Review: The GazettE - Disorder

I figure whilst I have time this morning (which I feel is going to be a rare occurrence so watch the scale of these reviews start to curtail drastically) I'll get an album out of the way so I'm not completely lazy so today we're going to review an album I don't have to listen to in order to formulate thoughts about. That would be Disorder, and I have to say that The GazettE are pretty good at describing what it is their albums sound like. This album is loud, messy, brash, in your face about it, and when it's all over the fake Jesus on the cover just serves to tell you "you should have known all along that an album called DISORDER wasn't going to be friendly with your eardrums".

Both the Intro and Disorder Heaven, the outro, are pretty lame and aren't even worth mentioning in two separate breaths. The real starting track, The $ocial Riot Machine$, is barely coherent in English even with the lyrics since it relies on puns and word play in Japanese and it's supposed to sound more like a riot than a musical track. Screaming Ruki's duetting with screaming Ruki's complement buzzing guitars, loud drumming and thick bass and they all come together to cause as much compositional discord as possible for three and a half minutes. Senseless violence has never been captured better in a track but if you're looking for something musical (read: skip this album then) then you're going to facepalm at how disorganized and loud this track is.

Then again, this is what most people think metal is so I like it just out of spite, not for any redeeming qualities it may have. Perhaps a little more restrained in the veins of hard rock would be Carry?, which in this album's terms means just slightly psychopathic. It shows a little restraint and musicality in the verses that are punctuated by noise and then the chorus is there with Ruki's nasally singing that makes you wish he'd shut up and go back to screaming his little head off. Carry? doesn't carry the same mindless genius that made the last track stand out (pun not intended) but the little girl muttering "you[r ears] are almost dead" before the band falls into the apex of insanity is the high point of this song. I do feel the ending to this was dragged out and this shouldn't have been any longer than the previous track but it's still worth listening to if you have eardrums of steel.

Maximum Impulse feels like the last two tracks had a baby and then the baby stubbed it toes. Combine the racing pulse of the first track with random background screams, some hoarse singing, and you have something that's very interesting up until it gets to the chorus. I was getting a little interested in this album until it got there and then I wanted to just stop because it was so freaking BAD. The whole hardkoar kvltic metal portions mixing with the insane screaming does not go well with the high school choir chorus and then there's a whole helium portion before it goes into it the second time that makes me want to die. Unlike the last two hard tracks, I implore you to stay FAR FAR away from this one.

And no Ruki, you are not fucking welcome.

Zakurogata no Yuuutsu is a different type of sonic rape in that it's boring, chaotic, and messy in all the wrong ways. It’s also betrayingly upbeat for the message that Ruki sings about and the tone of the guitars doesn’t match the lyrics at all. It also has annoying special effects all throughout the song and what really kills it for me is that annoying trumpet or whatever instrument in the background. I just think it’s set a tad too loud for my ears, and the whole song a bit disorienting. The best part of this song would have to be the solo. Out goes the annoying noise and in comes the nice, clean guitars. It’s also pretty badass and leads right back into the chaos nicely. The part where everyone pauses later on in the song is also pretty cool, as I find Ruki really, REALLY nasal in this song and it grates my nerves. As for the lyrics of the song, I believe it’s about someone with a fatal disease of sorts and the memo certainly sounded like said person’s lover had killed himself to offer up his organs (or some other body part) in order to save the one he loved. This is such a sad story and the upbeat, messy tune doesn’t show the seriousness of the lyrics or any emotion to any extreme at all.

Shishigatsu Youka isn't as bad as it is boring. As much as fans orgasm all over Wakaremichi I actually don't like it all that much and having "conceptual" songs on the middle of an album that has nothing to do with a CONCEPT turns me off. Bluntly stated, this song sounds boring and ill-fitting, as if any generic VK band just poured this track out because it evokes a response from even the most brainless of fans.

Oh wait....what is the GazettE again?

The album would have done better to end with Saraba, the anti-war song that's probably my favorite off of this entire album. The riffs are strong and brutal and there doesn't happen to be a chorus problem anywhere in here (is still recovering from Maximum Impulse). Ruki's lyrics are pure poetry and one of the few from this album worth translating to find the meaning. It's one of the few songs here that actually doesn't suck and isn't a roaring mess on wheels and heroine. Speaking of heroine, SxDxR sucks dicks royally. It's supposed to stand for Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll but it's just not very good all around. I have no idea what the fuck the beginning is supposed to mean and the entire track just sounds chaotic and messy. This is truly disorder at it's finest form and it does not channel any of the GazettE's sound. The chorus also sounds annoying as fuck. Needless to say I don't recommend you listen to it.

Even in all this chaos the GazettE managed to find time to experiment. Anti Pop starts out sounding like a jazz club late at night before it goes off into some crappy, chaotic rock. It's one of those songs that sounds like the band got together with the sole intention to mow down the listener with every type of loud, insane, and crazy sound that they could find. It lags around the second minute with it's repetitiveness but otherwise it's another one of those weird tracks you can throw on to scare the shit out of your friends. And last but not least, Hana Kotoba is the necessary ballad requirement on every album that doesn't fit with the entire "disorder" theme but is definitely welcome as I only recommend two songs off this album in all seriousness (and this is one of them). It isn't as deceptively soft as the beginning will have you believe but compared to everything else on this album, the fact that there are acoustic guitars and violins in the background should tell you this was a risk and it works well.

Disorder blows in my opinion. It's too loud, chaotic, messy, and tries to do too much but then doesn't get anywhere with it's diversity. the GazettE needed to rein in some of their experimentation and focus more on delivering listenable tracks instead of bashing on their instruments and recording what comes out.

Recommended:

Saraba
Hana Kotoba

Score: 48%