As much as I've wanted to, I've never really liked Mejibray. In an age where heavy and dark Visual Kei bands are getting harder and harder to come by, I had hoped their music might serve to ease the pain left in my heart by the constant disbandment of potential-filled hard-rock bands like D’espairsray, UnsraW, Dio – Distraught Overlord, -OZ-, and Signal. Unfortunately, I initially found Mejibray’s distorted vocals and musical disorganization on their previous releases frustratingly dull. And yet, the band’s style screamed out to me that they had potential, so I kept listening. It's a good thing I did, because Mejibray's potential is finally starting to show itself in the form of their latest mini-album, MESSIAH.bat. In this surprisingly well-orchestrated showcase of musical creativity, Mejibray has finally figured out how to turn some of their biggest musical flaws into their biggest strengths (I will point some of these out in the review). So while this review is not being written by a Mejibray fan, it is being written by a skeptic who is slowly being converted into enjoying the musical blitzkrieg that is Mejibray.
MESSIAH.bat Limited Edition Cover Art (Type A)
Tracklist:
1. Schwerzer Anfang (Regular Edition only)
2. Messiah
3. Fallin "MARIA"
4. [worms]
5. Kase to chinou -sorettetotemo ningen rashiitte kamisama wa waratteru no-
6. insomnia
7. Schwarze Messe (Regular Edition only)
Thematically, MESSIAH.bat is a cross between traditional heavy visual kei music and industrial metal. The titles of the first and last tracks are even in German, as if to give a nod to the industrial metal capitol of the world. The
intro track, "Schwerzer Anfang" (available only on the regular edition along with "Schwarze Messe"), is a
flurried, auto-tuned mess, but not in a bad way. You could say it's the industrial metal version of The GazettE's [XI] intro from their album DIVISION. "Messiah", the strongest and best-composed song on this mini-album, is an interesting blend of light and heavy music. Upbeat song verses are interrupted by scream-filled interludes, which are in turn interrupted by the upbeat chorus, until the three essentially merge towards the end of the song. And although "Messiah" has a composition formula similar to a lot of other upbeat visual kei songs, it's actually a refreshing take on what could have been yet another boring anime-opening-esque song that nearly every current visual kei band feels obligated to release. The next track, "Fallin 'MARIA'", could be described as a follow-up to or even an extension of "Messiah". It's a solid song in it's own right, but unfortunately it's still similar enough to "Messiah" to be absorbed and overshadowed by it when the two tracks are listened to in succession. By contrast, if you skip to the end of the album and listen to "insomnia", you will see that while it is also similar in style to "Messiah", the composition is varied enough and the track is far enough away on the album from "Messiah" that it is able to stand out as it's own unique contribution to MESSIAH.bat.
More than any other track on the album, "[worms]" (which comes after "Fallin' Maria") is a demonstration of the things that the band needs to improve upon. The song combines synth melodies with a repetitive drumbeat to create a sound reminiscent of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People". The song is catchy, but the energy built up in the verses is unfortunately wasted during the chorus, where Mejbray effectively shoots itself in the foot. The screams in the chorus are distorted down multiple octaves and fail to deliver the punch that the listener is expecting. Since their formation, Mejibray has been a repeat offender of annoying and excessive vocal distortion that really hurts the quality of their songs. There is a right way to do both high-pitched (see The GazettE's "Headache Man") and low-pitched (see Awoi's "Butterfly") scream distortion, and "[worms]" would lead you to believe that Mejibray has yet to find it.
And yet, as if to immediately contradict the blemishes found in "[worms]" (not to mention many of Mejbray's older songs), MESSIAH.bat immediately transitions into my hands-down favorite track on the album: "Kase to chinou -sorettetotemo ningen rashiitte kamisama wa waratteru no". The song opens with a generic club-music intro so convincing that for a second I thought my phone had somehow started to play a Top 40 radio station. At the 13-second mark, the song transitions with a bang into heavy guitar riffs with some slap-bass sprinkled in the background. Although the chorus is solid, the real star of the show is literally everything else. The verses spotlight gloriously tortured auto-tuned vocals and are immediately followed by intense screams and equally intense guitar riffs. The chorus uses lightly sung background vocals to tell the listener that "God laughs because suffering is a human thing" before the song repeats its vicious cycle. With "Kase to chinou -sorettetotemo ningen rashiitte kamisama wa waratteru no", Mejibray has finally harnessed their obscene and distorted vocal energy to create a delightfully maniacal work of art. It sets up the poweful yet energetic "insomnia" and the ominous ending track "Schwarze Messe" perfectly.
MESSIAH.bat is a perfect statement of how far Mejibray has come as a band. Although Mejibray has made more mistakes in their songs than your average indie visual kei band, they've done so with an intense energy that makes me confident that their next releases will continue to showcase an improved musical style. Although I've been very critical about Mejibray during this review, I also cannot stress how much potential this band has. While the other bands on their record label (White Side Group) are all virtually unknown, Mejibray has excelled beyond anyone's expectations. They've played many concerts, posed for magazine covers, and even made a few statements on the Oricon indies charts. They're still very rough around the edges, but with the technical-prowess potential of Deluhi, the shock-value potential of Dir en Grey, and the hit-making potential of The GazettE, Mejibray could easily be transformed by a larger record label (I'm looking at you, Danger Crue Records) into one of the leaders of the next generation of visual kei.
More than any other track on the album, "[worms]" (which comes after "Fallin' Maria") is a demonstration of the things that the band needs to improve upon. The song combines synth melodies with a repetitive drumbeat to create a sound reminiscent of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People". The song is catchy, but the energy built up in the verses is unfortunately wasted during the chorus, where Mejbray effectively shoots itself in the foot. The screams in the chorus are distorted down multiple octaves and fail to deliver the punch that the listener is expecting. Since their formation, Mejibray has been a repeat offender of annoying and excessive vocal distortion that really hurts the quality of their songs. There is a right way to do both high-pitched (see The GazettE's "Headache Man") and low-pitched (see Awoi's "Butterfly") scream distortion, and "[worms]" would lead you to believe that Mejibray has yet to find it.
And yet, as if to immediately contradict the blemishes found in "[worms]" (not to mention many of Mejbray's older songs), MESSIAH.bat immediately transitions into my hands-down favorite track on the album: "Kase to chinou -sorettetotemo ningen rashiitte kamisama wa waratteru no". The song opens with a generic club-music intro so convincing that for a second I thought my phone had somehow started to play a Top 40 radio station. At the 13-second mark, the song transitions with a bang into heavy guitar riffs with some slap-bass sprinkled in the background. Although the chorus is solid, the real star of the show is literally everything else. The verses spotlight gloriously tortured auto-tuned vocals and are immediately followed by intense screams and equally intense guitar riffs. The chorus uses lightly sung background vocals to tell the listener that "God laughs because suffering is a human thing" before the song repeats its vicious cycle. With "Kase to chinou -sorettetotemo ningen rashiitte kamisama wa waratteru no", Mejibray has finally harnessed their obscene and distorted vocal energy to create a delightfully maniacal work of art. It sets up the poweful yet energetic "insomnia" and the ominous ending track "Schwarze Messe" perfectly.
MESSIAH.bat is a perfect statement of how far Mejibray has come as a band. Although Mejibray has made more mistakes in their songs than your average indie visual kei band, they've done so with an intense energy that makes me confident that their next releases will continue to showcase an improved musical style. Although I've been very critical about Mejibray during this review, I also cannot stress how much potential this band has. While the other bands on their record label (White Side Group) are all virtually unknown, Mejibray has excelled beyond anyone's expectations. They've played many concerts, posed for magazine covers, and even made a few statements on the Oricon indies charts. They're still very rough around the edges, but with the technical-prowess potential of Deluhi, the shock-value potential of Dir en Grey, and the hit-making potential of The GazettE, Mejibray could easily be transformed by a larger record label (I'm looking at you, Danger Crue Records) into one of the leaders of the next generation of visual kei.
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