Gekijo Tenor has unfortunately not hit huge success yet in their career, and now with "Pureness", are on their third album release. The band has retained a loyal following, however, and for good reason, if we are going based off this album. The album calls to mind experimentation (and subsequent reward) of bands like guitarist TaNa's old band, Munimuni.The album is perhaps the most diverse, in terms of sound, released yet this year, and that may very well remain true throughout the entire year - Gekijo Tenor has crafted a phenomenal album.
Tracklist:
1. Prologue
2. DokiDoki
3. number 00x
4. Beast
5. Innocent?
6. Diamond!!
7. 小さな家族
8. For the CAST
9. 逢いたい
The first track, “DokiDoki”, is as the name suggests, a more
upbeat number. It showcases the band’s versatility by being chalk full of
different sounds, and guitar work that is simply stellar. The guitar sounds
very similar to work by SUGIZO, echoing with a unique tone, and the bass has a
raw yet polished sound, giving the song additional depth. The vocals also make
this track stand out, as not only does the vocalist demonstrate skill, but
variety. The song progresses through many different parts and sounds, giving it
the complexity and depth of a composition from someone like DIAURA, but with a
different sound.
On the second track, the band moves into a harder sound.
Reminiscent of other Visual-Kei crowd-pleasers that use call and response
during lives, the chorus has a “Hey! Hey!” which likely translates to lives as
audience engagement, but works on the album just as well, as does the overall
heaviness of the track. It is interesting sequencing, given some of the other
tracks on the album, to immediately follow the lighter first track with this
heavy of a second, but despite any doubt I may have had initially, this band
pulls it off.
With the third track, “Beast”, the band shows off their
hardest side yet, with a particularly aggressive track. Also, be on the lookout
at the end of the track for some screams and growls that trail off a la
Ru:natic’s vocalist.
Track four, “Innocent?”, moves into category it seems every
Visual-Kei band has dabbled in at least once: Lounge-Kei (while I know nobody
else recognizes that as an official subgenre, humor me, I have been trying to
get that recognized for like four years now). This is by now means SID or even
a slow heidi. sound, rather, it draws on that sort of pop/1950s sound to create
a unique atmosphere. I saw unique because the track doesn’t make use of
stand-up bass and horns like some other tracks that could be categorized as
similar. It forgoes that to instead translate the more aggressive sound of the
past two tracks into this poppy backdrop, and it works splendidly. If you need
a close relevance, think some of the pop-y material that Lycaon has done on
recent releases. Similar to those, this is great.
“Diamond!!” is yet another interesting composition, and
easily the funkiest track on the album. Interesting vocals, with the guitars
also becoming a focal point of attention makes this track stand out. It is not
the album’s best track, but is welcome as an interesting experiment with sound.
The seventh track returns to a sound similar to the first
track, as it has a more standard rock sound with memorable bass and guitar
driving it. The track is also lighter than some of the other tracks preceding
it, and is rich in diverse sounds, making it one of my favorite tracks of the
album.
Track number eight, “For the CAST”, merges the lighter sound
of tracks like number one and seven with the more aggressive sound of three and
four, while still exploring new territory. This tracks thus comes off as
particularly impressive as a synthesis of sounds and yet a new one all the
same.
The final track, “Aitai” (roughly translated “I want to see
you”), is the slowest track of the album, and also the most laden with emotion.
It also excels in being slow yet still having a groove to it. The track itself
progresses through several different stages, and gives it a complexity that
makes an otherwise slow number very intriguing. The band pulls off this slow
track with seeming ease, and skill much similar to the other diverse tracks on
the album.
Overall, this album is united by elements such as the guitar
and bass playing, which have remarkably defined styles for an indie band. The
compositions remind me of DIAURA, not in a sense that they sound similar to
DIAURA, but that all the compositions are strikingly different from most
Visual-Kei, and rock, and stand out. This album also makes me think of jealkb’s
“V?” from two years back that stood out due to its incredibly varied soundscape
for a mini-album, which is the case here, if not even more so. Everything from
guitars to vocals traverse a vast spread of sounds here, and it is an album not
to miss.
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