2011 in review: music

How tremendously underwhelming was this year for music might I ask? Personally I've had a complete year of musical regression, re-living my school years with flashbacks to Linkin Park (when they were good), Avenged Sevenfold (when they were new) and Metallica (when they got themselves a goddamn orchestra!). This has mostly been nostalgic and hilarious, and the only way to get around the fact that there really has been very little to appreciate in the way of new music lately.

Of course 2011 finally brought us the eagerly anticipated Dum Spiro Spero from Dir en grey, which was quite good at dividing the crowds to say the least.

Ten points right off the bat for being the only album to feature a track that actually scared me, within barely a minute - indeed after the first track played through I turned the record off and didn't return to it for the hour that followed. I still don't know whether or not I like the whole album but I think it is nigh on perfect, in the sense that it accomplishes everything the band said they wanted it to accomplish. Months down the line I am still listening to it to try and figure out a real opinion but too many tracks are still being skipped in disdain and impatience. And other than Dir en grey we had:

the GazettE's latest offering of TOXIC. Once more the word "underwhelming" comes to mind. The album featured some particularly outstanding tracks but nothing as show-stopping as previous albums have seen. It should go without saying that the GazettE really do create things in their own world and with their own sound, and TOXIC still keeps that going, but ... "average" isn't a word I want to be using for them.

Honourable mentions must go to Sel'm's dusty doll single (reviewed here) and Sadie's COLD BLOOD album (featured here), for possibly being the music highlights of my year. Honourable mentions do NOT go to girugamesh's GO (undoubtably the biggest let-down of 2011) and lynch.'s I BELIEVE IN ME, which I still can't make myself go back to.

Finally honourable mentions go out to one of the most important bands to me, UnsraW, who broke up back in March, and to Sel'm whose outstanding vocalist and guitarist left in the same week. Swings and roundabouts, huh?

REVIEW: Sel'm - dusty doll (2011)

Sel'm - dusty doll
03/05/2011

WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYY???

That is indeed the the cry that I let out every time I have listened to Sel'm since Tora and Nagi (vocals and guitars, respectively) announced that they were leaving the band. I am MASSIVELY in love with Sel'm but with the band's vocals in particular, and the thought of Sel'm continuing with a different frontman isn't pleasant. They announced the two-track dusty doll as a live-only release that has since been available by mail-order, and even BEFORE hearing the samples I just had to get my hands on it.

We're doing this in reverse.

The best way I can describe the second track Throw away misery is as slightly schizophrenic. Musically the whole track makes me think of some kind of heavier D'espairsRay, with some fantastic guitar lines from Nagi in the intro alone. In fact, as much as I've never wanted to state the connection, this song makes me think a lot of a heavier band's take on girugamesh, Tora sounding stylistically a lot like Satoshi throughout. Unfortunately it's a bit of a weaker track, but it is entirely forgiven by the title track.

dusty doll is where it's at. Each instrument steps up for the whole song, a constant variety of cymbals providing a perfect backdrop to rolling bass and switching-up guitars, while of course Tora's voice characteristically soars across and around. This song is about 70% chorus, which would normally irritate me, but the interesting instrumentals between break it up just fine. A breakdown in the middle allows everything to get a bit heavier again before a final closing chorus (with MORE backdrop cymbals!), and you resign yourself to the fact that this chorus is going to be in your head for the whole day. But maybe that's ok, because it's just that good.


Playing the "let's be fair" card, I have to drop the overall rating of the single because of the weaker second track. But as far as I'm concerned, dusty doll is a great high note for Tora and Nagi to leave on. I love Sel'm, so much - they have a truly unique sound - but I can't imagine following them with a different vocalist. I'll give them a try, sure, but Tora's voice is simply sublime, and one-in-a-million.

★★★☆☆

REVIEW: lynch. - I Believe In Me (album) (2011)

Consider this a page-holder while I try to think of anything positive to say about this album.

REVIEW: lynch. - I Believe In Me (PV) (2011)

lynch.'s first release on a major label.

Repetative, in your face, completely uninspiring. I haven't listened to them since THE AVOIDED SUN in '07 and with this I don't feel like I've missed anything, but yet I still keep my eye on them, patiently waiting, maybe hoping.

Major shifts rarely do -anything- beneficial, musically, for bands. It was foolish of me to get my hopes up. I will say that it was better second and third time 'round, but that isn't the most positive of things to say.

★☆☆☆☆

Someone wake me up when they release another ecdysis or liberation chord

REVIEW: Sadie - COLD BLOOD (2011)

Sadie - COLD BLOOD (Regular edition)
30/03/2011

Sadie are devils. I couldn't tell you how easy it is to confuse title tracks because the singles they release tend to be painfully generic, and the accompanying PVs are bland at best, uncomfortable at worst. The trick, however, is that their B-sides and album tracks are more often than not actually really good. Diamonds in the rough if you will. And this is why, after shunning the last four singles, I bought in their new album to see what else they could provide. Good move, Break, good move.

慟哭 (doukoku) is an interesting and effective way to open an album, slow and quite deep, strong and positive words in a dark composition. It is very promising, and it somehow helps to take the over-familiar edge off Juggernaut that follows. Originally released in December 2010 this carries the aforementioned samey Sadie feel, but thrown so early into the mix, after the epic intro track, I can actually forgive it. A deep breath and a mini-Mao-roar brings us into LOOSING MY WAY OF THE PROUD, which is a short and fast-paced flashback to something they might have released as a B-side several years ago. Good times indeed.

砂漠のシンドローム (sabaku no syndrome) is somewhat weaker but carries some great melody in the pre-choruses, but isn't enough to distract us from the irritating familiarity of 棘-toge-, another single released last November. Maybe it's Mao's voice, maybe it's the more upbeat and happy tunes, I don't know, I just don't have patience for their title tracks anymore. deathtopia REALLY reminds me of a previous B-side - in a good way - and sounds more like a track from their 2006 THE SUICIDE MACHINE, but only succeeds in restoring the mind from the previous track as much as a zombie succeeds in dragging a crushed and mangled foot - slow, heavy, dragging along dead weight. Its efforts are crushed again by another single track, this time April 2010's ドレス (dress), whose opening piano notes try to tell you that it's going to be something different when really it's not. However, this just preludes a final run of greatness.



Graceful Angel is where the album-zombie finally stops dragging it's useless ex-limb and just hacks it off at the nearest useable joint, not outstanding per sé but good preparation for the sheer brilliance that is 霞に消える華 (kasumi ni kieru hana) - you've gotta love any song that opens with its own chorus. Despite not being the biggest fan of Mao's voice I really do like how his highs work in this song, and how the vocal melody tumbles along with very straight-forward yet very effective guitars - this song is a great example of when Sadie don't overtry, when their guitars aren't layered, when they have no bass or drum interludes and when the vocals are contained and not overplayed, they really really work. This piece of fantasticness rolls into the completely different GIMMICK which does briefly threaten to sound like Everything Else Ever but then rescues itself with a catchy chorus that must be amazing as part of a live set.

クライモア (Cry more) rounds off our Run Of Brilliance, and this is where I bow my head in apology as this is one of the much-disapproved-of title tracks, released last September. But I'm not going to deny, with the exclusion of a very standard chorus, it is a good song. It stays in your head, everything from the floaty pre-chorus to the fantastically catchy little crash-cymbal trios, and the call-response breakdown half way through really makes the song stand out.



The album closes with 瞼の憂鬱 (mabuta no yuuutsu) which I will admit feels a little extraneous. It fits the mold of a closing track and that is all that can be said really. There's nothing wrong with it but it doesn't stand out - it fulfils its role. The regular edition of the album also feaures an unplugged version of ドレス (dress), band leaders Mao and Aki producing quite a sweet version of the song with only vocals and piano, and while it is nicely done it is no competition for the wonderful unplugged 陽炎 (kagerou) from 2009.

Despite weaker moments, the production in this album is brilliant. The order of tracks really works, and I mean really works, and at just over an hour long in total there is a lot to listen to. Something I really do like about Sadie is that you always know where all band members are in any given track - guitars never get lost in sloppy riffs, the bass is never lost behind other instruments - and this is maintained throughout the whole release. Knowing that they can produce good quality stuff like this definitely rewards the endurance of very samey singles and often cringeworthy PVs. Good work, boys, good work.

★★★★☆

REVIEW: girugamesh - GO (2011)

girugamesh - GO (limited edition)
26/01/2011

girugamesh have always had a way with opening tracks - bass-heavy or techno and energetic - but right off the bat this intro is too slow, and too quiet. It doesn't bode well, but it leads nicely into the already-established Destiny.



Great sing-along vocals carry the song through the verses while good rocky guitar does its work inbetween, even enjoying a little six-stringed breakdown of sorts in the middle. The chorus is much lighter, more pleasant if you will, but it all rides smoothly along that encouraging girugamesh fire that burns underneath.

EXIT comes along to put that fire out.
Well, that's being slightly unfair. The song starts with the good get-going guitar you'd expect to find in the middle of an album, but then kicks into vocals that want to be closing a tracklist. Here is where one of the fundamental problems with this album begins: the music and the vocals do not want to mix. On several occassions - beginning here - nice underlying bass and good heavier guitars could make a pretty ok rock track, and then pop vocals come in to mix it up. And not in a good way. For this reason, EXIT comes across more as throw-away filler. It's a shame, but every album needs them.

It's easy to miss the transition between songs as COLOR bears exactly the same problem - pop vocals betraying rock music. The only consistency here is the lack of consistency. That's ... not good consistency there, boys. An easy throw-away song. Again. But just when you're losing hope, MISSION CODE happens.



So it opens with synth and gutsy check-out-my-attitude vocals, and well-trained by the rest of the album so far you prepare yourself for a promising start to quickly descend into cheerful pop, but when the rest of the band chime in with the group refrain SHAKE IT SHAKE IT DOWN you start to realise that something might actually be happening here. Finally, five tracks in, you're hit with a track that maintains its energy and vibe throughout the whole piece. A painfully simple yet totally catchy guitar riff powers through the majority of the song, leads us into a chorus which doesn't stop for breath, and then a nice three-part guitar-bass-guitar breakdown in the middle sends us back for a great outro on the home-run. Selling point of the album right here, if only they could keep it up.

The only note I wrote next to 見えない距離 (mienai kyori) was "Please, no more of this". Skip it enough times and you'll forget it exists. Slowly but surely, it's working for me. Come the end of the track I'm feeling mildly suicidal, which is when I realise with apprehension that they haven't had a ballad track yet. Oh.

再会 (saikai) takes that spot, and I will admit here that I simply dont know what to say. I don't think that such a soft ballady style suits the band musically, but lyrically the song is something else. It almost brought a tear to my eye, I'll admit that, and that makes it difficult to judge. Objectively speaking, it earns bonus points for actually sounding different to every other track so far, which is something. The ballad was a risk worth taking, but not worth repeating.



I said from the start that I would never like a song called Never Ending Story, but I admit that it's definitely catchy. It could be clever placing after the requisite ballad track, but it's a song that's difficult not to sing along to. It's just a shame that - just like EXIT and saikai - it sounds like it belongs at the end of the album.

Speaking of which, イノチノキ (inochi no ki) comes to put things to an end in a very ... similar fashion to the rest of it really. This is a song which really could be ok, if it didn't sound exactly like the majority of the tracks that preceed it.


Overall, GO is an album full of songs that could well be ok if they didn't all sound like carbon-copies of the others. The genre-mixing is finally becoming a problem too, and as a damn good rock band they need to figure out if they are just dipping a toe into pop waters or if they want to take a complete dive. If this album is mere experimentation then it was a good attempt but it exposed lessons to be learned; if it is a sign of things to come then there is going to be a problem.


★★☆☆☆