Jigsaw9

Started the new Sailor Moon. The first ep gave me all kinds of nostalgic feels awww. Seems good so far.

Okay I think my post was deleted while I was editing it into something substantial... which is kind of disappointing, I guess I'll even it out to a summarized version..
 
I love this as much as I did when it was previewed, I'm going to avoid giving star ratings as I believe they would be biased coming from me especially the first day it was posted. So I'm going to give Pro's and Con's of the overall release, citing examples from tracks. Thank you for your patience.
 
PROS: Chemical Pictures was known to dip it's toes briefly into a heavy sound, many tracks from the Sekai wo Utta Otoko series opened with Tenten's screams and aggressive riffs, now with the current lineup with ex-SKULL members we get an opportunity to Tenten to essentially jump in waist-deep (meaning that this is not a completely heavy style and still leaves him room to lay back in light, pleasant choruses more familiar to CP/Kiss My Way fans.
 
Tsumi koroshite yama ni ume tai opens with a chainsaw effect, (audio referencing the visual concept) it is little things like this that make me think that they are truly invested in the idea and that further releases will show cohesive storytelling.
 
CONS: The unique, charming, funk-inspired progression that made CP Taira's best band is still absent here, the instrumentation is not so experimental and explorative as I would like.. genre-wise, he has placed himself in the middle of that hardcore no mans land where generic songs are just waiting to be made. (This is not to say that I find these songs generic, but that they have their work cut out for them trying to avoid this)
 
I was hoping for longer songs overall. leave a bit of room for some progression and variation especially given that we only have 4 tracks to this mini album.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
If anyone is interested, I am still prepared to rate it 5/5 (again, take my rating with a grain of salt.)
 
I truly hope people still love and are excited for this project post-release. MUCH Kazuhiro love. Thanks for your patience again!

I saw lots of ppl were interested in this release, so hopefully this review thread will get more activity...
 
I was looking forward to hearing the 1st release of the interestingly named My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND, no less because I usually find Tenten's (or Taira's or whoever's) bands and projects unique and always something worth checking out. Poor me - well, okay, the situation isn't that grim but I should've lowered my expectations in advance.
 
The first song starts off with the blandest, lamest, laziest excuse for trying to sound br00tal and modern and hip, via those typical one-note 'core chuggathons...and then the screaming starts. When Tenten switches to the chorus it's like a big wet slap in the face with a slightly pungent fish - it just somehow doesn't fit and his voice irritates me (didn't think I'd ever say such a thing). The second track isn't better either. Despite the faster tempo in the verses it can almost be swapped for the opening song and I would barely notice (see: chorus). Completely skippable and unremarkable.
 
It wasn't until track 3 that the release got my interest. This one resorts to the cookie-cutter 'core influenced guitar formula too, but puts a bit of a spin on it - just enough random simple tricks for it to stand out. The whole song isn't that memorable but compared to what I heard before it's like a breath of fresh air. Energetic, punchy, even somewhat varied. Good job here. The closing song doesn't seem like anything special after this, but at least it's not more of the typical trying-to-be-br00tal kei stylings - instead it's just typical melodic modern kei, lol. It's harmless enough and doesn't leave a sour taste in my mouth (ears? xD), so I guess it's passable.
 
For a first release this EP is not bad. I hope the band experiments and takes risks a bit more in the future, and that they'll have the balls and creativity to do so - because there are already some seeds of nice ideas in there.
 
| good for a listen or two if you don't mind mostly uninspired stuff

Maybe they're catching on that people can't afford to buy 24 different kinds of the same single every 6~8.5 weeks like they could 7 or 8 years ago.

Artist: 椎名林檎 (Shiina Ringo) Album: NIPPON Score: The One True QueenTM is back!
I don't joke around when I proclaim Shiina Ringo as The One True Queen. She belongs in the upper echelon of artists that can tackle any genre effortlessly. Her worst output is merely good. Her best output is legendary and amongst the best albums ever recorded in J-Pop. So imagine my disappointment with 逆輸入 ~港湾局~, where I felt that she couldn't pull together the many styles she was flirting with. Being a compilation album of music that she didn't even write for herself, I let it slide. After all, when Shiina writes music for herself she knocks it out of the park. NIPPON is no different.

NIPPON is a two track single where the single was Japan's theme at the World Cup. With such a simple title that translates into Japan, it would be reasonable to expect Shiina to deliver a simple pop rock tune. Fortunately for the world of music, Shiina doesn't do simple. There's the trappings of an upbeat pop rock track accompanied by an orchestra and some type of instrument I can't identify. You can't miss it though because it's there during the more energetic transitions, especially into the chorus. There's also a pretty nice solo, which is something I haven't heard Shiina do in a while. NIPPON gives me vibes of younger Shiina and the rock sound that she bursted onto the scene with all those many years ago.

Sakasa ni Kazoete rounds out the single, waltzing in with a jazzy pop sound balancing Shiina's rock side with her more mature one. Sakasa ni Kazoete sounds like it could have come straight out of Tokyo Jihen's discography, which makes it even better than NIPPON for me. Amazing keyboard work and an amazing vocal delivery by Shiina herself puts the cherry on top. It's very refreshing to hear Shiina take on this sound outside of TJ because she doesn't do this nearly enough.

I can't recommend this single enough. This is a nice, short introduction into just two of the many faces of this talented artist. Don't sleep on it!

This is an interesting one... Although their stuff irritated me to no end in the past, I'm gonna have to go with Kiryu because I'm finding myself to be enjoying their stuff more lately, and their sound has some surprising and fun elements. Royz never left much of an impression on me, tho their newest album (the first release I ever listened from them all the way through) was okay-ish enough.

I must admit this duo completely slipped under my radar before, even though they had already released quite a kickass debut record last year (this one I'm reviewing here is their first major album, 2nd release in total).
 
I first became intrigued when I was shown the PV for the opening track イイナヅケブルー, which is a completely addictive and repetitive (two things that walk hand in hand here) electro-pop dance number with some slick rap parts and catchy chorus. The Charisma girls are at their best when they do this type of style, and, accordingly, they sure like to utilize their talents in this area, manifesting in some pretty sweet songs such as LOOKER, ジェンガジェンガ or Train HELL. It doesn't get boring of course because, even if these songs are in a similar style, they sprinkle random fun twists throughout (I'm not qualified enough in electronic music to know these various subgenre-hints tho).
 
The duo adds more variety by delivering some tracks that are reminiscent of more straightforward J-pop or songs that are a bit softer. I personally think these instances are the weaker links of the album for the most part, tho it is kinda nice for them to chance it up once in a while. Anyway, they both stand their ground firmly, providing some catchy moments as usual. The album ends on a note that is kinda typical of the whole sound of the release, which is always a good thing to do - the combo of the last three tracks is pretty killer!
 
Even on the first listen lots of songs burrowed themselves deep into my mind, addictive stuff indeed, as I already mentioned. One of the best Japanese releases this year for me, for sure! I do recommend it strongly for lovers of modern electronic pop (with hints of rap and dance music) to check it out.
 
| tons of cool tunes & very little filler, great for replaying again and again

I must admit this duo completely slipped under my radar before, even though they had already released quite a kickass debut record last year (this one I'm reviewing here is their first major album, 2nd release in total).
 
I first became intrigued when I was shown the PV for the opening track イイナヅケブルー, which is a completely addictive and repetitive (two things that walk hand in hand here) electro-pop dance number with some slick rap parts and catchy chorus. The Charisma girls are at their best when they do this type of style, and, accordingly, they sure like to utilize their talents in this area, manifesting in some pretty sweet songs such as LOOKER, ジェンガジェンガ or Train HELL. It doesn't get boring of course because, even if these songs are in a similar style, they sprinkle random fun twists throughout (I'm not qualified enough in electronic music to know these various subgenre-hints tho).
 
The duo adds more variety by delivering some tracks that are reminiscent of more straightforward J-pop or songs that are a bit softer. I personally think these instances are the weaker links of the album for the most part, tho it is kinda nice for them to chance it up once in a while. Anyway, they both stand their ground firmly, providing some catchy moments as usual. The album ends on a note that is kinda typical of the whole sound of the release, which is always a good thing to do - the combo of the last three tracks is pretty killer!
 
Even on the first listen lots of songs burrowed themselves deep into my mind, addictive stuff indeed, as I already mentioned. One of the best Japanese releases this year for me, for sure! I do recommend it strongly for lovers of modern electronic pop (with hints of rap and dance music) to check it out.
 
| tons of cool tunes & very little filler, great for replaying again and again

Nice review, haha. I can't verify everything said here because I just had to turn off the album after track-4, couldn't take it any longer. Seems like it was the right choice to do.
 
0/10 would bang with a hand grenade tied to a baseball bat

I must admit this duo completely slipped under my radar before, even though they had already released quite a kickass debut record last year (this one I'm reviewing here is their first major album, 2nd release in total).
 
I first became intrigued when I was shown the PV for the opening track イイナヅケブルー, which is a completely addictive and repetitive (two things that walk hand in hand here) electro-pop dance number with some slick rap parts and catchy chorus. The Charisma girls are at their best when they do this type of style, and, accordingly, they sure like to utilize their talents in this area, manifesting in some pretty sweet songs such as LOOKER, ジェンガジェンガ or Train HELL. It doesn't get boring of course because, even if these songs are in a similar style, they sprinkle random fun twists throughout (I'm not qualified enough in electronic music to know these various subgenre-hints tho).
 
The duo adds more variety by delivering some tracks that are reminiscent of more straightforward J-pop or songs that are a bit softer. I personally think these instances are the weaker links of the album for the most part, tho it is kinda nice for them to chance it up once in a while. Anyway, they both stand their ground firmly, providing some catchy moments as usual. The album ends on a note that is kinda typical of the whole sound of the release, which is always a good thing to do - the combo of the last three tracks is pretty killer!
 
Even on the first listen lots of songs burrowed themselves deep into my mind, addictive stuff indeed, as I already mentioned. One of the best Japanese releases this year for me, for sure! I do recommend it strongly for lovers of modern electronic pop (with hints of rap and dance music) to check it out.
 
| tons of cool tunes & very little filler, great for replaying again and again

Artist: I.T.G. Album: Instigate the Grief Score: I have 99 problems and it's all this album.
Apparently, Zaku left all his talent with RedruM and acquired his musicians from the discount bin outside the office that was once Dear Dolce. It's the only reason I have for why it sounds like everyone in this band is so awful at their "profession". Any hope that you may have had that this band would be decent should have been assassinated with those YouTube previews that were black metal demo quality at best. The album sounds exactly like those previews and it really makes me wonder what they invested their money into. Then, I look at the outfits and realize that they look really snazzy and then all my questions are answered. Then, I get this dreadful feeling crawling up my spine to inform my brain that I'm in for a really bad trip. I still wasn't ready. This took my expectations of how terrible visual kei can be, encased it in concrete, and threw it off the side of a fishing boat into the ocean.

Instigate the Grief is the result of when a band thinks they can cash in on the visual kei craze while doing no work at all. Zaku and co. must have seriously sat down together after the recording for this album was finished and banked on the fact that all ten of their fans and those baka gaijins on Monochrome Heaven would buy enough copies for them to cover the 500yen down payment for the studio time in someone's garage complex. This is exploitation at it's finest, being a cookie-cutter collage of visual kei's creative drippings with some attempts at an industrial rock and gothic atmosphere that fails completely due to issues that should have been rectified before this album was pressed to disc.

For starters, the recording quality of this album is abysmal. The attempt at the D.I.D. sound fails miserably. Any studio additions are there to give the illusion that there's depth to the music. There is not. The band literally took anything they could and placed it on top of their music without regard for balance or space in the mix. Some samples they used are at such a high frequency they can cause deafness! It only gets worse. Zaku is the biggest culprit and is responsible for sinking this ship. He manages to both sound dreadful on every track and get worse as the album goes on. Any time Zaku comes onto the microphone to do harsh vocals it either sounds like he's gargling peanut butter or everything devolves into noise. Every single vocal effect in ProTools was applied to his voice before they transcoded the master tracks to and from 96kbps four times for that authentic-kei feel. I envision that afterwards, they all sat around, stroked their cocks, and nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, this is exactly how we want to represent ourselves!". Is every member in this band deaf?

This is the antithesis of musicianship. They stapled together as many visual kei cliches as they could find. Track names are so edgy I can shave my face with them. Songs jump between "aggressive" verses and poppy choruses, as if the formula hasn't already been beaten to death. Even the breakdowns lack any type of moshable rhythm and just sound lame and lifeless. I can even point to sections of songs where they just didn't try, like BABY ON THE DEATH VALLEY where Zaku repeats the title in Engrish before they free form shit all over your eardrums for a minute straight. Then there's also numbers that would make Black Gene for the Next Scene blush at the reckless abandon of synth in tracks like DIGITIZED FAMILY.

There are no redeeming qualities to Instigate the Grief. Every track ranges from terrible to torturous. Questionable decisions in both composition and production make you wonder if anyone listened to the music after it was recorded. For example, the drums in No Answer are panned almost entirely to the left and right for no reason, leaving a gigantic gap in the sound stage that's unaccounted for. It takes a track that had one or two ideas and makes it just as vapid as everything else on display. If you want another example, the drums in BABY ON THE DEATH VALLEY get a mention for being the single worst drums I have ever heard recorded in my life. Bedroom doujin bands with prerecorded drum loops sound more professional than this. And no, once again I am not kidding. Guitars are weak and have no life, and it seems like the distortion on the guitar placed in the mix and not out of the amp, making things sound even more terrible. Bassist? What bassist? I can't hear any bass underneath all that low end distortion and typewriter drum pedals.

This album is an example of why piracy is good. If I had purchased this album, I would have asked for my money back. If you bought this album I really feel bad for you. I deleted this album immediately after I finished the last track. You couldn't get me to buy this if the government paid for my trip to the otolaryngologist. I'd much rather play frisbee with this CD than ever listen to it again. I was fundamentally changed as a visual kei fan by the end of this album, after discovering that there are bands who think they can insult my intelligence with such awful music.

You will never catch me say this again any time soon, but this band deserves to disband. Now.

I must admit this duo completely slipped under my radar before, even though they had already released quite a kickass debut record last year (this one I'm reviewing here is their first major album, 2nd release in total).
 
I first became intrigued when I was shown the PV for the opening track イイナヅケブルー, which is a completely addictive and repetitive (two things that walk hand in hand here) electro-pop dance number with some slick rap parts and catchy chorus. The Charisma girls are at their best when they do this type of style, and, accordingly, they sure like to utilize their talents in this area, manifesting in some pretty sweet songs such as LOOKER, ジェンガジェンガ or Train HELL. It doesn't get boring of course because, even if these songs are in a similar style, they sprinkle random fun twists throughout (I'm not qualified enough in electronic music to know these various subgenre-hints tho).
 
The duo adds more variety by delivering some tracks that are reminiscent of more straightforward J-pop or songs that are a bit softer. I personally think these instances are the weaker links of the album for the most part, tho it is kinda nice for them to chance it up once in a while. Anyway, they both stand their ground firmly, providing some catchy moments as usual. The album ends on a note that is kinda typical of the whole sound of the release, which is always a good thing to do - the combo of the last three tracks is pretty killer!
 
Even on the first listen lots of songs burrowed themselves deep into my mind, addictive stuff indeed, as I already mentioned. One of the best Japanese releases this year for me, for sure! I do recommend it strongly for lovers of modern electronic pop (with hints of rap and dance music) to check it out.
 
| tons of cool tunes & very little filler, great for replaying again and again

Aww, too bad that it's another live-limited release. Anyway not that I'm complaining, it's always good to see new WW music being released.

Im the only one that thought that they were going to start to sing Welcome to the Jungle aftere the first seconds of Hallelujah XD?

I don't even have to strain myself. Only one word: Aldious. *drops mic, victoriously goes out*
 
'kay, come at me bros~ http://www.last.fm/user/JigsawJohnny

BUCK-TICK as Top artist? I approve! I also spot LUNA SEA there. I approve x2.
 
 
http://www.last.fm/user/Champ213

FAR TOO EASY.
 
Anyone with the abs of horror (A.k.a Black Gene for the Next Scene) in their weekly charts deserves to be sentenced to 1000 push-ups in a row. Kthxbai.
 
 
Gimme your worst shot:
http://www.last.fm/user/Champ213

I don't even have to strain myself. Only one word: Aldious. *drops mic, victoriously goes out*
 
'kay, come at me bros~ http://www.last.fm/user/JigsawJohnny

I don't even have to strain myself. Only one word: Aldious. *drops mic, victoriously goes out*
 
'kay, come at me bros~ http://www.last.fm/user/JigsawJohnny

HAHA YOU LISTENED TO GAROOGAMESH YOU N00B. And GALEYD is your currently highest played artist? C'mon if I wanted to look at you listening to derivative power metal I'd much rather you listen to DragonForce. Then I'd actually have something to laugh at you about. Now I just feel sad because you wasted your time on a DELUHI copycat (which in turn was a budget GALNERYUS).

You also use last.fm tags? It's like the most useless things in the world, unless I'm looking for a band tagged "skullfuck revolver metal", "demon burger", or "AIDS". Then it's indispensable. But the fact that you spent so much time categorizing bands to expand other people's knowledge is so trivial. You don't even give me these great tags to work with. How am I supposed to find anything tagged indie? That's like, not specific enough bro.
 
http://www.last.fm/user/ColdNRG

The interest towards this album went from 0 to 10. 

Suspicious (Schwardix Marvally Cover (Luna Sea Cover))
 
 
Just listened to "Worthless War" and it sounds like $ocial Riot Machine$ didn't have that much of an influence here (at least from the 45 seconds).

MadWinK. definitely still need a Luna Sea and Madeth gray'll copyband.