especially because the chorus is growl-laden, but a little bit less of it would have been equally as good. The only fault is the drums, which don’t sound as sharp as they could. It has a similar sound and tempo to Vortex, but it cuts out all the annoying shit and gets it right. I would have been fine with this as the A-side in all honesty.	8/10

Thank god that is over and done with, because I was not looking forward to doing this single at all (and no, I don't think my opinion will change at all, so this is the first and last time I'll have to see those repulsive feet on my blog). The cover scares the living shit out of me and the first track turned me off from the rest of the single. Why? Because looks matter people. That's why visual kei bands dress up in fugly costumes. They want to get your attention so you'll give them more than a passing glance, and anyone that thinks that looks don't matter need to get smacked and awakened. Looks do matter, and that's why I hated this single.

Then I found out that the B-sides are infinitely more accessible than the trash that occupies the first three minutes of this track. Forget the first track, go to two, don't download the album cover. Save some kittens.

Recommended:

not Vortex

Score: 63%

Review: VanessA - LOVE OF INSANITY

I think I'm unintentionally going backwards through VanessA's discography. Despite the very annoying way this band spells their name I think they're beginning to grow on me a little bit. Repeat listens to this single might explain why however.

01. I am Psychopath.
02. LUCY
03. Memory Lapse

I am Psychopath.	This song single handedly owns just about every other CD single they’ve released up to this point. It borrows some of the hip-hop inspiration pioneered by the GazettE and infuses it with some uniquely VanessA styles and electronic effects to create an arythmical track that is as pleasing as it is confusing. Genki’s roaring and grunting is used wisely and sparingly, and the English lyrics (included below) are disturbing as all hell. Put this all together and we have a track I can put on repeat and not get bored of. For once in the history of Engrish in J-rock, the mumbled lyrics actually work better. The only gripes I have are that the song ends too early and the transitions between the verse and the chorus could be better. Otherwise, this is the type of heavy I want out of VanessA.	9/10
LUCY	Not as brilliant as I am Psychopath but it’s still listenable. The guitars start with some attitude and run through two verses before it stumbles at a chorus that doesn’t quite fit in. There also is no solo which is a disappointment. I’d have to agree with those that say that LUCY sounds generic but I’m not too into that extreme. I can sense that this song follows a stereotypical form of construction and I can sense where the break downs and slow parts are coming seconds before they happen. The weakest track here.	7/10
Memory Lapse	HOLY. SHIT. WHERE IS THE ROARING, SCREAMING VANESSA I’VE GROWN TO HATE? We have a track of VanessA’s that features none of Genki’s rough vocals and is actually pleasant. It starts out deceptively, as if it’s going to be a soft ballad but it gets appropriately rougher around the onset of the verses. This is the right kind of experimentation I like to see and VanessA’s softer side has proved to be just as enjoyable as their darker side. It's the perfect way to end off this single.	10/10

So yes, this is the single that I compare every subsequent VanessA release to. It's just that damn good in VanessA standards and I don't think they've topped themselves since, although CHI[MA]IRA's first two tracks come closest. LOVE OF INSANITY sounds closest to VanessA's core sound, unlike the preceding single which I find to be forced in some respects, and the following single (alive=terror) which sounded overly heavy in many places. The lyrics to I am Psychopath are below, and I give this single 87%.

I am Psychopath

make love because we love each other,
with keeping rhythm.
My hope is bathing your blood while we unite.
I want to hack you up.
and someday, I want to eat you, because I love you.
I guess I'm a Psychopath.
But it's the truth about loving you
So wait for me. I'll fucking kill you.
I
PSYCHOPATH
I AM
PSYCHOPATH
I AM
PSYCHOPATH

Review: VanessA - alive=terror

I should get this out of the way since VanessA's discography is pathetic and there isn't much to go through.

01. alive=terror
02. B.M.METAMORPHOSE-murder side-
03. VERONIKA

So if you've read my CHI[MA]IRA review then you know the deal. If you don't, let me summarize. alive=terror, both the album and the song, is a pathetic effort by a band that not only doesn't have an original sound, but has to contend with UnsraW for attention.

I am completely of the mind that if Genki stuck with singing this band as a whole would be better, since his growls sound like they're put through a lot of sound editing, and even as such they really don't sound that good. The entire structure of this song, although played OK, are so completely unoriginal they turn me away from the start. The beginning of the song is jarring and it sounds like they cut out part of it, but when it gets going and you get on your feet it's not all that bad. The main problems are the vocals, which suck thorughout most of the song. The bark and call verses are horribly done, and even Genki's roars sound dull. They substitute volume for passion and try to blow your ears out by throwing crap vocals after crap vocals on you, all one octave lower than the other. alive=terror is pretty br00tal and not the good kind of br00tal. It's the kind of br00tal that makes you want to jab q-tips in your ears until you bleed. Their first few releases were WAY more enjoyable than this. The best part of alive=terror is Genki's singing at the chorus, which is pretty damn good but can't save this song.

B.M.METAMORPHOSE-murder side- sounds like an elephant getting buttraped, almost to the point of being unlistenable. The other versions of this song are a lot more enjoyable than this, since it's a cacophony of guitar and dinosaur roars. Even the drummer bashes his kit wildly. It's the perfect track for a psychopath's mind but even as such I don't remember it by the time it finishes. Senselessly screamy, senselessly heavy, it's definitely the weakest track. It's not even worth the hard drive space.

VERONIKA is far and away the best song on the single, featuring more singing than the previous two songs combined. THIS really should have been the single on this track, even though the style and presentation reminds me a bit of Memory Lapse. It has enough of Genki's belches to satisfy those that actually like it, but not enough to make me want to die a horrible, withering death. VERONIKA isn't worth buying the single but it's decent. And from this single, decent is a gift.

I can't even say maybe the band will follow in the path of VERONIKA because CHI[MA]IRA has more guttural growls mixed in with the singing (it's all presented better though). So to sum it all up: 1 not-so-decent track, 1 horrible track, and 1 good track.

3/10