Nightmare -NIGHTMARE

[madygrain 515]

I usually don't download the albums I purchased because I like to hear them when they arrive, but I would like to hear some opinions on the band's latest.

I hope this is not against the forums rules since I am not posting any review at all at the moment.

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Wrote a full review on my livejournal: ShanethVarosa.livejournal.com

But, as in the D thread, if you don't feel like reading it as it is rather lengthy:

I loved the album and thought it was among their best and most varied yet. My favorites were Vermillion, $eam, and The Sorrow of Deceiver! Definitely an album to listen to!! 9/10

[Augie1995 325]

I absolutely loved their new album, they all had great compositions and I was grabbed by every song. Even VERMILION which was one of their songs i hadnt gotten into yet. My favorites are Fragment, Q, RAY OF LIGHT, Cherish (this song is curious), the sorrow of deceiver, and 輪廻. I recommend this a lot, great great album! 9/10

[madygrain 515]

Nice to read such positive comments! I hope someone else enters so we can get more opinions =)

[nekkichi 6042]

pleasantly surprised overall, this album has more variety than their 3-4 previous LPs, that's a good thing.

it could do better without ballads; I also skipped all the singles, they're shit for the most part.

autotuning in swallowtail sucks, and cherish sounds like a jinkaku radio song for me, funny.

favorite tracks so far - fragment, Q, cherish, the sorrow of deceiver;

everything else falls behind quite a lot.

nice to hear Yomi experimenting with his voice here and there, last album suffered of his monotonous howling.

[sai 868]

I'll definitely need to have a few more listens before I can make a decent review, but my first impression was 'dull'. It was like they made some songs randomly and threw it on an album without any theme or flow. It just doesn't work, it's random songs put together, it could've been a best-off playlist I put together in iTunes myself. The second half was surprisingly better than the first half (sides from VERMILION). But like said before, I might need a few more listens, perhaps I'll like it, or anyway, find it less dull.

PS. What the frick were they trying to do with swallowtail?

I mean, autotune usually works for bands, but for Nightmare it absolutely doesn't.

[morbiusss 10]

PS. What the frick were they trying to do with swallowtail?

I mean, autotune usually works for bands, but for Nightmare it absolutely doesn't.

i dont think so.

i'm not through with the album but listened to swallowtail like 6 times this day and i think its one of the freshest tunes nightmare did. finally! their past albums were so boring. i really like swallowtail for beeing so "tokyo shounesque", the chorus is a bit of a let down though (standard nightmare post anima chorus).

[madygrain 515]

It was like they made some songs randomly and threw it on an album without any theme or flow.

That's great news for me, since I love when bands make albums with songs that feel really different from each other, I really like the variety of albums like DaizyStripper's Bless, to put some recent example.

[Kaito-sama 1]

For the most part, I haven't paid much attention to these guys since their Sleeper EP, and I actually really like this album. I just feel this similarity between "Swallowtail" and the gazette's "Suicide circus", as if they were riding their coattails. Not that im saying this hard hitting sound is bad, just that it wasnt something new and exciting, which is what I look for in any band. There are way too many VK bands that sound the same lately, and you have to do something differently to get noticed

[madygrain 515]

I finally got my album today. I like it a lot. Eleven is a nice intro, a bit too long but it's nice how the track flows into VERMILION. directly into the drum segment without the single intro. VERMILION. itself is still good and catchy with that percussion-driven writing ruka uses. The guitar work is also awesome. Fragment felt like a really mature and dark song but in a classy way, with that powerfull and emotional rock completed with the expressive acoustic solo. Indeed nice. Swallowtail is good also. As a song it's really motivating and I like bands try new things, and doing them well. Q. is maybe one of the tracks that stands out the less because it's more conservative. That kind of song could be in the WORLD ruler oor Killer Show's second half. In aln album like thism in wich every song sounds special, this one is the only lacking something. Still good, but not as surprising. RAY OF LIGHT is also cool. I like it's almost shoegaze-ish feel, it's relaxing but not boring, and the solo is well done. Rem_ was their weakest single since Majestical Parade imo but suits the album just fine. As Q. does not feel as special as the others, but is quite enjoyable. The new backing synths work well. Cherish is possibly the most unique song of the bunch. It's tough for me to describe but I really liked this song and how it trolls the listener xD I was specting a heavier tune form The Sorrow of Deciever, it tunerd to be more emotional than heavy, but it's cool anyway. I liked how they used the synths combined with their trademark sound. Regarding a:Fantasia, it was mu¡y favorite single a side form this era and still rocks. A short but powerfull headbanging song that is really motivating and epic. Still one of my favs. The disguised GIANIZM does not disapoint either. Rinne was one of the weaker songs, this band has better ballads but this one does allright. The brutal distorsion on the guitar solo really helps to make this song easy to remember. $eam was not too amusing at the beggining but it recovers with nice and upbeat melodies that don't sound as cheesy as the opening. The guitars solo is really good and everything that cames after really ends up compensating that not-so-interesting start and ends uo being a pretty cool song. SLEEPER is still an OK song. As it's on the album now seems to me like a mix between Q. and fragment since it retains the acoustic arrangements and matureness of the second and the catchyness of the first. Dazzle is really fun and interesting. Sounds really american with all that classic rock influence during the verses and the jazzier chorus. Also the trumphet solo and general trumphet use in this song is great, better that they did on Killer Show, imo.

Overall this album feeels really varied and polished. I would say is one of the best this year, despite the hard competence. I am not sure were I would put this ono on my personal Nightmare chart but it's for sure more interesting than Majestical Parade, World Ruler and Ultimate Circus. Still far from anima it can really put up a fight with Libido and Killer Show as my 3rd/2nd favorite album by this band.