Review: CROSS GATE 2007 ~ Strawberry Seeds~

Yesterday's omnibus was rather interesting so afterward I decided to trace it as far back as I could to see how many CROSS GATES I could put out. I found one as far as 2006 so expect another review on that one as soon as I get a good idea of what it sounds like. The good thing about reviewing omnibuses is that the only thing they share in common are the names: everything else about them makes it feel like a completely different item (which it should be treated like).

Why it's called Strawberry Seeds I will never know and I don't think I want to. It's not angsty or emo enough. Hell, it sounds too fruity to be associated with anything rock-related...

Nega and Siva both make a repeat showing here. That's going to be fun to listen to...-__-

1. Mitei - -OZ-
2. Riot - Siva
3. MOTEL Sapporo - Mello
4. -Ao- - Bergerac
5. terminal care - Lulu
6. Born - Nega

I'm disappointed and pleased at the same time that CROSS GATE 2007 wasn't as good as the one I reviewed yesterday. It means overall that they're getting better with picking the bands that appear on these omnibuses but at the same time anyone that listens to this is going to be assaulted with "less than stellar" songs.

The first up to bat to assist the suicide of this compiled fail is -OZ-'s Mitei. I expected more out of -OZ- out of all the praise I've been hearing about them for the longest time but what I got here is a song with full-on screaming and guitars and drums that sprint along at breakneck speed. Compile that with weak, repetitive death vocals and an ending that falls apart and Mitei doesn't sound all too good. It definitely doesn't belong at the beginning of the omnibus.

I think they recorded Mitei just for this omnibus, which brings me to say if they knew where it was going to be placed why does it sound so ill-fitting?

Mitei is average. Moving on...

Siva's Riot is the best song here, far and away and I'm digging this more than I did concealment yesterday. It's literally the only other song here I'd recommend you listen to and the only one that fits coming after Mitei. The most positive aspect about this song is that the hip-hop faggotry I heard yesterday is replaced with a pretty cool dual guitar rhythm that stands out more than the usual fare when that Middle-Eastern inspired guitar comes twanging in. Riot also changes pace enough to keep me interested but not excessively as to lose me in all it's constant changes (like Jade from yesterday). The only problem I have with this song is that the ending is repeated once too much and that a measure of four would have been more effective than repeating it twice for a total of eight beats. Other than that, Riot is a solid rock song and it greatly surprised me. I dreaded this release thinking I was going to get another concealment.

As this album continued on I started to realize how much these first two tracks shone in comparison...

MOTEL Sapporo tries to come off as some jazzy oshare-rock hybrid but it fails to catch my attention in any manner whatsoever. I had to listen to this seven times in order to remember it came third and then when I actually committed myself to memorizing how it sounds and when what comes where I found a very dull and uninteresting track. Coming off the heels of Riot, the placement of this track does it no wonders (no one cares about placement on omnibi (?) though...) but having it well placed could have done it some good. The song subsequently slows down to an almost painful pace and if this track were to have a pulse it would have flatlined before the two minute mark. The solo doesn't do enough to pick up the pace and this entire song is just...slow beyond reason. I hate oshare with a passion as it is but even before knowing what style MELLO played I was not getting a good reaction to this song. This is five minutes of your life you will not get back.

Ao sounds like an anime opening to a 4Kids dub of some obscure sub-par anime aired on Saturday mornings targeted to seven year olds that don't know any better. It's the epitome of generic visual kei: songs played by a bunch of old men with weird hair and no musical sense which any good person with taste cannot get into. I apologize half-heartedly to the fans of Bergerac but Ao isn't that good of a song. It does well to continue the trend of increasingly disturbing sounds emnating from my earphones and it's complete with a vocalist that irks me beyond reason AND fails to stand out among the countless other faceless vocalists with similar vocal ranges and with that said it fails to stamp an impression upon my cerebellum compelling me to return to it at some other time to try and get into it some more. In simpler terms, this song is so bland I don't have a reason to play it again once I'm done. The pace does not speed up any from the last track and Ao comes off as uninspired as it's name (which means VERY). Just skip.

terminal care contains the same slow, lumbering pace as the last two tracks but thankfully it doesn't come off as dead and lifeless. In fact, this song is somewhat interesting in that slow, semi-ballad manner. terminal care plays it as a simple ballad executed with skill, instead of sounding like some bioengineered hybrid freak of nature that botches every musical style it tries to incorporate into it's swirling vortex of sonic fail. What makes it better is that it's not one of those glam metal throwbacks that explode in an emotional finish but lacks any sort of give in the beginning of the song. The vocalist is solid throughout and isn't annoying to listen to. Having a singer that doesn't sound like a musical circumcision is always a plus. What neuters this plus is the ending; I know that it was supposed to simulate an EEG but it repeats nine times over a course of 35 seconds and it crawls to such a slow pace and inaudible volume it causes terminal care to overstay it's welcome. Three beeps would have been optimal.

Even with that inaudible trip-up terminal care is as good as it's gotten since Siva.

Nega's Born sounds horrible. Instruments sound too low and Jin's voice sucks more than usual. This isn't the hard and heavy Nega the way I prefer it and even if it's from their first album the quality of this song all around is so atrocious I cannot gloss over it. Do yourself a favor and skip this.

If this is a sampling of songs from 2007 that must have been a dark year for music in Japan. With only the second and the fifth track being recommended....yeah don't bother tracking this down.

Recommended:

Riot
terminal care

Score: 54%

review: born - abnormal head machine

The lowercase R in review was intentional.

I was looking for a new band to get into and I came across born's last album abnormal head machine. I figured I'd give them a try and see how it all ended up. That's what the review is for.

01. -A.H.M.-
02. Extremely Waltz
03. vermin's cry (A.H.M. ver)
04. with hate (A.H.M. ver)
05. Chemical Romance
06. Tragedy
07. white harmony (A.H.M. ver)
08. Innocent Bullet
09. Rotten Cherry
10. -tHiNk- (A.H.M ver)
11. Dust Pain (A.H.M. ver)
12. Ruisei no Hana
13. THE END

-A.H.M.-	A pretty bland instrumental with some mechanical drums and electronic effects thrown in. It doesn’t offer much and serves to make the introduction to the next track smoother.	3/10
Extremely Waltz	The change of pace a minute and a half in isn’t forceful enough and even though the track changes direction it doesn’t move me along with it. With the exception of Ryouga, the members feel washed out and quieted. Had this been a pure rock track or a complete slower number, the production wouldn’t have been as noticeable. Putting that aside, the drumming goes from setting the pace of the track at the beginning to being relentless near the end. The guitars do some nice riffs here and there and the bass is audible if not a little muted. Overall though, the production hurts what otherwise would have been a great opening track.	7/10
Vermin's cry (A.H.M ver)	All the tracks with A.H.M. next to it are previously released singles from what I grasp. The lead in to this from the previous track is smooth which nets both a few points. The verses are pretty dark with some riffing on the side supported by relentless drums, but it’s the chorus that throws me for a loop. It’s sandwiched into two very hard parts and doesn’t sound natural even though the flow is good. This pattern is repeated consistently as well. That, and personally I dislike hard verses contrasted by overly poppy choruses. The chorus is the only time the bass guitar emerges for some fun and the guitars play fine but the harsh vocals in this track aren’t as harsh as they can be and it comes off very unsatisfying by the end of it. I personally enjoyed Extremely Waltz more.	6/10
with hate (A.H.M. ver)	The track isn’t bipolar in nature and the track sounds great with surprisingly audible bass and semi-piercing screams. The chorus flows well with the track and the verses are consistent. The drums sound the loudest here but the guitars are a little more muted than usual. It’s a little short but it works.	7/10
Chemical Romance	Ryouga’s voice in the verses are annoying and most of the verses are just average vocal-wise. The chorus is upbeat and another sandwiched section done awkwardly but I personally think that it’s the shining point of the song. The solo is also pretty good and everything sounds better overall. The little drum insertion near the end is also a nice touch. I’m quite undecided if I like this track or not.	6/10
Tragedy	It’s my opinion that nothing needs to be downproduced when the music is initially heavy. Tragedy suffers from that however and everything sounds unnecessarily deep and it moves along at the pace of Sexual Affection. The only thing that seems to escape from that vortex of deepness where drum pedal and bass become one are Ryouga’s voice and a solitary guitar line. Ryouga’s growls also sound horrible in parts compared to his clean singing voice (which I swear I’ve heard somewhere else). Once again, the chorus is introduced with little to no sense of flow going on whatsoever and it does not fit. The lighter parts also sound better than the deeper parts because all of the instruments become distinctive. Parts of this song are a tragedy indeed.	5/10
white harmony (A.H.M. ver)	A definite pick-me-up from the dragging last track. The riffs are distinctive and memorable and the drums sound solid. The chorus is also a contrast from the verse but the lead in is better. I personally find said chorus annoying. The contrast from solo (which was good) to upbeat lead-in part of verse needs work though. Not too crazy about this song but it does certain things right that merit a listen or two.	7/10
Innocent Bullet	It takes eight tracks for abnormal head machine to vomit up a track I can jump into. Innocent Bullet actually does everything I like: verses with attitudes and delivering vocals, badass guitars, and shifting bass and drums. Chorus kills some of the steam and is as polarizing as hell but the riff afterwards always brings back some of the attitude. Had this song been equipped with a better chorus it would have been excellent. Then again, had most of the songs preceding this had a better chorus they would have been better as well so that’s not saying much in the grand scheme of things.	8/10
Rotten Cherry	Combines sound effects with hard rock and a lighter chord running throughout and grabs a different feeling than the tracks before it. The guitars have some nice riffs here and don’t sound as muddy as they have been all album. The drums abuse the cymbals and end up being the most disappointing instrument here, as it seems to be here only to keep time. The bass is hard to detect at first but he’s there. The chorus fits excellent here and the verses are listenable. Rotten Cherry turns out a package that’s worth listening to.	8/10
-tHiNk- (A.H.M ver)	The beginning is hard to swallow but the track moves into it’s own as it lumbers along. Drums have pulled a complete 180 and assert themselves firmly in the track. Guitars are rumbling and ominous and the bass is buried beneath them going strong but inaudible in all but the chorus to me. Ryouga balances singing with screaming and it works to a good extent here. However, the chorus sounds forced ONCE AGAIN and destroys the flow of the track. A very big disappointment in some respects but pretty decent otherwise.	7/10
Dust Pain (A.H.M. ver)	The opening passage is fine but the sudden transition into heavy doesn’t work. I like each of the individual parts bar the chorus but it doesn’t click together like it should. The lift back into lighter sounds moves at an uncomfortably fast pace and doesn’t. fucking. fit. although I find that it works better with the pace of the track than a sudden transition would. Born needs to work on their choruses and transitions.	6/10
Ruisai no Hana	I think it’s supposed to be a ballad but it sounds too loud and forceful to be one. It’s a nice try though and I was looking for a change of pace somewhere in this album. The chorus is surprisingly fresh and fits very well. Ryouga’s vocals could use some work but they aren’t atrocious. It’s a different sound and that’s welcome, but it’s too late to save this album from the grasp of mediocrity.	8/10
THE END	It lets its presence known from the outset with roaring vocals from Ryouga and backvocals from the rest of born. The beginning starts out with some ominous vocals and quieter passages contrasted with rough insertions and harder vocals. THE END tricks you though because when you think it’s going to dip into a chorus it erupts in screams and continues on. When the chorus does come the vocals sound like they don’t fit but there’s no abominable change of pace to be found. It’s the most consistent hard rocker since with hate earlier on and ends off the album on an acceptable note.	8/10

With the second half of the album receiving higher marks than the first half of the album and containing no track that is iconic of what born is capable of, abnormal head machine comes up empty at the end of the day. Those that are fans of born's downproduced, needlessly heavy sound with awkward choruses and bad transitions will find this album to be excellent. For those like me that need to have music that flows smoothly from one section to another this isn't the release for you. A part of this project is to find out what I like and what I don't, and born sadly falls into the latter. If I ever want to get into this band they're going to have to improve a lot in every aspect of their musical composition.

Recommended:

Innocent Bullet
Rotten Cherry

Rating: 66%