I'll start by saying that this release actually Rivals Cold Blood (which is what I believe is Sadie's Best album to date). Except for a few songs that I believe the album could do without (i'll get to that shortly), it was actually very enjoyable.
With the exception of The Requiem, I do agree that the first few songs on the album are terrible. I wont even talk about them because they're just THAT bad to the point where Kaoru would shake his head in shame if he even bothered listening to them.
Once we get to Kannou (best song on the album by the way), the album indeed does pick up and progresses from there. A lot of the songs sound like tracks that are pretty Original and Sadie tried their best on and didn't rely too much on their Dir methods, which I really appreciated.
Compared to the Black Diamonds, this is such a step up and it shows that when Sadie wants to, they can def write awesome songs. I will say this though, they suffer the same thing the GazettE and 12012 (UNTIL THE SWAN), suffer from now. They're too comfortable with what they are doing and it does get tiring. Yes, its okay that Dir is a main influence but even Dir got influence from other bands, which is what they should start doing if they want to be taken seriously. But it seems like they're okay with being the shadow of what Dir was back in the day or being a copy band. Hey, its what got them famous to begin with and if thats what they wanna do, then whatevs. We'll still find thing's we like out of what they do anyways.
I give this a 7.5/10