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.
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.
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"
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....
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....
Gaydom! Seems like I got the arse end of the deal because my version of this release comes with ‘Lust’, and they even specifically decline to publish the lyrics in the booklet! Do you know if there are any other releases with ‘Eve’ on them?
ReplyDelete