Review: Administrator - A

I'm actually quite averse to songs that start out with just the singer and then have the song curl around it in that vexingly poppy fashion but what I'm even more averse to is what I dub "born syndrome" - a basic lack of cohesion between verse and chorus. This cannot even be excused by musical incompetence since you have to know what the hell you're doing in order to screw up that bad. Administrator's A manages to screw up both of those Visual Kei pitfalls early on with Ace and Hidden Scar.

Ace is your basic run through of an upbeat rock song and doesn't stray from the formula. It doesn't have the same balls that selfish clover had and it doesn't take risks so what I'm left with is just another faceless VK song that wants to bare some teeth but doesn't commit itself to doing so 100% of the time. A few annoying things in this song would be the electronic effects that come in pointlessly, do nothing, and fade away. They'd almost be unnoticeable if they weren't all chained one after another. Another would be the hey's followed by the choir aah's since neither one of them works for Akuta.

Simply put, Ace isn't a good A-side for Administrator's first single. Too generic, not representative of what they're capable of.

Hidden Scar starts out pretty badass and I can even forgive the slight born syndrome but what I cannot overlook is the fact that it slowly segues into some stepbrother of Ace's. In places they even start to sound similar and Administrator remembers somewhere along the line that the song was supposed to be harder so they throw in a growl or two and then return with bad special effects and a bridge and chorus an octave too high for my comfort zone. No. The entire last minute is just painful and it becomes almost unbearable to realize that it's still the same song I was listening to three minutes ago.

Too long, too undecided, does not deliver.

Oboro is the type of song I want to hear from Administrator and easily up there for me around selfish clover. Proper use of special effects mixed with a sense of direction and a memorable riff is only offset by an awkward chorus. If that chorus was better Oboro would have won this race by a landslide but it's not like it's got any competition on A. It's the only song with a solo that I'll recognize and some of the ways that Akuta sings portions of the song sound great. It's definitely the only song I'd recommend out of this affair.

Good, maybe even above average.

A does not deliver but it's not surprising since this band hasn't been around for long and are still trying to find their way. It could have been a lot better but it could have been a whole lot worse so where it sits right now isn't all that bad. It just isn't all that memorable either.

55%