Review: NoGoD - Kakera

This must be said: in comparison to other VK albums, Kakera continues to uphold the NoGoD tradition of beating the shit out of their "music". In comparison to Gokusaishiki and Mugenkyo, this album fails.

Polemic review now:

One word describes most of this album: BORING!. I love NoGoD to pieces, don't get me wrong. My name is based off the best track of Gokusaishiki. What they need to stop doing is being NeoGoD: basically trying to experiment and explore every fucking genre of music. I'm all up for experimentation but for these guys it just does not work. Ever. Rashinban has this same exact problem. The EP was split right down the middle: half badass rocking tracks that would melt your face off with the pure force of NoGoD, and then the other three tracks that sound like NeoGoD just put in a fresh tampon and felt bliss. No.

I'm not even against upbeat, poppy tracks. Shukufuku no Uta and Shirasagi did it right way back when. Here, it's just missing the NoGoD spark that sets everything over the top. First off, fuck that :39 second intro at the beginning. NoGoD hasn't done one of those since Kanna Fukyou and doesn't need to do it again. Just start off with Shinzou, which sounds like Zesshoku except worse because the band was trying too hard to be harsh instead of just letting the melodies flow. Perhaps if it weren't so cookie-cutter we'd have a winner.

Akaki hi no Chikai was pretty groovin. Less forced than the previous track but also slightly less harsh. Don't care too much about that. It has the NoGoD flavor mixed with their new affinity for more melodic portions and it works. If the rest of the album was like this Kakera would have been brilliant.

But it isn't.

Shounen to Chizu is boring as all hell. It's so Hakoniwa/Hakujitsu Sakujitsu-ish. It's nice sounding but goes nowhere and does nothing and falls flat. What they see in this song I do not know. Nagusami no Sora is even worse. These plodding ballads/mid-tempo pieces with no emotion do not work. What needs to be said though is that for the most part, while this song doesn't grab me the way it needs to, there's a portion around the last 1:25 of the song where it picks up and reminds me a bit of Kinshi Suzume to the point where it's not a complete waste of time.

Rouyoku is experimental but that beginning is just not good. Why am I halfway through the album of a METAL band and only the second and third tracks were relatively metal? No. NeoGoD needs to cut this shit out. Thank god it's short.

kimi ga kureta shiawase to kimi ni sasagu namida also has the distinction of being the most atmosphereless instrumental they've done. Does not get the lingering hope vibe of Kono Ame no Mukou ni and does not even scratch the surface of Aozora. Too standard, doesn't even end properly. Skip.

Kakusei - the good single that sets this album back onto more familiar territory. Does everything right and sounds like NoGoD and not some generic band. Why is this one of the best on the album? REALLY?

kajitsu wa warau is another one of those mid-tempo rockers that does something right actually! I enjoyed this a lot more than I did a lot of other tracks in this vein. This would have worked much better if the rest of this album didn't sound very similar to this (will get to at end). A definite listen because it somewhat sounds like NoGoD.

Pause - Disbelief. That's what I call this track. Fucking best thing on this album hands down. Sounds like the bigger brother of Ring-a Ring-o. THE REST OF THE ALBUM NEEDS TO BE ON THIS LEVEL. Really sounds like the only song they spent a reasonable amount of time on.

kimi ni okuru itsudemo kienai uta reminds me a lot of kimi ni okuru bukiyou de migattena shi, not only in name but because they generally employ the same style. this sounds much more mature and refined however. If the rest of the album didn't sound like a worse version of this this too would have worked.

Ai is just too much of the same really. Nice bonus track, much better than Yumemi Shoujo for sure, but neither one of them end off the album the same way Yume did, and that's a shame. Reminds me a bit of Kalmia except it doesn't sound completely cracked up on coffee. More restrained, more proper. I knew coming in this wasn't going to be a rough number but still...too much of the album sounded like this.

Positives: there was no Ano hi no Sora wa Gokusai de. Holy fucking shit that song was boring. Even if everything sounded too mid-tempo for me to enjoy this thoroughly nothing was so rock bottom shit boring that I fell asleep half-way thorugh.

- there was nothing extremely horrible in general. It just sounds like they played it way too safe and did it because they knew it'd work and not because they wanted to. Don't they understand that they hardly ever make bad music when they're sticking to what they know best?

Bad: too much mid-tempo-ness. Why is it that so many tracks on this album start out with one guitar plucking strings in a lonely fashion? You couldn't break my face open with a mid-tempo song that actually ROCKS? You couldn't find another way to start off a slower song? What about some more acoustic strumming leading into some electric goodness, like Rinne Tenshou? It does sound like they are trying to appeal to a bigger crowd and this I have no problem with - what I have the problem with is that they're trying to forget that they're a metal band but then have II-Kaigi shitting over everything else on this album! You just can't fool me for 9 tracks, turn around throw that in my face and go back to doing the same shit for the rest of the album! YOU'RE GOOD AT THAT STAY WITH IT MAN!

Overall, decent album. Perhaps even great album. It's just their worst so far. I'd keep it though. Potential to be a massive grower.