01. Jade - Chariots
02. honey drop - Matenrou Opera
03. concealment - Siva
04. Suimenka - Juka
05. enemy - Nega
06. Sforzando - Versailles
The good (and easy thing) about an omnibus review is that they usually end up positive but that's only if you take each song individually. Most of the time, whoever puts these together couldn't give a damn about how the entire package sounds and it usually sounds like a bunch of songs stuck together. With the exception of Sforzando, each of these tracks were previously released on CD's or albums, which means that they're most likely representative of what each band has to bring to the table sonically. In simpler terms, the bands choose the GOOD songs to place on an omnibus so someone gets interested and wants to buy it.
Now to discuss the functionality of an omnibus: most times I don't hear of these things until way after they're released (like this one) and I wonder what good it does if you know all of the bands on it. I thought that as I downloaded this one today, but by the time I finished it I think I found three new bands worth taking a second look at.
Now to start with the actual review: Jade is the first single from the band chariots and it's an awkward way to start off. There's just too much going on in this song. One minute Jade is a thrasher with gutteral yells and bark-and-call sections and the next minute it's a mid-tempo rocker. The beginning even comes off as an attempt to channel some orchestral and synth elements! Other than the tremendous amount of transitions in the track, the only instrument that sucks are the drums. This guy's playing is more predictable than Kai from The GazettE. Jade is definitely interesting and is worth a listen but on the first couple of listens it runs the risk of losing you as it sprints at mach speed through all it's transitions (hell it took me six to understand what the hell was going on in this track).
Now to discuss the functionality of an omnibus: most times I don't hear of these things until way after they're released (like this one) and I wonder what good it does if you know all of the bands on it. I thought that as I downloaded this one today, but by the time I finished it I think I found three new bands worth taking a second look at.
Now to start with the actual review: Jade is the first single from the band chariots and it's an awkward way to start off. There's just too much going on in this song. One minute Jade is a thrasher with gutteral yells and bark-and-call sections and the next minute it's a mid-tempo rocker. The beginning even comes off as an attempt to channel some orchestral and synth elements! Other than the tremendous amount of transitions in the track, the only instrument that sucks are the drums. This guy's playing is more predictable than Kai from The GazettE. Jade is definitely interesting and is worth a listen but on the first couple of listens it runs the risk of losing you as it sprints at mach speed through all it's transitions (hell it took me six to understand what the hell was going on in this track).
Matenrou Opera's honey drop is next and I won't get why it is they decided to put the B-side and not the A-side. It's no "blow my dick with your awesomeness" track but I didn't expect it to. All I wanted from this band on this omnibus was a track that manages to do something different sonically whilst not confusing the hell out of me with it's constantly shifting style (i.e. Eternal Symphony). honey drop managed to do that and it did it well although I can't help but think there's something missing that holding it back from being truly excellent.
Siva's concealment has a very deceptive opening that slows down into some faggotry that my ears do not approve of before the guitars come back. The little hip-hop elements in around the first minute and thirty seconds do not belong and need to be rightly kicked in the ass out of the song. It did not work for The GazettE on Stacked Rubbish so it will not work for you. Other than that, the rest of the song sounds alright but it's not strong enough to make up for the fucktarded beginning. The chorus is also a tad underwhelming and when I can't get into the song until the solo (c. 3:45) it's not very entertaining in my book. It's standard Siva: rock with that touch of generic Visual Kei essence that makes the song stand out but at the same time blend in with the rest of it's kind. concealment isn't as strong as the last two tracks that preceded it. If Siva chose this for the omnibus, I'm afraid about the quality of the rest of their output....
Suimenka follows this and it's the shortest song on the entire album. It also decides to take a stripped down approach, having just one acoustic and one electric guitar in the way of instrumentation. This leaves Juka's voice to be the instrument that carries the song and in this case less is more. His voice sounds like Gackt's but not as overdramatic and less gaytarded in that emotionally forced way (think Tsuki no Uta). Juka's singing sounds more natural as he hits all his notes without screwing up. No one gives a damn about how an omnibus flows so with that in mind Suimenka provides a much needed change of pace whilst changing up the sound long enough for you not to get bored with the vast amounts of rock descending upon your eardrums. Suimenka's a nice addition although it's not everyone's musical cup of tea.
enemy takes a complete 180 from the last track and blasts you with the darkest rock on the entire album. Then again, it's Nega and anything lighter from them is uncharacteristic and usually sucks. Hard, dark tracks appeal to me more so this pulled me in immediately but even with that working in it's favor enemy harks from the days when you could expect Nega to make decent music so it being good is more of an expectation and not a surprise. No track since Jade has been so interesting with it's riffs and constant change of pace but Nega manages to keep it under control better and everything flows better. The bottom line here is that if you like Nega you'll like this, if you hate Nega you will hate this and if you don't know this is a good indication of what they tend to sound like (when they're good).
Let's be serious: Sforzando is really what everyone bought this album for because it can't be found anywhere else. With that having been said, there's a part of me that really WANTS to like Sforzando but he gets shoved in the box so the radically evil critic in me can tear this song to shreds. Sforzando isn't a terrible track - in fact it's one of the better tracks here - but I have to bring up the lack of an audible bass line past the beginning, drowned out drums, and the lame fade-out at the end of the song. Other than that, Sforzando's a pretty cool track and sounds very Lareine-esque, a great departure from most of Versailles output and a pretty solid addition to their ever stagnating discography.
With only one less-than-stellar track, I say Cross Gate 2008~chaotic sorrow~ was a pretty solid omnibus. I found a band I might explore more (chariots), a band I think I'll stay away from for now (Siva) and five good songs out of the entire deal. When it comes down to it, I probably would recommend this for someone looking for some new bands to get into but by this point no one cares about these songs. They want the new shit (and in the case of one band it might not come anytime soon, another retired, and the third just released shit for an album so take this and pretend all this was never read).
Recommended:
Jade
Honey Drop
Suimenka
Enemy
Sforzando
Score: 81%
With only one less-than-stellar track, I say Cross Gate 2008~chaotic sorrow~ was a pretty solid omnibus. I found a band I might explore more (chariots), a band I think I'll stay away from for now (Siva) and five good songs out of the entire deal. When it comes down to it, I probably would recommend this for someone looking for some new bands to get into but by this point no one cares about these songs. They want the new shit (and in the case of one band it might not come anytime soon, another retired, and the third just released shit for an album so take this and pretend all this was never read).
Recommended:
Jade
Honey Drop
Suimenka
Enemy
Sforzando
Score: 81%
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