Gazette - Guren/Siva - Wrong of Justice

PSC has been on the fail bus for the most part lately. There's no denying it. Alice Nine is terrible. Miyavi is formulaic. Kra is dull. Gazette has been disappointing. Now, Screw, Sug, and Kagrra may be a glimmer of hope, it's not big enough to make the other bands take a look (Except in Gazette's case), and not small enough to make them look like Undercode. But that middle ground makes it hard to be interested in PSC releases.

Like this one. Gazette has been lookin' gooood. That's a bad sign. When a no-longer-VK-sounding major band starts VKing it up, they're obviously compensating. They released Guren recently. And I don't think anyone heard it on time. Except die-hard fans. And I consider myself a moderate fan of this band. I can forgive them no matter how crappy they get. 'Cause I admire Ruki. Musically and visually. But.. Guren, which sounds like a very weak Kagrra song fails to make me go "Wow that's a new step" even though it is. It's a weak slowie that belongs on track 6 of an album. So I only watch the PV to stare at them. The sound is just a background thing. So onto Kugutsue. This song has so much potential. It has some catchy screamy bits that could be awesome live, but then the guitars are weak, and stay in a comfort zone, as with Ruki's constant comfort zone vocals. But I actually really like this song. I think Ruki's inability to scream in a smooth manner helps songs like this, and their guest singers' inability to sing in a manner that isn't unusual and kinda jarring, too. It works! It puts spice on this otherwise bland and dull song. It's also nice being able to hear Reita's voice clearly. So next is our vonus truck. I guess they knew that people are going to want to see the Guren PV with Ruki's mic-fellatio really bad, so they didn't have to try to do anything with the vonus truck but one thing. Make money. Sap fangirls by luring them in with a vonus truck that they can't hear until buying or downloading. And in this case, buying BOTH VERSIONS to get a poster. How does this stuff possibly get so many people? In short... YOUR SEXY CAN'T SAVE YOU FOREVER!!!

So on the Undercode side is Siva. With Wrong of Justice. I won't go on about it, but basically, this single should be called "We Don't Care, But You Should Still Buy Our Stuff" It's uninspired, generic, and dull. It's hard to keep up with a band that only comes up with one good riff for every five songs. Their demotype song was awesome, and the first two singles were tolerable. But this is not. It just goes in one ear, irritates me a bit, and falls out the other. In (relatively) short... VK BANDS ARE GETTING LAZY AND IT'S HARD TO DEFEND THE NEW ONES NOW THX ALOT.

Billy - Bouquet

Billy is an amazing band. I reviewed them here once, and I wasn't..ready for them at the time. I was still getting used to them. They're a band where one listen isn't enough. Their music is so intricate, unusual, and sometimes even atonal, that on first listen it just sounds like.. noise. Or in other cases, generic Oshare-tinted VK. It takes me a while to get used to every release they make. Even this one. I decided to hold off on reviewing it until I understood it. And now I do. So here goes.

The album starts out with Brilliant Bouquet & Braveheart Boy. Kinda.. boring for a first song. The first song is supposed to pull me in! Not push me away! Honestly, this song almost made me lose my hope for how good the album could be. 'Cause it was exactly what I feared from them-- actual genericness. So it gets skipped.

Butterfly United is as usual, stellar. The beginning of the song is very.. misleading. When I heard the OHP sample, I was like "Oh no!" But the rest is just as unpredictable and crafty as their normal work. The verses and prechourus nearly contrast with eachother, and the chorus brings an oddly familiar feeling. Baku's voice doesn't fail to hit notes here how he would occasionally on Bio-Sokeisuru BIO. I'm more than impressed with this.

Casablanca is pretty lolzy. They have an interesting way of the "swingy song". But they're not fooling me with the drums ripped from their song, Another Seisyun-Jidai, which is alot better than this.

Closet Love Story is just.. there. Fillorz.

Liar Game made fall in love with this album. Wow. It's.. AMAZING! The atonality is here, and so is Baku's weird singing.. and the random happy chorus. That's a recognizable Billy trait-- and they do it with sheer awesomeness here. The pre-chorus has such a great note choice from all the members. It isn't missing anything at all. And the weird background stuff in the chorus is also well-executed. I also like how the guitar tone is sort of.. thin. It really works for this song. And, on top of it, their teamwork really helps it.

Nikundaegao is a great remake. The only copy of the original on the interwebs is in terrible quality and skips and is damaged. It's great how I can finally hear the whole structure of the song. Now, the guitarwork isn't as good on this one, and the bassline isn't half as cool-- but I still love it. It became its own song. Mostly because of the vocal performance and the more audible drumming. I can see how its dissonance can throw people off, and the general weirdness may not be appealing to most, but that really makes me love the song. It's a hard song to hum for the most part, and I find that very appealing. Overall, I'm blown away even if it's not as strange as the original.

I never liked Mikaduki.

Will Smile is another remake. Not a good one.

Lagrange Point is boring and obnoxious about how boring it is.

be.LI[Eve] is another great one. It definately requires patience, since it doesn't hit from the start. It takes a while to build up and finally get to the good parts. It takes a while to get there, but it's still worth it. But.. the fact that it takes a while makes it less likely that I'll just turn it on and jam.

Rose Helicopter... .. ...next.

Wakusei Venus is sweet! It has a mysterious, dark feel to it. But in a different way than their Babies, Goodbye kind of mysterious and dark. It's beautiful when it finally blooms into its full form and gets to the chorus. The progressions, the chords, the path the song takes.. it's just mindblowing. It has a mid-90's kind of note progression (which they do alot), and they always make use of the corny synth in the most creative ways I've ever heard in non-gothic visual music. The vocal lines to the chorus are the kind that make you want to sing it with all your heart. It's wonderful! I love this song.

(Song with extra long title) is basically the lyrics to an older song of theirs, but with pianoey synthey things. And nothing else.

Willian Henly Bobbin is a vonus truck.

Despite the terrible songs, the awesome ones are of epic awesomeness. So it's forgivable that there are forced oshare songs. So, in closing... VICTOLY!!!

Deathgaze - insult kiss me/the studs - Niji no iro

I thought for sure Deathgaze was gone! But they aren't. And they're back. With 'insult kiss me'. Apparently now the bassist, Ai is on vocals. And it doesn't sound like it. On the first/title track, which is bland Deathgazeness, he could've said it was Sou, and I'd believe him. The riffs are still the drop A chug-chugs they've been doing forever. Nothing impressive. The remake(?) of disease is.. a remake. The screamed vocals are heavily distorted. Bleh. The song is uninspired anyway. Chaos is one of my favorite Deathgaze songs, and it'd be almost impossible to mess up. And it finally, FINALLY, starts on the right beat and doesn't confuse my ears anymore! But the bass thing in the beginning is gone. Oh well. The distortion actually works on this song. It's just that it becomes really apparent that Ai isn't the best screamer in the VK world. Sometimes his voice leaks. (That's a term I use to describe vocalists whose talking voices.. leak into their screaming. Where you hear the scream but you can also hear their talking voice too because of strain) Overall, I still get that good headbangey groovy feeling I would otherwise get. It's just that.. it's a shame the only song I'm into is a remake. In closing.. IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!

The Studs also released them some new music. Niji no Iro, the title track is.. bland. I still like it, but there's nothing that makes me go "wow this is cool". Aie saves this song with his awesome. Nagaeku Akairo also.. just sits there. And also is saved by Aie's awesome. Shakunetsu ha reido is dull as hell. In closing.. NO.

Girugamesh - Girugamesh

So Girugamesh has a new album. And.. It's a new album. Shocking? Yeah, to me! I was expecting generic heaps of boredom. Ok, so...

Patchwork, which suprisingly does not ease in from the intro like J-albums usually do is a pretty cool song. It's in a new key (which is nice for bands to do), has a new rhythm type, new riff ideas, and all that. It's actually a song I don't listen to because of Satoshi. His vocals are pretty average here, but everything else is so well-crafted, that he didn't need to do something special. The intensity of the chorus is so awesome, it's hard to describe. The background vocals are mixed properly (They don't sound like an ogre chewing or someone banging on a metal door), the syllable timing choices are awesome as usual... Overall, I love this song.

Vermillion (c/w Slipknot song title) is just.. there. It's not easy enough to accidentally leave on, it's not good enough to listen to on purpose. I'll pass on this one.

Stupid awesome. Just plain awesome. It has all of the qualifications to be the the song they drag out forever but is still cool. It's just under 2 minutes on the album, but I'm sure it will last like 5-10 live. The chorus..type..thing is even cooler than Patchwork's. That background shouts are the best J-rock shouts this side of Dir en grey's Die. Satoshi's high..er pitched scream was something I had to hear a couple times. I was blown away.

Barikedo is clever in some areas, lacking in others. The verses are predictable, the section transitions are also predictable, but some parts are worth listening to. This is a fillerish song. Not total filler, but, nothing that stands out.

Shining is also filler. It may appeal to some, but.. eh. The chorus is sadly put to waste on this song. It's kinda cool. Oh well.

Shiroi Sokuseki doesn't do anything for me. It's really limp. It's been done before. Alot. Next.

Crazy-Flag is... good! But not spectacular. The sample was misleading. I thought it'd be an awesomefest.. but it isn't. It's just like "yeah I like this song ::headbang::" It should be better live.

[shoujo-A] is a title I swear I've seen before. I think from Kagerou. It's a nice thumpy rocker. Its smoothness overcomes the urge to skip it. It has a really nu-metally feel to it, which of course really appeals to me, and I love the thick bass tone. This is actually the song that should accidentally come on.

Rocker's is formulaic. Nothing special at all.

Dance Rock Night...

Domino is the song that let me know this album is ending. It's bleh.

Kowareteiku Sekai is a terrible PV choice. It's not really special. The melodies are simple and easy to think up. (Sadly like alot of their music..) but the ideas they're based on are full of potential (Sadly like alot of their music) and the climax gave my ears blue balls. Oh well.

So, in closing, I say...

TRY HARDER NEXT TIME