Billy - Wednesday ~I did to die~/lynch. - enemy

Merry frickin' Christmas. Here's some presents.

Billy - Wednesday ~somethingsomethinghere~ (download) is a pretty good single for an up-and-coming VK band. All jokes aside about the album art and their current 'outfits' (More like.. birthday suits..), they're talented. The main track sounds rather spooky, without collapsing under its own weight. The song is kind of ploddy and useless in some parts, since they can't figure out a better way to go into the chorus. That chorus that is gotten into through boring means ends up being worth the few seconds of boredom. The song goes through all this strange winding, keeping the bands strange enigmatic sound. The ending though.. it's kinda corny. They could have just ended it. For real. The b-side, Mother Goose is interesting but not interesting at the same time. I find myself having the song in my head, and not remembering what song it really is. I don't mind it, though. It's a good listen. The problem, though, is that they don't really sound like anyone but they don't sound like themselves either. Though.. their mini albums are really good.

lynch. - enemy (download) is what I wanted for a while. It has the heaviness, the groove, and the punch to keep me listening. It's a bit short, but that helps it stay fresh without ramming two more minutes of the same stuff into your ears. Its companion, STARZ is awesome just for the verses, and the first note of the chorus. The chorus kind of throws the song off. The first note is like "YAY" then the next just droops into popland without even sounding the least bit smart. I just keep thinking "I bet a thousand bands have done this before, and in more than one song." The repetition of the opening vocal line at the end is too short, strangely. Therefore, the song stops abruptly. ...Then into my ears leaks this crap that some may call a 'bonus track'. Well this, my friends. This.. is a 'vonus truck' (a la Lolita 23Q) Hazuki whimpers while some limp strumming is playing in the background. I can't listen to it for more than one third, so I can't tell you how the misery stops (Song ends) or how the torture drags (song goes after that one third). I mean, all I can imagine with this is they walk in some small crappy studio at 4 in the morning, all tired and such, attempting to make something interesting. Oh well. Usually vonus trucks aren't good. ::eyes 12012::

So there you have it! A day when I decided to review something, and it happened to be the day designated as Christmas.

Sadie - THE SUICIDE MACHINE/since1889 - Gaula.. or something like that

Only occasionally do I feel like reviewing some random super-indies band, but this time it's worth it. Oh, and I'm reviewing Sadie too.

Sadie's mini album.. thing starts out with Confusion, which starts with a nice heavy riff, but somehow trips over Mao's vocals and falls into generic-Sadie-song land until the nice fluid pre-chorus. I love when Mao sings the real high notes all softly and whatnot. It really hits the spot. And the frequency doesn't even bother me. On first listen, he sounded off-key, but now I've adjusted to his "I still wish I was Kyo" singing. Soon enough, we're treated to a somewhat slow one, Deathwish. This song is way too short. It could've been quite the joyride, but it's cut short. It has a great coulda-been chorus where the whole band sounds absolutely focused, all for bassman. But, right when I get into the song-- RIIIIIIING!!! It cuts into Voice of pain. It doesn't work. I'm tellin' ya. This song would be awesome if not placed next too Mr. I'm Too Cool to Be Long Enough to Fully Enjoy. This song meets all Sadie criteria: High screams out of nowhere during the chorus, incredible amounts of double-tracking, the standard drumming with the offbeat double bass I love so much, and the grey area also known as the first minute of the song. After this, though, we're given an awesome one. MAD-ROID. It kinda starts off dodgy, but finds itself immediately. The screaming parts don't sound randomly thrown in or anything. The verses aren't ploddy and useless.. The structure doesn't rinse OR repeat! The chorus is memorable and can't be confused with the other songs. It's a pretty fun song to listen to. It doesn't sound like it's about to end at any moment or anything. But.. then Empty Room starts and.. No. This is NOT a good closer. It's really boring and just leaves the whole album hanging. This coulda been right in the middle where filler goes.

Since 1889 fails to impress, but also fails to make me delete them. The useless intro, naked-I sounds like something that Sevendust threw into the Animosity out-takes bin, then MACABRE-era Dir en grey and NoGod came together and said "LET'S MAKE AN INDIES JAPANESE BAND OUT OF THIS". ..Then did so. And looped this out-take for about two minutes and threw some screams on it. But.. it leads into this AWESOME fist-raiser, F.O.D.. Plenty of background shouts and growls to be heard. They kinda remind me of Ruki with how they sound like Sadie vocals played on a slow record player. Some parts are kinda useless, but then the shouting comes back and the song picks up again. This should be their main style, definately. ..But not something like My November. It sounds like a "We need to do a filler song so we don't scare the girlies away." It would be nice if it were another band doing it.. Y'know, one that can pull off a softer song. The bass clicking is way overdone and the vocalist stumbles about like a drunken (insert generic singer here). He can't hit lower notes. He should sing in his natural voice. Unfortunately, he seems to refuse to do such a thing. End of single.. thing.

Yep, there y'have it. Two reviews. All late and stuff. ..Well, I have no more to say, so, until next time folks!