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**Click Here to Read Part One (#30-21)**
Sorry for the gap between part one and this part, but hey, the website was down for repairs. Doesn't it look great now? Anyways, let's continue forward with my picks for the albums of the year!
20.
THE STALIN -666-/BORN
When I first heard that BORN was going to call their new mini-album THE STALIN, certain images popped into mind. For those unfamiliar, legendary Japanese punk musician Michiro Endo, who influenced the beginnings of visual-kei significantly, fronted a punk band called The Stalin for a number of years before striking it solo. Dir en Grey’s vocalist Kyo has also invoked the word ‘Stalin’ a number of times, including standing on a platform with ‘STALIN’ written on it for a tour. Thus, I was skeptical that BORN, who as of late seems to embody the phrase, “going through a rough patch”, could pull this off invoking such loaded imagery. And while perhaps this isn’t on par with Dir en Grey or Michiro Endo, it is a very solid mini-album.
Back in my review of VIGOUR, their
last LP (between then and now, they haven’t issued any releases other than
singles, actually), I noted that BORN had a unique sound even within
visual-kei, and I like to think THE STALIN testifies to that. It merges a sort
of concept of Stalinist imagery with BORN’s trademark gritty image (Ryouga’s
vocals are center in this), and largely succeeds. Compared to VIGOUR or DOGMA
before it, THE STALIN is a success in that BORN manages to maintain this
Stalinist theme for the entire album.
The album is also characterized by
experimentation on BORN’s part, and aside from some rather horrid autotune on
"SKIN", the experimenting pays off. Granted the risk, and subsequent pay-off, is
never on the level of their single “BLASTED ANIMALS”, but it still is nice to
see BORN trying something new that doesn’t feel like BORN-lite compared to
“DEVILISH OF THE PUNK”. What is also interesting is that at numerous points in
the album, basslines stick out in a very pronounced way, which is quite strange
for a band with no bassist at the moment. However, the slap-bass characteristic
of their support bassist is somewhat off-putting at time, as it is a change for
BORN.
Having noted the success that is this album, I can’t shake the feeling that it is somewhat of an aberration for BORN. BORN has been having trouble putting together releases longer than a single for a decent amount of time now, and while this one succeeds, it feels like a tenuous success, particularly after hearing their new single, “Son of a Bitch”. BORN seems to be able to, more than any other band on the scene right now, fail and succeed during the course of a single song. “Son of a Bitch” is a mess at moments yet not the entire thing, versus the stylistic fail of something like MERRY’s “ZERO” which tries to hard to put as many stylistic shifts in a single track and falls on its face. While this release is solid, it thrives on a unified dark atmosphere, and I question where any of the individual tracks would be without the unity of the atmosphere. Thus, I look with anticipation to BORN’s next release and hope they can bring the thematic success of THE STALIN and merge it with a longer length record like VIGOUR.
KEY TRACKS: “THE STALIN”, “DIARY”, “Haiso no Chou”
Official Site: http://www.indie-psc.com/born/
Twitter: @BORN_staff
19. 砂糖と塩 (Satou to Shio)/Yeti
After having already received two mini-albums from Yeti
since their formation, including two last year alone, I was somewhat perturbed
to hear that again, the band was choosing to release an EP versus a single or
album.
The opening track “Welcome” sounds so much similar to
tracks on their past two EPs that it almost risks turning the listener off the
album, before the band launches into “loop”. Hands-down, “loop” showcases the
band’s talent more than any of their previous tracks. It brings in the guitar
layering that gives Yeti such a unique sound, and milks it for one of the most
addictive tracks of this year. While the rest of the album isn’t as technically
impressive, it is very clearly the product of a band that has developed their
trademark sound even more since their last EP. Tracks like “Kakurenbo” show off
Yeti bringing in an almost math-rock level of layering instruments and having
them intersect. In sum, the band seems to have drawn on what worked from their
past two EPs and crafted a sound of their own.
The album also has the slower track, “postman”, which is
Yeti’s best slow track to date. Emiru’s vocals are given enough room on this
track to be truly appreciated, and the guitars take a backseat to the bass and
drums for once, giving a more balanced image of the band. Satou to Shio is
certainly the product of a growing Yeti, however, what somewhat irks me is that
the band has not yet put out a single, or more importantly, and LP. While Satou
to Shio is good, it isn’t higher on this list because there isn’t any sense of
flow or unity between the tracks. For instance, the opening track, “Welcome”,
doesn’t really lead into the next, “loop”. It wouldn’t have taken much to do
so, and would have made the beginning of “loop” that much more meaningful. In
the end, Yeti still has growing to do, and it would likely behoove the group to
try a full-length release.
KEY TRACKS: “loop”, “postman”,
“beautiful”
Official Site: http://yeti-web.jp/
18. Psyche/Angelo
Angelo, while a compelling
band, has struggled sometimes to make a captivating record, with tracks
sometimes blending together and not sounding original, despite moments of
brilliance on all their albums. Psyche is a huge step in the right direction,
with the band at the best of their career.
The band has a clear sound of
their own at their moments of brilliance, and even if this album isn’t always
the band at 100%, it always clearly sounds distinctly Angelo, something
previous albums have sometimes struggled with. Kirito’s voice is a driving
force in this, as is Karyu’s guitar. The fact that the band manages to spread
their signature sound out over the entire album is good, as this was lacking in
last year’s Faith.
While this album is good, it
suffers from a problem Angelo has had for a while now, which is a failure to
take chances. Additionally the weakest part of the album is dead in the middle
of it, making listening somewhat worse than if the tracks would have been
sequenced differently. This is somewhat frustrating, as much of my gripes with
2012’s Retina, and 2013’s Faith are still present. The band is good, quite so,
but they need to continue to evolve, or if their next album has similar flaws,
I am really going to fear stagnation.
This is Angelo’s best, even if
at times it is predictable for them. This isn’t Angelo reinventing the musical
wheel, but it is Angelo doing what they do best, really well, for a good two
thirds of the album.
KEY TRACKS: “SCARE”, “Perfect
Plan”, “Pray”, “報いの虹
(Mukui no Niji/Reward of the Rainbow)”
Official Site: http://angeloweb.jp/
Twitter: @Angelo_info17. ニア・イコール (Near Equal)/ アルルカン (Arlequin)
Bands with people dressing up
as slightly horrific versions of circus staff tend to be doing well this year
on the albums of the year list (NoGoD’s vocalist dressing like a Harlequin
clown, and Arlequin’s dressing up also). Arlequin burst on to the scene only
just the end of last year, and has been barreling forward at a staggering pace,
perhaps reminiscent of Mejibray’s. After a string of stellar singles, they have
gifted us an LP, and what a gift.
First, a big difference about
this album from some of their previous work is that while it is a very
even-handed portrait of the band and does give us plenty of what we have
already seen, it is indicative of Arlequin being a harder sounding band than
some of their singles have let on. Screams and growls are far more plentiful
here, but it is not necessarily unwelcome. The band still has very interesting
compositions that never become boring, changing sound throughout. The album
also mixes in programmed sounds and keyboards at time, for a nice effect, but
just like ALSDEAD, their sparing use does not detract from the band’s
instrumentation.
This album clearly puts
Arlequin on the radar, if they weren’t already. Many indie bands that show the
promise Arlequin does end up failing to assemble a debut LP of this depth and
intensity. Arlequin, while as VKH Press co-writer Jeff noted, “played it safe”
with Near Equal, this is still a very nice start, and a good building block.
KEY TRACKS: “Eclipse”, “墓穴”,
“missing”, “ステラ
(Stella)”
Official Site: http://arlequin-web.com/
Twitter: @Arlequin_offi16. IDEA-イデア-/ALSDEAD
ALSDEAD is a band whose career
inspires me to love them, and makes it almost impossible to hate them. In the
six years they have been around, more than any other visual-kei band I can
think of in the scene, they have improved. Most bands that start sounding like
ALSDEAD did, well, not the greatest, do not improve to the level of last year’s
number thirteen album of the year pick, Separator. This being said, IDEA is an
improvement even on last year’s album, and situates ALSDEAD as one of the most
promising more aggressive, harder sounding outfits in visual-kei.
The idea of clean-cut, stark
outfits and visuals, mixed with extreme precision and hard rock that Kuroyume
pioneered Nagoya-kei with is increasingly alien to the scene, particularly with
the disbandment of EAT YOU ALIVE.
However, while ALSDEAD is clearly not Nagoya-kei, they certainly have a
foot in it. The band here distills their aggression found on tracks like
“Puzzle” before into a more coherent, long form album, and it works well. The
band manages to create an entire album that is hard, yet, balanced with the
range they can cover as a band. Maki has a captivating stage presence that is
transferred beautifully to the music videos for and songs of this album. Maki’s
mixture of screaming and singing is pulled off with increasing expertise in
this album compared to even last year’s Separator. Additionally, having nikky
of the now seemingly defunct powerhouse that was GALEYD on drums is a treat.
IDEA continues some of the
aesthetic choices from Separator, namely, use of some electronic sounds in the
background. While generally I am not a huge fan of them in my visual-kei,
ALSDEAD’s album last year worked them surprisingly well, with the lead-in to the
track “Heaven” from “Flight” being nothing sort of brilliant (and also quite
haunting). Again with this album, the band manages to work with the programming
in a way that is not only tolerable but adds to some tracks, such as “Behind
the Pride”. Last year, I also remarked how the band was able to implement
programming to create a motif present throughout the album making it have one
of the neatest flows of last year. IDEA does not do anything similar, however,
I think this was a smart choice, as simply recreating the success of Separator
would lead to thoughts of unoriginality.
IDEA is another triumph for
ALSDEAD, with a number of unique songs. ALSDEAD succeeds with this album mainly
because it is so expressly them. The songs all sound like the band, for lack of
a better explanation. A balance between harder and lighter songs never needs to
be struck because the band integrates such a balance so well into their sound
and style.
KEY TRACKS: “IDEA”,
“STARLESS”, “KILL THE KING”, “Behind the Pride”
Official Site: http://alsdead.com/
Twitter: @ALSDEADofficial15. Nero/The Gallo
If you
haven’t been keeping an eye on this band, I can’t really fault you, as I wasn’t
either, however, this album is a clear indication that everyone should have
them on their radar.
Tracks
such as “市電拾七番系統売國奴轢死事件” change sound as fast as some
of the sections of the songs sound. The album as a whole is unpredictable, and
the band, while still rough around the edges, builds a flow that lasts
throughout the entire album. The album is unique in that it is one of the more
atmospheric and dark sounding albums on this list, yet at other times, it is
just pure upbeat fun such as parts of the track, “極東恋時雨・鼠”.
The album clearly speaks to the range of the band in general, which is
everything from heavy guitars and screaming to slower, funkier numbers.
The
album is impressive stylistically, as it creates a thematic unity early on, and
demonstrates a talent on the band’s part for creating a balanced and
well-sequenced album that is above what some major bands have. The album varies
in sound considerably, demonstrating a range far above many of their indie
counterparts. The Gallo is a band to watch for sure, as they have a unique and
intriguing sound, one that is both dark and variable, that few other bands
have.
KEY
TRACKS: “市電拾七番系統売國奴轢死事件”, “夢葬”
,“流星”
Official Site: http://9allo.jp/
Twitter: @GalloTheTweet14. Make A New World/NoGoD
This
is quite easily one of my favorite NoGoD releases, if not my favorite. In
honesty, I wasn’t necessarily expecting to say that after their last album,
however, Make A New World is quite a different story. This album stands perhaps
alone in their discography as being most demonstrative of their range as a
band, and almost an overview of the career, yet melded into a single coherent
sound.
The
album contains the amazing guitars and headbanging numbers one has come to
expect from this band, but alongside this time are some of the better slower
numbers, if not the best, since their indie days. While still not entirely on
par with some of their earlier material that was slower, the tracks “Ⅰ-回顧” and “野に咲く君へ” bring to mind a NoGoD from the
past, whose albums were balanced between heavier and lighter tracks. This is
quite welcome, as instead of detracting from the upbeat atmosphere of the
album, it adds a contrast, particularly with the variation in “Ⅰ-回顧” alone.
The
album clearly, as all NoGoD albums do, speaks to the talent of this band. Kyrie
in particular demonstrates his talent with the guitar in amazing fashion on
this album, shining on the slower numbers as much as his shredding on the more
upbeat ones. However, Dancho’s vocals also stand out here in that he simply
covers more range in this album than NoGoD’s past two releases.
Overall,
this album is not so much a return to form as it is an excellent manifestation
of form. NoGoD’s past two albums have left a sense of not capturing the band
the way their indie work did, however, Make A New World doesn’t really contain
a bad track.
KEY
TRACKS: “Follow”, “十人十色”, “EZ L1F3”, “野に咲く君へ”
Official Site: http://www.artpop.org/nogod/
Twitter: @NoGoD_Official
13. niche/yazzmad
It is
strange for a song called “Pessimism”, I feel, to give you a wave of peace,
yet, that is what the opening track on yazzmad’s new mini-album does. It feels
like a simultaneous return to form and embrace of their entire career’s sound,
in addition to being just a beauty of a track. Yet, this mini-album isn’t
necessarily that – a return to form that is. The mini-album is indeed quite
nice, but is even more of a departure than last year’s LP, picturesque.
The
first two tracks sound as if they are an evolution of material that appeared on
yazzmad’s door E.P., with slight evolution. The tracks in general communicate
yazzmad’s style of layered guitars with very intentional selection of echo and
reverb and pedals, creating airy sounding tracks as before.
The
sense that this mini-album is continuing exploration of a new style hits you as
a listener on the third track, “Odoru Pelican”. The track sounds like amber
gris meets Moran, a la yazzmad. The following track sounds reminiscent of
numerous ones on picturesque, with a slightly varied composition and emphasis
on rhythm guitars.
Yet,
the closing track is a complete departure from this. It returns to heavy usage
of echo and reverb during the chorus to create an almost shoegaze feel
(reminiscent of earlier yazzmad) and vocalist Naoki’s voice becomes
particularly full of emotion. On this track, Naoki is at his finest during the
entire album, challenging himself to a rather varied range.
niche
is a weird mini-album to have a year after picturesque. It seems to be very
clear that yazzmad is not in a complete free-fall with regards to stylistic
exploration although I can’t say I follow the direction they are headed in,
particularly after thinking picturesque indicated a direction. This being said,
the mini-album is an incredibly varied six tracks, and certainly enjoyable.
yazzmad seem to be picking up the pace of their releases, which is good news,
as it is becoming increasingly interesting to listen to them with each new
disc.
KEY
TRACKS: “ペシミズム”, “チャールズ”, “メトロ”
Official Site: http://yazzmad.syncl.jp/
Twitter: @yazzmad12. SIXNINE/ADAMS
ADAMS burst onto the scene
only a few years ago, but has already attracted a significant international
following with their unique take on visual-kei. Specifically, the duo’s concept is often realized through Adam and Shota engaging in boys’
love-styled videos, songs, and performances. Their first album was a blast to
listen to, between Shota’s excellent guitar playing, Adam’s vocals, and a
unique blend of rock and electronics.
Their second album is an
improvement on their past one in many ways. Shota’s guitarwork is still
stellar, with a number of the songs containing phenomenal riffs that steal the
show and get the track stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Adam seems
more confident as a singer in this album, trying an increased range. However,
this album is an improvement in the sense that it features a marriage of rock
and electronic dance sounds better than their debut NEO-SEXUAL. Additionally,
the band allows tracks to drift to either extreme of the spectrum, being more
electronic, or being more rock, and anything in between; this diversifies the
songs of the album, and showcases the variety of sounds the duo is capable of.
Overall, this album reaffirms
my belief that, like them or not, ADAMS is one of the most original bands on
the scenes right now. Their performances and music videos hearken back to a day
when visual-kei truly meant revolutionary performances, driven by the stage
presence of band members like Kyo of Dir en Grey and Kiyoharu of Kuroyume.
While they might be kissing instead of vomiting up fake blood, they certainly
seem to have met a demand judging by their popularity. However, just because
they have a rather provocative image doesn’t mean that anyone should discount
their music, as this album shows. This album demonstrates their growth as a
band in virtually every way, and it comes highly recommended.
KEY TRACKS: “Galaxy”, “White
Caress”, “Carry”, “Boku no Sei”, “Yoakemae”
Official Site: http://www.adamshota.com/
Twitter: @adamshota11. Switch/STEREO.C.K
In
some ways, the album’s title seems apt conceptually. This is very much a switch
from the sound that dominates mainstream visual-kei, but perhaps not surprising
given STEREO.C.K’s members. Hailing from some of the most unique sounding bands
to be on the visual-kei scene in the past decade (guitarist, Yuana, and
bassist, Kazu, were both in Kagerou and boogieman, Kazu now in the god and
death stars, and drummer Amon hailing from Kyokutou Girlfriend).
Switch
is a stand-out debut album from the band, with a diverse range of sound. For those
unacquainted with the sound of Kagerou, me simply invoking the name likely
won’t elicit any idea of the guitars on the album, but they are stellar. It is
a unique sound, as always from Yuana. Tracks usually have multiple guitars
going on, with Yuana having very crisp and pronounced guitars leading in the
front, and a guitar with more reverb in the back, creating a nice layered effect
and giving the songs a unique feel that has come to mark his work.
Additionally, Kazu’s bass drives many of the songs, even when set with Yuana’s
guitarwork. It has been a while since hearing Amon in Kyokutou, however, his
drumming is still top-notch. Tora’s vocals are also paired well with the music,
insofar as a voice distinct as his belongs in a band this polished, with this
interesting of compositions.
STEREO.C.K’s
songs are in many ways reminiscent of some cali≠gari tracks, in that the
instrumentation has a distinct continuity and flow to it throughout the album,
and Tora’s vocal are incredibly distinct. Much like some other notable
visual-kei bands with distinct sounds -heidi, SUICIDE ALI, kannivalism – a song
from this album comes on and you know it is STEREO.C.K. This being said, the EP
ultimately feels like the band is playing it safe. The opening track,
“Grow&Crow” comes off as the most adventurous, but also the best. From a
section in which Kazu is driving the song with his bass and Yuana’s guitars
become less notable even being louder, to Tora demonstrating the most of his
vocal range, the track is quite impressive. However, the rest of the album
doesn’t quite live up to how varied this track is. In the end, STEREO.C.K has
the benefit of only having incredibly talented and experienced musicians in the
band, but, like any other band, will likely have an awkward period where they
are cementing their style.
This album is a good debut from a band that has only given us expectations of such with past work. Here is hoping that STEREO.C.K embraces experimentation more on their next release.
KEY TRACKS: “Grow&Crow”, “Station”, “Vortex”
Official Site: http://stereock.com/
Twitter: @sck_official
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