Review: chariots - Hai

College is a right pain in the ass.

If you've managed to follow this blog for the better part of the month hoping for an update this is your little present. I've had a ton of work heaped on me and I've had to put some things aside to concentrate on passing - this would be one of them. Now that I have some time I think I'll write up a few reviews while I still can.

This would be one of them.

The single that gets to be reviewed today will be Hai by chariots. I'm choosing this because even though I've had lots of work and tons of trouble getting a hold on new music I've still kept up with a lot of things and this single will most likely get me back into reviewing things on at least a semi-regular basis while being something fans would want to read to make an educated decision on the single.

Hai is a nice little limited edition item limited to 5000 copies so this tells me two things: 1) by the time anyone reads this it's going to be gone and 2) Kisaki's behind the release campaign of this band.

Putting hatred for Kisaki's marketing schemes aside (and the obvious notion that if you print things in three editions with bunches of different artwork alongside a press limit you'll be hard pressed to make money back) Hai is what I'd like to call an OK single. Back in June when I reviewed the two Nega singles Dig and Ill I called the practice of putting an opening track on a three track maxi to be "unacceptable". I still believe this to be true and as a result the opener Fall Ash comes off to me as a bad attempt of filling out their requirement to make a CD with Kisaki.

What I have against this track even more is the mood that the next two tracks give off. Hai was meant to be a darker comparison to last month's Hikari and the opener sounds like the starting track at a techno bash than something that would symbolize the descent into death (since if you look at all three names it's what they're hinting at). It's just plain cheesy and not worth my time.

Canvas ni...(I'll be damned to type that entire thing out mind you) is the standout track here and is packed full of emotion and elements that draw the attention of the listener. There are some electronic effects put to good use throughout the song, especially in the solo and the verses and you can hear the improvements in the bands sound over their previous releases. From the little distorted guitar line to the sudden scream into the chuggy guitar line this song keeps it moving while keeping it melancholic, which is the flowing current throughout this song. The chorus is also pretty tight compared to some of their older stuff which fell flat on their faces come chorus time. The name of the vocalist eludes me at the moment although I can say his voice has improved over the last releases and even though I have a love/hate relationship with some of the things he does with his voice he does nothing but shine here.

Reversal is supposed to be the angry song that appeases fans like me that chafe at slow ballads. I'm not liking this song as much as the last song because it's straight, heart pumping action and doesn't carry the same melodic punch as the former track. The screams, which I think mean reversal don't sound good or bad as much as they do weird. Those will need some time to grow on me but all in all Reversal is a good companion to the second track.

So what have we from Hai? Well if you're a fan of chariots then you already have this illegally downloaded in your music folder and if you hate chariots then at least give the second track a chance since it might grow on you. If you have no idea what I'm talking about give this a try if you're open-minded (and if you aren't what are you doing here?)

Final Judgment: scrap the first track and we have something very respectable here.