01. Hana
02. SLEEPWALKER
I read a lot about Alice Nine on the internet over the course of my fandom in Japanese Rock music, and apart from the brainless "OMGGG THEY ARE SO CUTE" comments I haven't seen many positive reviews about their work. So, I go into this with an open mind.
The main problem with Hana is that it comes packaged with one of those choruses. It's where the song immediately lost my attention and failed to bring it back until it had a minute to go. It goes from that distortion-laden, rock portion to something more upbeat in the blink of an eye. I'm of the mind that if you're going to have a lighter chorus you have to have a buildup so it's not a complete 180, turn around and "there you are" sort of deal. I call those "copout pieces of bullshit" and Alice Nine could have come up with a lot better than that. If they had this song might actually be the one song out there that says "Hey, we aren't fangirl bait asshole. Buy our stuff". Another thing I abhor is the female backvocals and that's all thanks to The GazettE. They come in once at the beginning and then repeat throughout the verses and when they come in they are piercing. I do not need and do not want to hear this faggotry in music anymore, especially Visual Kei music. The vocalist was doing fine without them.
One notable thing about this song is the vocalist. I'm not a fan of the way that his voice sounds but I cannot deny that he found a vocal rhythm that works well for this song...until it gets to the chorus anyway. I'm also liking that he took the time to sing and not horribly rap the fucking choruses, like a lot of VK bands are starting to do. All these bands do is try to infuse HARDKOAR attitudes and shit into their verses and when they get to the chorus they channel some pop shit that makes me switch the song off. The chorus on it's own sounds fine but it feels like the instrumentation behind it was lifted right out of another song. What holds it together is the vocals, which seem to be the only thing that switches seamlessly throughout the entire song.
That "minute to go" would be the portion where the solo kicks in. It doesn't immediately launch into the solo, but it plays around successfully with some funky rhythms until it does. The solo channels some more of that techno attitude that they had in the verses, but the cut back to the chorus almost immediately after it finishes kills the boner I might have had from it. For fans of Alice Nine, you'll probably like this because it comes with that Alice Nine charm. For not-fans of Alice Nine, you might like parts of this, but just not anything between 0:00 and 4:59.
SLEEPWALKER doesn't know if it wants to mature the band's sound or stay with that Alice Nine cheesiness they've become famous for. What results from this is an audibly confused song that switches direction halfway through and ends up less than stellar. I also have to mention it has one of those choruses again and it starts with that soft opening to hard part pattern but for everything it's worth it was actually pretty good until it got to the chorus. SLEEPWALKER was meant to be a slow, lamentful number and then it subconsciously switches to that ever so light chorus. It's not the instruments so much this time; it's the vocalist. He tries to reach up into the heavens and then the instruments have no choice but to follow. In what could have been a serious, bad-ass number it turns around in the bridge and then by the solo becomes something that would fit right in an anime opening. I want the ominous, axe hitting metal sounds that were going on in the background with the slow verses at the beginning, not this violin-soaring, shady poppy number.
So I'm supposing this is what an Alice Nine single is all about. Good music is subjective so in my opinion Alice Nine straddles the mediocre range. If they keep pouring out good music with eye-twitching cliches that make me want to scream, they won't ever get up to the range where I'll actually call their music "an example of what I want to hear". These are some talented musicians that just need to learn how to put their music together.
Recommended:
If you like Alice Nine, then you'll want it. If you don't, you don't want it. Simple as that.
Score: 51%
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