Alice Nine goes back to colourful, crazy visual kei with the release of Senkou, I believe they were made to look like characters from the anime Sengoku Musou [see this post for details].
I've heard a lot of people talking trash about their new look, but personally I adore it. Alice Nine seems to be keeping the street look intact while making it crazy and visual kei in their own way. I love everything from Hiroto's trench coat to Nao's striped arm warmer to Tora's red harem pants [and oh, how we'd all love to have this man in our harems.]
The PV is engaging, to say the least, with crazy, clubbish lighting, everyone's new hair, and Shou, of course, with a studded eye-patch and brandishing a samurai sword covered in glitter [I'm intimidated, really].
The overuse of special effects and lighting does get distracting and almost garish in some parts; you'd think that after all this time, Alice Nine would've solved that one, it makes them look sort of like a new band. I've got nothing against the use of either of these, and I loved the crazy lights in RAINBOWS, but this is just a little overdoing it. The PV is a bit of a roller-coaster like that, really. They need a warning that states DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU ARE PREGNANT, INTOXICATED OR SUFFER FROM EXTREME MOTION SICKNESS
And I really wish Alice Nine had used a real story [although they aren't exactly known for this one], because the song would've lent itself beautifully to one.
Onto the good parts!
This is something I've come to expect of Alice Nine, but the camera gets some interesting angles, and pans in engaging ways from member to member, keeping the time of the song; visually working in cohesion with the pauses etc.
Also, thankfully, nobody hogs the limelight here; I hate it when all the members don't get equal film-time; It's a bit demeaning to the rest of the band.
Now this is the part where I gush excessively and uncontrollably about how much I love the song that accompanies this video.
It starts relatively quiet and soft-rock, like a lot of A9's songs are, and develops to the point of Tora and Hiroto doing some impressive shredding, and Saga [a lot of people don't notice bass players, but I refuse to listen to bands who get away with having their bassist play three notes for the entirety of a song] and Nao [again, a lot of people don't notice if the drummer plays a 4/4 beat all through] providing a strong backdrop for Shou's, as always, theatric, enjoyable performance.
I've heard a lot of people say that a song sounding theme-songish is a bad thing, but I don't really subscribe to this one.
All in all, Senkou leaves one waiting for Alice Nine's imminent release, with it's variety and use of colour. I don't know about you, but I'm going to be rushing to a store first thing on Wednesday.
All in all, Senkou leaves one waiting for Alice Nine's imminent release, with it's variety and use of colour. I don't know about you, but I'm going to be rushing to a store first thing on Wednesday.
You can pre-order the limited edition, A-Side regular edition or B-Side regular edition.
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